Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on Tuesday dismissed the trafficking in narcotics case against a 63-year-old Canada-based Guyanese after the prosecution failed to prove that the woman knew that she had been in possession of the narcotic.
It was alleged that on December 25, 2012, at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, Bhagwattie Seepaul aka Shirley, Mary and Yvonne of Lot 90 Shutter Street, Toronto, Canada had in her possession 3.058 kilogrammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. Seepaul pleaded not guilty to the charge read to her by the magistrate.
Her attorney, Nigel Hughes, told the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court that Seepaul had no idea that illegal substances were in the package as the food items had no unusual weight.
The magistrate upheld Hughes’s submissions on the grounds that the prosecution had not proven that Seepaul was the owner of the substance. She further stated that CANU officers did not launch a search for the man named Alex whom Seepaul said gave her the package for his friend.
CANU special prosecutor, Oswald Massiah, told the court that Seepaul has lived in Canada for 45 years and came to Guyana for the holidays. She went to Berbice where she joined some relatives. On her way back to Canada, she travelled to Georgetown with a suitcase. While at the Berbice Bus Park on December 24, 2012, the woman said a man named Alex approached her, engaged her in conversation and later took her to a hotel at Parfait Harmonie, West Bank Demerara.
Massiah further stated that on December 25, 2012, the defendant said Alex brought her from the West Bank to Georgetown and gave her a package to take for someone. Seepaul placed it in her suitcase, which was scanned before she left on her flight BW 606, revealing the suspicious substance.
The prosecutor said the CANU officer searched the package which was a plastic bag with food items and found a substance suspected to be cocaine in one item. Another container labelled Lala’s curry powder was also searched. When the label was removed, another label was seen underneath. When checked the container appeared to have curry powder on the surface but on the bottom the illegal substance was evident. Seepaul was cautioned and subsequently arrested. The substance was weighed in her presence.
The CANU prosecutor also said that a search to find Alex is ongoing.
