The two Jamaica-bound passengers who were nabbed at the airport on Monday following the discovery of cocaine stuffed in the soles of several pairs of shoes in their luggage, pleaded guilty yesterday to their trafficking-in- narcotics charges.
Artlaine Mentor, a 35-year-old businessman of 229 Long Creek, Linden/ Soesdyke Highway and Shellon Benjamin, a 26-year-old hairdresser of L61026 Critchlow Street, Tucville both admitted to the charge without hesitation when they appeared in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court. Acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan subsequently sentenced them both to three years in prison together with a $10,000 fine.
Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) prosecutor Oswald Massiah told the court that Benjamin at around 4:45 am on Monday checked into the Cheddi Jagan International Airport for a Caribbean Airlines flight BW484 flight bound for Jamaica with a stop in Trinidad. While being processed at the internal scanner, he said, Benjamin was questioned by a CANU officer who observed that she was nervous. Massiah told the court that as a result of this strange behaviour the mother of two was escorted to the external scanner area where she pointed out her brown suitcase to the CANU officer. A search was conducted on its contents and a pair of black slippers and a pair of sneakers were found to be unusually heavy. Massiah added that the officer later cut open the soles of the woman’s footwear and he discovered a cream-coloured substance wrapped in white tape.
Benjamin, Massiah said, was cautioned and taken to the CANU search room where she was instructed to remove the boots she was wearing. That was also searched and the same substance was discovered concealed in the soles. The woman remained silent during the period when the drugs were discovered and the CANU officer told her of the offence that was being committed, Massiah said.
He added that the woman was arrested and taken to CANU headquarters in Georgetown along with the boots containing the cocaine parcels. Massiah stated that on arrival at the headquarters the parcels were weighed and they amounted to 1,530 grammes.
When Benjamin arrived in court shortly after 11 am she had a blank look on her face. For the 15 minutes she was sitting on the bench before her case was called she was continuously glancing at family members sitting at the back of the courtroom.
Seconds after admitting to the offence there was a loud outburst from a family member who broke down in tears and had to be comforted by a woman sitting next to her.
Dressed in an orange and white jersey, blue denim three-quarter pants and blue slippers, the young mother told the court that she was very sorry for committing the act.
Attorney-at-law Vic Puran who spoke on her behalf as a friend of the court said that Benjamin failed to examine the items in her possession, something that she should have done.
“She comes before you as a person who did not know the contents but ought to have known”.
The defence counsel begged the court to grant Benjamin the minimum sentence since she had named the person who gave her the substance. The magistrate later told Benjamin that when children are involved, a person needs to stay away from these types of activities.
When the magistrate handed down the sentence, Benjamin burst into tears. She cried for a few minutes before she was escorted out of court.
About ten minutes after Benjamin’s case had concluded Mentore appeared before the magistrate.
Prosecutor Massiah informed the court that the two passengers were booked for the same flight. He stated that before Mentore boarded the flight, a female CANU officer carried out a random check on his suitcase in his presence. According to Massiah, the officer discovered four pink parcels of a powder suspected to be cocaine concealed in the soles of a pair of boots in the suitcase. Massiah stated that when questioned about the drugs, Mentore told the officer that he was having some financial difficulties and decided to buy a 1/4 kilogramme of cocaine to take to Jamaica to make some money. He was arrested, Massiah said, and the cocaine when weighed was 281 grammes.
In a 20-minute speech, Mentore begged the court to be lenient with him. He told the court that he exports building materials and was putting things in place to get a lumberyard set up here. Mentore explained that he was involved in a vehicular accident with a woman and because he didn’t have a licence he decided to repair the woman’s car instead of letting the matter reach the courts. The money he used to carry out the repairs, he said, came from the deposit for the lumberyard. He stated that owing to that he approached the bank to get a loan to start the lumberyard but was rejected.
“I was never involved in police activities or the court before… I recognize that I have made a mistake and I am willing to pay for it,” he said.
The businessman told the court that the area where he lives doesn’t even have jobs for the mothers of his seven children, and this compounded the situation even more since he had to be the sole breadwinner for them.
“Your honour I will do what I have to do to try to make a better life for myself the next time around.”
He said that when he went to the bank, he was told that he has to wait three months for a loan. According to Mentore he couldn’t wait that long because he had a commitment in Antigua that he had to fulfill and if that was not done in time he would have to pay money.
“There are so many temptations out there. I took a chance and this is where I ended up. I am already on a contract to deliver materials and I have so little money in my pocket. What am I to do?” Mentore said as tears welled up in his eyes.
According to him, he decided to do all of this on his own, including spending $200,000 of his lumberyard deposit money to buy the cocaine. He said that since he has been shipping materials overseas many persons have approached him to carry drugs.
“I am asking you as a man to a man, as a prisoner to a magistrate, see what you can do for me. It was only 281 grammes which should tell you that I only took a chance.”
He stated that the one night he spent in the Brickdam lock-ups was enough punishment for him. He said that the financial system in Guyana is strange since he cannot understand how a person could have all the requirements and still not get a bank loan.
