New Amsterdam shop owner Roxanne Smith will be spending the next three years in prison after she admitted to being in possession of a quantity of cannabis, which she intended to sell to help her brother obtain medical assistance.
Smith, 42, in her defence, explained to the magistrate that her brother was sickly and she had been trying to raise money to fund his surgery.
Smith was charged jointly with Samuel Brown, who had been with her in the apartment where the narcotics were discovered. The two were charged with the possession of 499 grammes of cannabis, which the police found in a haversack hanging from the wall of the apartment on October 3 at Kamaru Junction, Mahdia. Even then, as she did yesterday, Smith had admitted to ownership of the narcotics but Brown, 40, who is employed as a miner in Mahdia, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Smith, when she had the chance to speak, told the court that the cannabis was hers and that Brown had had no prior knowledge of its existence. She said that knowing this, she could never wrongfully implicate him in the crime.
Magistrate Ann McLennan, who presided over the matter, fined Smith $748,500 and sentenced her to three years imprisonment. Her co-accused, Brown, was placed on $100,000 bail and will be required to make another court appearance on October 20 at the Mahdia Magistrate’s Court.
