EXPECTANT mother Verna Mc Donald was sentenced to one year imprisonment last Monday, after a Probation Services report confirmed that the New Amsterdam Prison was adequately equipped to care for a new born baby. Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo had requested that the agency ascertain whether there were facilities similar to those found in a home before she imposed the custodial penalty on the 25-year-old woman.
McDonald, of Mai Mai Dam, went to the New Amsterdam Prison on January 28, to carry clothing for her reputed husband, La Monte Leacock, who was a remanded prisoner.
However, prison officials, on checking the clothing, discovered that one of the flaps on a pair of cream cargo pants appeared bulky and upon opening the seam, discovered a quantity of leaves, seeds and stems of the hemp plant.
The portions of the prohibited narcotic were weighed and amounted to 13.9 grammes.
After being questioned, the petite convict told the Court she had lost her job and was finding it difficult to cope as she has a toddler and her husband is in prison.
But Magistrate Nagamootoo, reprimanding McDonald, told her:”What you did is not an excuse. You could have found something else to do if you wanted to, but you chose differently.
“When you sewed each stitch unto the pockets of the pants to secure the marijuana, were you not thinking?
“Did you not think of your unborn child and the toddler. You wanted fast money. You did not think. But these acts have consequences. I hope you would have learnt your lesson. On your release you are to attend counselling,” the Court ordered.