Court employee jailed, fined for trafficking cocaine
AN OFFICE assistant attached to the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court was sentenced to four years imprisonment and fined $30,000 yesterday, for trafficking 1.0044 kilogrammes of cocaine. The courtroom, in which Acting Chief Magistrate, Priya Sewnarine-Beharry imposed sentence on Terry DeFreitas, was crowded with his tearful co-workers, who appeared to be in disbelief when he pleaded guilty to the charge.
Particulars of the offence said he trafficked the narcotic on January 26 at Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Prosecutor, Oswald Massiah said De Freitas was expected to be on duty at his place of employment but, instead, was at the airport with a travelling bag, intending to board a flight that was going to Barbados and Jamaica.
The prosecutor said his final destination was the Cayman Islands but, before De Freitas passed through immigration, a vigilant CANU officer checked his bag and observed that he had very few pieces of clothing.
He was questioned and his response aroused the suspicion of the officer, resulting in De Freitas being taken into a room where he was further grilled and he admitted to swallowing 86 cocaine pellets.
The prosecutor related that DeFreitas underwent an x-ray at a private institution where strange objects were revealed in his stomach and he excreted the 86 cocaine pellets.
The magistrate asked the convict if he had anything to say before sentencing him and he begged for leniency.
In tears, De Freitas made this plea: “I made the sacrifice for my sisters and I’m prepared to face the consequences but please be lenient with me.”
Before inflicting the punishment on him, the magistrate listed both mitigating and aggravating factors.
She said the mitigating factor is that the trafficker saved the court time and what is aggravated are that he is 29 years old and should know the consequence of his action. Also that he requested leniency but showed no remorse for what he did and greatly disgraced the court system.