PAULETTE Higgins, the woman whose baggage tag was switched earlier this week at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston and placed on one containing 57 pounds (25.95 kilogrammes) of cocaine, was freed in court yesterday.

Higgins, a Jamaican who resides in Florida, USA, appeared before Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey, who freed her after the prosecution asked that the charges be dropped because of insufficient evidence against the accused.

"Miss Higgins, the charges against you have been dropped. You are free to go," RM Pusey told the relieved woman, who had spent three days in lock-up.

"I spent three days in hell," Higgins said after the trial yesterday. "I have never even been in a police station before."

Yesterday, her attorney, B Lloyd Wiggan, said he would be discussing with his client the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the state for false imprisonment and malicious arrest.

"This is being discussed. It is a consideration," Wiggan told the Observer after the court hearing.

Higgins was taken off an Air Jamaica flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston on Sunday after security officials alleged they had found cocaine worth US$519,000 or J$31,140,000 in one of her suitcases. She had earlier boarded the plane at the Donald Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay.

When she was shown the suitcase, Higgins denied ownership. The police said Higgins described a different suitcase as belonging to her.

The police said the woman's suitcase was later found without her name tag at the Norman Manley International Airport with all of her belongings intact.

According to Wiggan, the name tag on his client's bag was switched and placed on the one bearing the contraband.
"There was no way she could have come in contact with her luggage while she was in transit," Wiggan said.

She was arrested and charged for possession of cocaine, dealing in cocaine and taking steps to export cocaine on Sunday night.

Higgins, a nurse, had come to Jamaica after Hurricane Ivan to assist her relatives with relief supplies. She was returning to Florida on Sunday night to report for work on Monday.

Air Jamaica has since prepared documents outlining the dilemma she had faced to be given to her employers when she returns to Florida.

- walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com

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