Women get 18 months for drug possession

Hamilton, Bermuda (CMC):

Two women who smuggled almost US$30,000 worth of drugs into Bermuda on board a charter flight from Jamaica have each been jailed for 18 months.

Bermudians Desiree Burrows, 21, and Shaniqwa O'Brien, 20, admitted concealing marijuana on their bodies before boarding the flight from Jamaica to Bermuda on January 8, when they appeared in Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

Burrows and O'Brien drew suspicion from customs officers after arriving at L.F. Wade International Airport. They were arrested separately on suspicion of importing drugs.

They were later found to have imported 282 grams of cannabis resin, 141.5 grams each, with a total street value of US$28,300.

Circumstances

O'Brien later told police she and Burrows had been offered a total of US$5,000 by a Bermudian male whom she could not name.

"It would seem to me that the only mitigating circumstances are the early guilty plea. They must benefit from the early guilty plea," Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner said.

"The purpose of sentence in these types of cases is a deterrent, and that all these cases it should be an immediate custodial sentence."

Addressing the magistrate, O'Brien said: "I am really sorry I did this and I just want to get back to living my life."

Burrows said: "I understand what I did and I need to take responsibility for my actions but I'm truly sorry.

"I don't know why I did it because I had a job."