An American citizen was yesterday sentenced to four years imprisonment after admitting to trafficking in 4.442 kilograms of cocaine.
Trevi Hall of Gerard Avenue, Apartment 374, Springfield, Massachusetts accepted that on Tuesday at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri she had in her possession 4.442 kilograms of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
The unrepresented Hall told acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry that she could not afford to defend herself, she has no relatives in Guyana and as such preferred to plead guilty to the charge and serve her jail time.
When asked by the magistrate what she had to say after pleading guilty to the charge, the defendant said; “I have nothing to say.”
In presenting the facts of the case, Oswald Massiah, Special Prosecutor of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) said that the defendant arrived in Guyana on February 13 under the pretence of holidaying and was staying at the Palace De Leon Hotel.
The court then heard from the prosecutor that a male visitor took away two suitcases from the woman which she had at the hotel. Sometime later, he said that the luggage was returned to the woman who then completed her packing to leave the country.
The court was told that on February 22, the defendant was heading back to the US with the said two suitcases when she was nabbed with the illegal substance.
According to Massiah, Hall was about to board Caribbean Airlines flight 424 when a CANU officer saw “unusual objects” in both suitcases. An investigation was subsequently launched and the items seen were tested and amounted to the quantum of cocaine mentioned in the charge.
Massiah said that after being told of the allegation, the defendant said that the suitcases were hers and that she was guilty of the charge. She was later arrested and charged.
The prosecutor said that the cocaine was found in five packets concealed in false bottoms of the woman’s two suitcases.
The defendant in a further statement to the court said that while she accepted most of the facts presented by the prosecution she disagreed with the contention that she had the illegal substance for the purpose of trafficking.
“I do accept that the drugs were found in my possession and so I take responsibility for that and will spend whatever time the courts give me. But I was not trafficking in it [cocaine].”
According to the woman, she had no idea that the illegal substance was in her suitcase. She told the court that a male friend of hers had borrowed her two suitcases to lend to his girlfriend who was travelling to Suriname.
Hall said that after the man returned her luggage she packed them in preparation to leave Guyana.
“I wasn’t trying to traffic in any drugs and I didn’t even know that it was there; but it was in my possession so I will accept responsibility for that,” the defendant said.
The acting chief magistrate then explained to the unrepresented Hall that if the court were to accept her guilty plea she would have to unequivocally accept the prosecution’s facts or else a not guilty plea would be recorded and a trial would be conducted in a bid to prove her innocence or guilt.
In tears, Hall then asked the magistrate to disregard all that she had said earlier disproving the prosecution’s case.
“It doesn’t work like that,” the magistrate said.
“Were you or were you not trafficking in 4.442 kilograms of cocaine as stated by the prosecution?” the magistrate firmly asked.
Hall then clearly responded in the affirmative and the presiding magistrate handed down the four-year prison sentence. Additionally, the defendant was fined $30,000.
