Jamaican national Easton Stapleton, who attempted to mail cocaine hidden in deodorant and markers, was yesterday sentenced to three years in jail and fined $1.4 million for the crime.
Stapleton, 54, who was charged last Friday with having 526 grammes of cocaine in his possession for trafficking, had pleaded guilty and said that he had planned to throw the narcotics away but was held by an anti-narcotics agent before he could do so.
“I made a mistake that didn’t solve anything,” Stapleton told Magistrate Leron Daly yesterday in a Georgetown court, where he pleaded for lenience prior to being sentenced.
He told the court that he committed the crime because he was financially incapable of maintaining himself and his family.
He also said that he is currently suffering from prostate cancer and if sentenced he would be unable to continue treatment.
After Stapleton’s statement, Magistrate Daly sentenced him to three years in jail and fined him $1,420,200.
Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) prosecutor Konyo Sandiford-Thompson last week told the court that Stapleton had gone to the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) and inquired about the process to post a package. He was then told by the clerk that his package would have to be checked by a CANU officer.
Sandiford-Thompson said when Stapleton heard that the package was going to be checked, he picked up his box and attempted to leave. However, a CANU officer pursued him and escorted him back to the CANU office, where the box was searched and the drugs were found in paper markers and roll-on deodorant.
During his arraignment last Friday, Stapleton claimed that he was told to uplift a package in the bathroom at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and take it with him on his flight out of the country. However, according to the man, he was determined not to go on the plane with the package and so he decided that he would mail it instead.
