The Dominican mother of two who was found guilty on Tuesday of smuggling a kilogram of heroin in the country was yesterday jailed for 14 years and six months and fined €35,000. The maximum sentence for drug trafficking is life.

A jury had found Sugeidy Castillo, 23, guilty of conspiring to import, of importing and of possession of the drug which denote it was not for her exclusive use.

She arrived on a flight from Brussels on July 13, 2009. The heroin, which was 19.7 per cent pure, was found in a hidden compartment inside her luggage but she claimed she had no knowledge of it.On Tuesday evening, following the verdict, Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano said he had a difficult night ahead of him calibrating punishment after defence lawyer Edward Gatt highlighted the desperate situation Ms Castillo was in.

While awaiting trial in prison she gave birth to a baby girl who stayed with her for one year before the grandmother came to Malta to take her back to Spain.

Ms Castillo had originally claimed that she had gone to Amsterdam to prostitute herself and while there was told to come to Malta because she could make €1,000 per client which she would then have to split with a pimp.