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Magistrates’ Court assistant gets four years for swallowed cocaine

Jan 28, 2012 News

 

 

An office assistant at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court yesterday admitted to swallowing 86 pellets of cocaine with the intent to smuggle it out of the country and was sentenced to four years imprisonment and fined $30,000.
Terry De Freitas, 29, faced Magistrate Priya Sewnarine- Beharry with tearful eyes and pleaded guilty to the charge of n possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.
De Freitas was nabbed on January 26 by ranks of the Customs Anti- Narcotics Unit (CANU) when he attempted to leave Guyana aboard a BWIA flight destined for the Cayman Islands.
According to CANU prosecutor Oswald Massiah, on the day in question, the defendant was supposed to have been on duty at his place of work. Instead, he booked a flight for the said location and presented himself at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport at around 04:30 hours.
Massiah said that the flight would have stopped in Barbados and then Jamaica before heading to the Cayman Islands. But vigilant drug ranks at the airport became suspicious when they noticed that the defendant was travelling with only a few pieces of clothing. De Freitas was stopped from boarding the plane and taken to be questioned.
The drug prosecutor claimed that De Freitas’ response to the questions aroused further suspicion and he was taken to CANU headquarters to be interrogated. The prosecutor also said that the response the drug officers got from De Freitas caused them to take the suspect to a medical institution where it was discovered via X-ray that he had indeed swallowed foreign objects.
The man was then kept under close watch by drug officers and during this time he excreted the 86 pellets of cocaine that amounted to 1.044 kilograms.
De Freitas when asked by the court for his final words before sentencing asked for leniency. He said he took a chance for himself and his sisters.
The court responded by telling De Freitas that he asked for leniency but he was not remorseful for the act. Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry said he was old enough to know the consequences of his actions and the fact that he swallowed the drugs showed that he sought to conceal the illegal substance and therefore deceive law enforcement.
De Freitas was also told that he was an employee of the court system and, “today (yesterday) you brought disgrace to that system.” The sentence was subsequently read and De Freitas was led away to the holding area.

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