By Roy Sanford, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
A BRITISH woman, Michelle Campbell, was fined $96,000 in the Montego Bay RM court on Wednesday after she pleaded guilty to possession of, dealing in and attempting to export 17 pounds of ganja out of the island.
She was sentenced to serve a mandatory three-month sentence at hard labour in the prison for the offence.
Campbell was arrested at the Sangster International on November 12 about midday. According to court documents she was about to board Air Jamaica flight 002 to London when she was stopped and searched at the security checkpoint. She checked-in a quantity of oranges, soursop and tin items in a suitcase. The ganja was found concealed in the fruit and tin items.
In a mitigation plea on Campbell's behalf, attorney-at-law Dalton Reid said that Campbell came to Jamaica to spend some time with her 'baby father' and when she was returning to England she was asked to take the fruits and tin items to someone there. "She did not take the precautions she should have taken (to check)," he said.
He begged for leniency for Campbell saying this was her first conviction and she is a regular visitor to the island.
Before handing down the sentence Resident Magistrate Valrie Stephens said that she was taking into consideration the fact that Campbell had pleaded guilty to the offence and it was her first conviction. However she pointed out that drug smuggling was a very serious offence that had to be punished. If the fines are not paid Campbell is expected to spend a total of 15 months in prison.
