WESTERN BUREAU — An apology for his crime and cooperation with the police on Monday spared Catherine Hall resident, Herschell Binns an additional year in prison when he appeared before the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate’s court for sentencing on drug charges.

When the 23 year-old man appeared before the court, he was fined $160,000, but instead of being sentenced to two years imprisonment at hard labour, he got only one.

“Your honour I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I made a mistake…,” Binns told the court Monday.

As caregiver for younger brothers, Binns said he had found himself in financial straits and that he had felt that smuggling drugs was the answer to his money worries. But he said that after a month behind bars he had learnt his lesson and would not repeat his mistake. He also told the court that he had cooperated with the police and that his cooperation had led to the arrest of others involved in the drug trade, even as he pleaded for leniency and threw himself at the court’s mercy.

“The offences against you are very serious and they attract up to five years on each count… You passed out one pound and 10 ounces of cocaine. Normally I consider that a sentence of two years is appropriate,” presiding magistrate, Valerie Stephens, told him.

“But I heard what you said about suffering hardship, that you have younger brothers and that you cooperated with the police and that you are sorry.”

The result was a lenient sentence.

For possession of the drug, he was fined $60,000 or six months. And for attempting to export it, he was fined $100,000 or six months and sentenced to a mandatory 12 months behind bars.

The charge of dealing in the drug was dismissed.

The court was told that on February 26 the police stopped Binns at the Sangster International Airport, where they interviewed him. He was later taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where he passed out the pellets of cocaine. He was subsequently charged with breaches of the Dangerous Drugs Act.