CRIMINAL CASE NO. 270 OF 2011
COURT: This is a sad story but it is a familiar one; an otherwise respectable, middle-aged person sucked into a life of trafficking in dangerous drugs for what is perceived to be a quick reward. You are not yourself a drug addict so there is simply no excuse for your involvement in such an offence. It may be that you were trying to do something for your own family but you are intelligent enough to understand that it would have been at the expense of other families battling to save their own loved ones from addiction to dangerous drugs.
This was a substantial quantity of cocaine worth $145,000 at street value. You will, as a mature adult, know full well the consequences of what you were doing and you will already know that this quantity of dangerous drugs falls within the tariff band under the relevant guidelines of 8 to 12 years’ imprisonment after trial. Yet, for that, you were prepared to jeopardise your own reputation and freedom as well as the happiness of your own family, who are here in court today to acknowledge, I accept, that you have, otherwise, been a good mother to them.
For the quantity of 123.64 grammes of cocaine, I take a starting point, after trial, of 10 years’ imprisonment.
You have two things going for you in mitigation. Firstly, you pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity, that is to say, before the Magistrates Court. For that you will get a full one-third discount which takes your sentence to 6 years and 8 months’ imprisonment.
Secondly, you are, for the purposes of this sentence, a mature woman of good character. There is a minor offence, which I am told took place in a domestic setting, over 30 years ago, which I am prepared to ignore for the purposes of sentence. However, it has been said that good character or a clear record counts for little with offences of this seriousness.
Nevertheless, given the fact that you have reached this age with only one minor infringement over 30 years ago and you have played fair with the system by not contesting your guilt and pleading guilty at the first available opportunity, notwithstanding your initial attempt to exonerate yourself to the police by claiming you did not know what the items in the storeroom were, I am prepared to shave your sentence, very slightly, by 2 further months.
The sentence of the court is that you go to prison for 6½ years.