Young Briton fined $735,000 for drugs
WESTERN BUREAU — Montego Bay Resident Magistrate Valerie Stephens this week slapped 21 year-old Briton, Sean Kerswell, with a $735,000 fine and a two-year prison term for trying to export 228 pounds of ganja from the island.
If the fines are not paid the young man may have to spend an additional 12 to 18 months behind bars.
Kerswell, a college graduate now employed as a dental technician, was caught with the ganja while on his way back to Britain on May 14.
He was stopped at the security checkpoint at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay about 4:30 pm and his suitcases searched.
The search turned up the 228 pounds of ganja for which Kerswell was later charged with breaches of the Dangerous Drugs Act.
When the case was brought before the Montego Bay RM Court Tuesday, the youth pleaded guilty to possession of, dealing in and attempting to export the illegal substance. But his attorney, Jacqueline Minto, painted a picture of him as a young man who had little choice but to transport the illegal drug.
Minto told the court that her client incurred debts while in college and told a friend of his troubles. The friend assisted him and over time, she said, Kerswell became indebted to his friend.
“He told his tale of woe to a friend in college and as his financial debts to that person increased it landed him in prison,” the attorney said.
But her client’s reasons for joining the drug trade aside, Minto asked the RM to be lenient, as her client was young.
But the RM’s response was that Kerswell ought to have known better.
“You seem like a bright enough young man,” RM Stephens told Kerswell in response to his attorney’s appeal. “You should never resort to a criminal act… And you know yourself that if you had reached England with 220 pounds of ganja you would be going away for a long time.”
For possession of the drug he was fined $15,000 or six months. For dealing in it he was fined $320,000 or six months. And for attempting to export it he was fined $400,000 or six months and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.
