Shellon Hopkinson, a young pregnant mother of one, was reduced to tears yesterday after being informed by city magistrate Judy Latchman that she will be spending the next 48 months of her life behind bars for trafficking marijuana.
Additionally, Hopkinson, 21, was ordered to pay a fine of $385,000, representing three times the street value of the 257 grammes of cannabis that he had been found with.
Hopkinson, who is four months and two weeks pregnant, had pleaded not guilty to the charge that she had the drug in her possession for the purpose of trafficking at her Lot 55 Middle Street, McDoom, East Bank Demerara, home on August 22.
In handing down the sentence at the conclusion of the woman’s trial, the magistrate explained that the prosecution had discharged its burden of proof,