Twenty-four-year-old Althea Candacy Timmerman will be spending the next three years behind bars after she admitted to trying to smuggle cocaine onto a flight destined for Barbados, at the Ogle International Airport.
Timmerman, a receptionist and a resident of Bartica, pleaded guilty to a charge of possession for the purpose of trafficking when she appeared yesterday before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry in Georgetown.
It was alleged that on January 10, 2015, she had 1.134g of cocaine in her possession.
Told by the magistrate that the minimum penalty after pleading guilty to the offence was three years imprisonment, Timmerman, with tears in her eyes, said, “Your honour, I have a daughter and please be merciful.”
Her daughter is five years old.
Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Prosecutor Oswald Massiah said Timmerman agreed to smuggle the cocaine after she got involved in a relationship with a man, who asked her to take the illegal substance to Barbados. She was also promised a fee after transporting the cocaine.
On January 9, Massiah said, she was contacted via phone by the man and told to collect a suitcase.
After collecting it, she took it home and placed her personal belongings in it. On the next day, she went to the Ogle International Airport and attempted to board a flight to Barbados.
According to the prosecutor, Timmerman knew the suitcase contained the illegal substance at the time she collected it but could not say exactly where it was concealed. However, a CANU officer on duty at the airport checked the suitcase and found the cocaine.
In addition to the three-year sentence, the magistrate fined Timmerman $30,000.
