CANADA-based Guyanese Bhagwantie Seepaul, 63, who was charged last December with being in possession of 3.058 kilogrammes of cocaine at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport for the purpose of trafficking, walked out of the courtroom yesterday a free woman after the case against her was dismissed.

Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, who was conducting the trial, upheld the no-case submission made by the defendant’s lawyer, Mr. Nigel Hughes.
Sexagenarian Seepaul of Lot 90 Shutter Street, Ontario, Canada had a bright smile as she walked out of the courtroom.
When the trial commenced on January 16, Hughes argued that his client had no knowledge of the cocaine found in packets of custard powder and a tin of Lala’s curry powder.     Hughes said when his client collected the package nothing looked unusual to arouse her suspicion that cocaine was inside the package.
The defence’s case was that Seepaul could not have known the contents of the packets of custard powder nor the tin of curry powder without opening them.
However, Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Special Prosecutor Oswald Massiah had argued that the defendant collected a package from a stranger without knowing the contents and that is highly suspicious.
According to Massiah’s facts, Seepaul, also known as Shirley, Mary and Yvonne, arrived in Guyana on December 15 and went to Berbice where relatives did not expect her.
The prosecutor had related to the court on the first hearing that the defendant informed CANU ranks that she returned to Georgetown on December 24, and was at the Berbice car park when a man, whose only name she gave as Alex, invited her to stay at a Parfaite Harmonie Hotel on the West Bank of Demerara.
The prosecutor had also stated that the defendant related that Alex took her to Georgetown, transferred her to another vehicle and gave her packages to send for someone in Canada.
The prosecutor said when Seepaul arrived at the CJIA, the scanner detected something suspicious and a search was conducted on her suitcase, which confirmed that she was carrying cocaine.
Massiah said some of the cocaine was in custard powder and more was found at the bottom of a Lala’s curry powder tin.
In the magistrate’s ruling, she noted that the evidence was highly suspicious, but the court has to be convinced by the prosecution’s case that the defendant is guilty. She added that the prosecution failed to prove to the court that the defendant was guilty of the offence.
The magistrate stated that the prosecution failed to provide the evidence to the court, to suggest that the defendant knew what was inside the package.