(Trinidad Express) Local history was made yesterday when 71-year-old Grace Pierre-Holder became the oldest person to be jailed for attempting to leave Piarco International Airport with cocaine in her possession for the purpose of trafficking 12 years ago.
Her 29-year-old co-accused, Daenah John-Finn, is now the youngest national on record to be charged in an airport case in relation to possession of cocaine.
Pierre-Holder, of Simon Street, Gasparillo was ordered to serve six years simple imprisonment while John-Finn, of Old Southern Main Road, Claxton Bay Junction, Claxton Bay, was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of five years with hard labour.
The sentences were handed down by Justice Carla Brown-Antoine in the Fifth Criminal Court at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain.
Both women were found guilty of the offence on May 3 and sentencing was postponed to allow attorneys for the convicted to make pleas of mitigation on their behalf.
Leading evidence on behalf of the State were attorneys Renuka Rambhajan and Taterani Seecharan while Pierre-Holder was represented by Senior Counsel Theodore Guerra and attorney John Heath.
John-Finn was represented by attorneys Ravi Rajcoomar and Jenna Lucky-Samaroo.
Pierre-Holder and John-Finn were among four people arrested at the old Piarco International Airport while waiting to board an American Airlines flight to London, via Miami, on February 10, 2000, when police officers discovered they had packages of cocaine concealed in the male Clarks leather shoes they were wearing.
All four were scheduled to return to Trinidad on February 13, 2000.
The other two people were Pierre-Holder’s daughter Michelle Leslie and John-Finn’s boyfriend Jason Connell. Sgt Miguel Montrichard, Sgt Michael Charles (now retired), Corporal Lincoln Bonnet and Michael Peters, who were all attached to the Organised Crime and Narcotics Unit (OCNU), were highly commended by Brown-Antoine.
Connell was found guilty on May 11, 2006 at the Arima Magistrate’s Court and ordered to pay $25,000 forthwith or serve three years in prison. The fine was paid.
Leslie pleaded guilty on January 30, 2008 and was fined $50,000 by an Arima Magistrate.
In passing sentence yesterday, Brown-Antoine said those involved were part of a very carefully planned operation.
“At the trial you both admitted to wearing the shoes and did not challenge the State’s evidence that the shoes contained the drug cocaine,” Brown-Antoine said.
“The only issue for the jury was whether you knew that the drug was in the shoes you were wearing. The jury clearly concluded that you did know.”
Brown-Antoine disagreed with the assertion by made by Pierre-Holder’s attorney, that his client’s age is a mitigating factor.
“Age should bring wisdom and society expects that our more mature citizens would be an example to our younger ones. To put it plainly, (she) should have known better.”
She said the offence of possession of cocaine for trafficking is prevalent in this society. She said this country’s reputation would have been negatively affected if the cocaine was discovered at an airport abroad.
“It is said that Trinidad and Tobago is a transhipment hub for cocaine and other illegal drugs. Offences such as this one, of which you have been convicted, certainly demonstrate that this is true to a certain extent.”
The judge also spoke about the harmful effect of cocaine on the society and its correlation to gang wars and other crimes.