TWO St Lucian cousins were on Thursday jailed at the Georgetown Magistrates’ courts for trafficking in cocaine.Thirty-eight-year-old cosmetologist Chermisa Wheeler and 43-year-old baby-sitter Andree Willy were arraigned on separate drug-trafficking charges.
Wheeler was fined $79,200 and sentenced to serve 48 months imprisonment while Willy was fined $268,200 and jailed for 50 months.
The police say that on November 18 at Woodlands Hospital in Georgetown, Wheeler had in her possession 88 grams of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
Meanwhile, Willy was busted with 298 grams of cocaine on the same day at the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) on Homestretch Avenue, Georgetown.
Police prosecutor Shellon Daniels told the court that the women came to Guyana for vacation. On the day in question they were both outgoing passengers on a Caribbean Airlines flight and were already checked in at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) en route to their native St Lucia.
The prosecution’s facts stated that both women passed through the scanning machine after which a search was conducted. They had behaved in a suspicious manner. The prosecutor told the court that the women were transporting the cocaine in their private parts.
The duo gave separate caution statements, admitting their guilt.
Wheeler did not show any emotion during the court hearing, but Willy cried as the magistrate was deciding the jail term. Willy told the court that the devil took control of her which caused her to commit such an offence.
Magistrate Latchman considered that neither of the women had wasted the court’s time, having pleaded guilty without hesitation. However the method used in the commission of the act, the street value of the drug, the prevalence of the offence and the seriousness of the offence had to be taken into account.
Both nationals were unrepresented and told the court that they did not have any prior convictions or pending matters against them.
(Clestine Juan)