UG student jailed for cocaine trafficking
Guyana Chronicle
February 23, 2007
THE Full Court yesterday set aside a suspended sentence for a drug conviction and imposed a three years jail term on 18-year old University of Guyana student Nicole Williams.
Chief Justice Carl Singh and Justice Dawn Gregory-Barnes inflicted the penalty on the prisoner who was convicted of trafficking a narcotic last year.
Williams was also fined $30,000 by the Full Court, with the directive that she gets a refund of the $20,000 from the $50,000 paid in the Magistrate’s Court.
That was in the order as the Full Court allowed an appeal by the Police against the lower Court decision.
Williams was busted at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, with four kilogrammes 363 grammes of cocaine strapped to her body during a strip search after she was seen acting suspiciously on January 28, 2006.
The convict, who was booked on a flight to the United States, pleaded guilty and was let off with a suspended sentence following a plea in mitigation by Defence Counsel Glen Hanoman.
The lawyer had submitted, to the magistrate, that on account of her age, Williams fell in the special circumstances category which gave that tribunal the discretion to treat her differently.
The memorandum of reasons for the leniency said, among other things, that Williams changed her plea to guilty and was given a suspended sentence of two years imprisonment together with a fine of $50,000.
That happened after Hanoman gave her age as between 14 and 18 years old and said the section under which she was charged stipulated mandatory imprisonment, but an amendment to Section 73 of the Narcotic Drugs Act provides for young persons like her to be treated in a different way.
The memorandum said the Act allows a magistrate the discretion to impose either a custodial or non-custodial sentence in such cases.
It added that Defence Counsel said Williams had placed fourth on the list of candidates who topped the country at the Secondary Schools Entrance Examination (SSEE) and was then attending UG in pursuit of a degree in Computer Science.
After taking all the issues into consideration, the sentence was meted out because the magistrate considered the penalty to be just and reasonable punishment in the circumstances of her case, the memorandum explained.
But the Police were dissatisfied with the February 3, 2006 outcome and appealed for it to be reversed, as well.
The case for the Police was argued by Acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mrs. Shalimar Ali-Hack.
In concluding her arguments, she submitted that, in the circumstances of the case, Williams ought to have been imprisoned on the facts and the principles of sentencing.
Pressing for what she called the “right sentence”, Ali-Hack told the judges it would send a message to young persons who are potential traffickers of narcotics.
Her guilty plea having been considered, Williams should be jailed for three years as opposed to the maximum five years, Ali-Hack successfully proposed.
Immediately after the Full Court ruling, Williams was taken into Police custody to await transportation to a jail.THE Full Court yesterday set aside a suspended sentence for a drug conviction and imposed a three years jail term on 18-year old University of Guyana student Nicole Williams.
Chief Justice Carl Singh and Justice Dawn Gregory-Barnes inflicted the penalty on the prisoner who was convicted of trafficking a narcotic last year.
Williams was also fined $30,000 by the Full Court, with the directive that she gets a refund of the $20,000 from the $50,000 paid in the Magistrate’s Court.
That was in the order as the Full Court allowed an appeal by the Police against the lower Court decision.
Williams was busted at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, with four kilogrammes 363 grammes of cocaine strapped to her body during a strip search after she was seen acting suspiciously on January 28, 2006.
The convict, who was booked on a flight to the United States, pleaded guilty and was let off with a suspended sentence following a plea in mitigation by Defence Counsel Glen Hanoman.
The lawyer had submitted, to the magistrate, that on account of her age, Williams fell in the special circumstances category which gave that tribunal the discretion to treat her differently.
The memorandum of reasons for the leniency said, among other things, that Williams changed her plea to guilty and was given a suspended sentence of two years imprisonment together with a fine of $50,000.
That happened after Hanoman gave her age as between 14 and 18 years old and said the section under which she was charged stipulated mandatory imprisonment, but an amendment to Section 73 of the Narcotic Drugs Act provides for young persons like her to be treated in a different way.
The memorandum said the Act allows a magistrate the discretion to impose either a custodial or non-custodial sentence in such cases.
It added that Defence Counsel said Williams had placed fourth on the list of candidates who topped the country at the Secondary Schools Entrance Examination (SSEE) and was then attending UG in pursuit of a degree in Computer Science.
After taking all the issues into consideration, the sentence was meted out because the magistrate considered the penalty to be just and reasonable punishment in the circumstances of her case, the memorandum explained.
But the Police were dissatisfied with the February 3, 2006 outcome and appealed for it to be reversed, as well.
The case for the Police was argued by Acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mrs. Shalimar Ali-Hack.
In concluding her arguments, she submitted that, in the circumstances of the case, Williams ought to have been imprisoned on the facts and the principles of sentencing.
Pressing for what she called the “right sentence”, Ali-Hack told the judges it would send a message to young persons who are potential traffickers of narcotics.
Her guilty plea having been considered, Williams should be jailed for three years as opposed to the maximum five years, Ali-Hack successfully proposed.
Immediately after the Full Court ruling, Williams was taken into Police custody to await transportation to a jail.