Foreign drug mules languishing in East La Penitence lock-ups awaiting deportation

Jan 24, 2013 News

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By Dale Andrews  

Several weeks after completing their sentences, two foreign drug mules remain languishing in the East La Penitence lock-ups awaiting deportation.
The two women, American Hajar Bourne, and Cheryll Nosia Kwitshanna of South Africa, were released from prison into the custody of Immigration officials earlier this month after serving time for trafficking in narcotics.
But the remainder of their stay in Guyana could be determined by relatives, who according to a senior police officer, are responsible for providing the airline ticket for their return home.

So far, there has been some movement on the part of South African-born Kwitshanna, with respect to leaving the severe conditions of the East La Penitence lock-ups.
Two weeks ago, Kwitshanna had her happiness cut short when she was detained at the Piarco International Airport in Trinidad and sent back to Guyana, where she is currently languishing in the lock-ups at the East La Penitence Police Station.
As for the American, this newspaper understands that efforts are being undertaken by the United States Embassy to assist with her repatriation.
Both women have been in custody since 2009. Yesterday, after some queries by this newspaper, frantic efforts were being made by the Ministry of Home Affairs, through the local Immigration Office to initiate proceedings to have their plights addressed.
In response to queries from this newspaper the Ministry of Home Affairs stated, “The sending State would be responsible for deportation.  The receiving State could also play a role in this regard as well as the family of the person being deported.”
The Ministry also stated, “It is acceptable for the representative of the State from which the national is from, to have access to him/her and in this case to take the person into their care for consular welfare once they are no longer being detained.”
When this newspaper visited the East La Penitence Police Station yesterday, the women were prevented from speaking to reporters despite their protestations that they were entitled to at least one visitor per day.
One of them complained of being forced to be without shoes on the cold concrete of the lock-ups where inmates are also made to sleep throughout their stay there.
But the remainder of their stay is fraught with severe hardships, as the situation in the East La Penitence lock-ups is hardly anything to shout about.
And to make matters worse, since they have no relatives in Guyana they are forced to depend on some locals who have in turn taken advantage of their situation.
Kwitshanna tells of a story of being robbed of several hundred thousand dollars by a Guyanese policeman who had befriended her and in whom she had entrusted her bail money after she was sentenced.
Both Kwitshanna and Bourne are currently at the mercy of good natured Guyanese who have been looking into their welfare.
Kwitshanna is grateful to one Guyanese ‘Good Samaritan’, who has been providing her with meals since her release from the New Amsterdam Prison.
The ‘Good Samaritan’, a woman who spoke to this newspaper yesterday has been taking breakfast for her, which is shared with other prisoners in obvious.
Her son takes care of the lunch for the stricken South African.
“I think how they have her is wrong; she can’t even talk to anyone, while other prisoners are being allowed to. They are saying that she is a guest of the state but they are treating her like an animal,” the woman who asked not to be named told this newspaper.
According to the woman, Kwitshanna said that she was contacted by someone purporting to be the Consul to South Africa on Monday.
“The person promised to call her back but never did and it is like if she is freaking out. She can’t sleep, she is barefoot all the time. Even if they want to hold her until she is deported, they should find a proper facility to have her,” she said.
According to the woman she met Kwitshanna while visiting another relative who was incarcerated.
She said that a few weeks ago, she was happy to learn that the South African had completed her time and was leaving for home.
The woman said that when Kwitshanna was sent back to Guyana and was dumped back into the lock-ups, she knew that she had to look after her welfare.
This newspaper learnt of Kwitshanna’s case after she was returned to local police custody, and placed into the lock-ups, an undesirable situation for a foreign national who would have spent three years in the harsh Guyana penal system.
In 2009, Kwitshanna, a South African by birth who was living in the United Kingdom was nabbed at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Timehri with a quantity of narcotics.
She is one of more than 600 South African drug mules and drug traffickers languishing in foreign jails. Almost half of these are in jails in South America.
Kwitshanna was charged with trafficking in narcotics and was found guilty by Magistrate Priya Beharry who sentenced her to three years’ imprisonment and ordered that she be deported upon completion of the sentence.
Like the American Bourne, Kwitshanna’s time expired at the beginning of this year and she was subsequently released on January 3.
Her relatives must have been eager for her to return home for they had her ticket ready and waiting.
Immediately upon her release, she was handed over to local immigration officials for them to effect the deportation.
Just as her family was eager to have her return home, so too were the Guyanese officials to deport her, for she was escorted to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and placed on a Caribbean Airlines flight for Trinidad en route to London, England, from where she had arrived almost four years ago.
Her troubles started when she arrived in Trinidad.
British Embassy officials there recognized that Kwitshanna, although she lived in England for a number of years, had lost her temporary residence status to return there and was therefore not permitted to enter the United Kingdom.
It was explained that she had an indefinite stay to remain in England which she forfeited, since she had been out of the UK for such an extended period, in this case more than three years.
But the Guyanese woman who is looking after her welfare told this newspaper that it would be difficult for Kwitshanna to reintegrate into the South African society.
“She doesn’t know anything about South Africa; she was living in England since she was small. She is not a fool, she speaks seven different languages,” the Guyanese ‘Good Samaritan’ told Kaieteur News.

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