Pregnant woman gets 6 months for ganja
A woman, who is seven months pregnant, was sentenced to six months in prison after she was caught trying to export ganja in her luggage.
The woman, 19 year-old Melissa Ferrigon, pleaded guilty to charges of possession of, dealing in and taking steps to export marijuana when she appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
Ferrigon was fined $27,000 or six months for the charge of dealing, $136,000 or six months for taking steps to export the herb and was admonished and discharged on the charge of dealing in ganja. In addition, the woman was sent to prison for six months for exporting contraband. If the fines are not paid the sentences will run consecutively to the mandatory six months but concurrently with each other.
The court was told that Ferrigon, of Whitehall Avenue in Kingston, was about to board a flight to New York on December 6, this year. However, the suitcase that she checked in appeared abnormally shaped and when checked it was found to contain 17 pounds of ganja in a false compartment. The woman was then arrested and charged by Detective Constable Homer Morgan of the Airport Police. In a cautioned statement, Ferrigon is reported to have told the officer that she had borrowed the suitcase.
Resident Magistrate Jennifer Straw presided over the matter.