The tearful sobs of a 23-year-old Dominican mother of two echoed through a court room yesterday in the silent few moments after the jury returned a guilty verdict in her drug smuggling trial.
We should not forget that these couriers are people too- defence
The storm clouds gathering over the capital mirrored the mood in the court following the conviction, with even Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano declaring that he had a difficult night ahead of him calibrating punishment.
Sugeidy Castillo, who gave birth to a child in prison, was found guilty by seven votes to two of conspiring to import a kilogram of heroin and being in possession of the drug which denote it was not for her exclusive use. She was also found unanimously guilty of importing the substance. It took the jurors five hours to reach their verdict.
The drugs were found in a hidden compartment in her luggage on July 13, 2009, after she arrived on a flight from Brussels. On Monday she told jurors she had come to Malta to prostitute herself after finding herself in a desperate financial situation.
She said she did not know there were drugs hidden in the bag and neither that she was pregnant, which she find out while in custody awaiting trial. In submissions on punishment, defence lawyer Edward Gatt described the case as “heart breaking” because of the circumstances the woman found herself in: being forced to prostitute herself but ending up as a drug courier.
“We should not forget that these couriers are people too. These people find themselves caught up because of deep personal and social problems”, he said.
He appealed to the judge to exercise his wide discretionary powers when meting out punishment, adding that the very low level of purity of the drugs should also have a bearing.
The prosecuting lawyer from the Attorney General’s Office, Philip Galea Farrugia, said he agreed couriers were vulnerable people but the fact of the matter was that drugs were entering the country through such people. He said that as regards punishment, the court should not treat anyone any differently.
Last night, Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano said he would be passing sentence today at 9 a.m. after giving it serious thought.