MANY PEOPLE HAVE tried several ways to export ganja abroad, but one woman's method of carrying the drug strapped to her leg and in her underwear landed her in jail.
Nicola Stephenson, a 30 year-old business woman of Pusey district, Point Hill, and Kitson Town, St. Catherine addresses pleaded guilty to possession of ganja, dealing in ganja and taking steps to export ganja when she appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court on Friday.
Allegations against Stephenson are that on Wednesday, November 9, at 11:00 a.m., the accused boarded BWIA flight number 0415B to St. Martin. When she was stopped and searched, ganja was found strapped to her left leg and in her underwear weighing 4 3/4 lbs. She was arrested and charged for the offence.
Stephenson told the court that she did not know that what was strapped to her leg and inside her underwear was ganja. "I didn't know is ganja, the person only ask me to carry something for them on my foot," she told the court.
However RM Martin Gayle asked her if she was not suspicious that the person asked her carry the thing on her leg. The accused did not respond. An attorney who represented her claimed Stephenson was married and the marriage was undergoing strain because of the poor financial situation. He also added that she did it for her six children and she was sorry for what she had done.
RM Gayle then fined her $76,000 or three months for possession, $15,200 or three months for dealing in ganja and $38,000 or three months for taking steps to export ganja. She was also sentenced to six months imprisonment at hard labour. If fines are not paid, the sentence will run concurrent but consecutive to the six months.
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