By TASHIEKA MAIR, STAR Writer
WESTERN BUREAU
BRITON DINA CALLUBA, 18, who tried to smuggle drugs out of the island, pleaded guilty to possession, dealing and taking steps to export cocaine in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's court yesterday.
It is alleged that on Friday, September 2, the teen went to the Sangster's International Airport, in Montego Bay, St. James, to board a flight to London, England. Her suitcase was searched and cocaine weighing four kilograms (six and a half pounds) was found in two false compartments in her luggage.
Defense attorney Adrian Days, who represented Calluba, told RM Winsome Henry that his client accompanied a friend to Jamaica totally aware of that friend's intentions.
He said she was promised that if she carried the drugs she would receive 3000 pounds on her arrival in London and needing the money, she succumbed to the temptation in an effort to better herself.
In pleading for leniency for his client, Days told the court that having been in the lock up for so long, she learnt the errors of her ways and understands the value of family. He asked RM Henry to do all in her power to preserve the academic future of his client, who he said was successful in 10 GCE O' Level subjects and is presently a student of the Kingston College in England.
"It is always distressing when I see young people like you before the court. This rich-quick mentality and your haste for independence has gotten you in trouble and mixed up with the wrong people," said RM Henry. "You will be going back to college but not this September."
Calluba was sentenced to six months in prison and fined $25,000. Should she fail to pay the fine, she will be required to serve an addition three months in prison.
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