Brits jailed for ‘coke’

Two Britons were yesterday sentenced to a total of seven years hard labour after pleading guilty to possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. Thirty-five-year-old Jillan Kearney of Chamberlin, Birmingham, England was first before Senior Magistrate Lianne Lee Kim in the Port-of-Spain Fourth A Court. The court heard that Kearney, was held in February, while attempting to board a flight back to her homeland from Piarco International Airport on February 14. The woman was stopped by plainclothes officers who, on receiving information, identified themselves, conducted a search and seized Kearney’s travel documents, including her passport.

Reports state that the woman soon complained of feeling unwell, and was taken by the investigating officers to the Arima Health Facility, where she was medically examined, and X-rayed. The officers then had the suspect transferred to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, where it was discovered that she had ingested 21 pellets, each of which was found to contain a white substance resembling cocaine. Two days later, after the exhibits were taken for tests, the woman was charged for the possession of 220 grammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. The street value is said to be just over $100,000.

Representing the accused was attorney Gordon Lammy, who noted that the accused was a mother of two and had not seen her children since her arrest in Trinidad. Lammy told Lee Kim the woman had only come to Trinidad for Carnival, and got mixed up with the wrong crowd. Taking into consideration the fact that the accused had children, the magistrate chose not to impose the maximum sentence. “When visiting another country, we go there to enjoy what they have. I don’t have before me here a 17-year-old whose emotions are running high. What I have here is a fully grown woman who knows just what she is doing.

This is a very deliberate act,” Lee Kim said. The magistrate then announced that the accused would serve three years hard labour. Another British man of the same address as the first accused appeared before Lee Kim, but he claimed that they were not travelling together. The man, William Buffong, was charged for possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking at Piarco International Airport. Buffong was found to have ingested 59 pellets, with a street value of $200,000, after he too was medically examined. He was sentenced to four years hard labour.