Jailed Barbados drug mule leaves mom in legal pickle

Kyle Archer, the Barbadian national who was last month sentenced to four years in jail for trafficking in cocaine, was also facing a charge of rape in his home country and his incarceration here has left his mother facing a three-month sentence if she doesn’t fork over half the amount that was set for his bail.

Police had said Archer, who was an outgoing passenger destined for Barbados, was arrested by ranks of the Guyana Police Force at the Eugene F. Correia International Airport after cocaine, wrapped in women’s undergarments, was found strapped to his legs last October. He pleaded guilty to the crime and was subsequently sentenced.

According to a Barbados Today report, earlier this week Archer’s attorney, Roy Hurley, appeared in a court and informed Magistrate Douglas Frederick that his client was in a Georgetown prison serving a four-year sentence after he was caught smuggling drugs into Guyana.

Hurley said he was shocked when he learned of what had happened.

The report added that Archer’s mother told the court she was not aware that her son had left the country.

“He left home for school at the [Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic]. I didn’t know he was going away.

He left dress for school, with school bag and all that, Sir, and that was the last time I saw him . . . October 6,” she was quoted as saying.

The report said the mother went on to explain that she did not check her son’s whereabouts when she did not see him, as he has a young child with his girlfriend and usually slept at her. “I thought he was with his girlfriend . . . and she thought he was with me,” the mother added.

Hurley said Archer’s action was a “stupid move on his part” as he had now left his mother to bear the burden.

“This mother standing surety and most mothers will do the same, but he took advantage of his mother [as] there is no way she can check on him 24-7,” the lawyer said.

Archer was out on BD$10,000 bail on a charge of having sexual intercourse with an underage girl. His mother has six months to pay the court BD$5,000 of the total bail amount or she will spend three months in jail.