A woman who was reportedly caught with 16 1/2 pounds of ganja and US$500 in counterfeit notes bowled over the magistrate after she related to the court how she had come to be in possession of the illegal goods.

Nineteen-year-old Latoya Burke told RM Judith Pusey that she had purchased a raffle ticket and that she had won an all-expense paid trip, which was accompanied with spending money.

Burke, a pig vendor of Linstead, St Catherine, was arrested and charged on February 16 after the ganja was found in her suitcase, and the counterfeit notes found in her handbag at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston.

Burke was destined for Trinidad.

Last Wednesday when Burke appeared in court she relayed her incredible tale after her lawyer, Patrick Peterkin, told the magistrate that his client got caught up in the unfortunate situation after she won a trip to Trinidad.

“First I am hearing this one,” the magistrate quipped before Burke launched into her story.

“Well, Your Honour, you can ask mi mada. I had some raffle tickets and the first prize was a trip to Trinidad, the second prize was a TV, and the third was a fan,” she said.

The accused explained that it was a regular practice of hers to buy raffle tickets and that she did not even remember that she had bought the tickets until someone had called her to inform her that she had won.

“They called me and say ‘congratulations, you are the winner of etc’, and I said, ‘yeah, right’,” Burke said.

But she said she later got a second call from the same person who requested her passport information, which convinced her that the trip was real and so she gave the person her passport information.

Following that, Burke said the person called her and made arrangements for her to meet with persons from the company.

“They said they had some people on the road selling and I had actually bought one,” Burke said. “I buy it from a lady on the road.”

“They said I won US$800 spending cash and they asked me if I have a suitcase and I said ‘no’, and they said I would get one with new clothes, an all-expense-paid trip,” she added.

The magistrate, after listening to Burke, said, “Anytime a story sound too good to be true, it usually is.”

“I have been doing this for 16 years and it is the first time I am hearing this story,” the magistrate further said before remanding Burke until March 16.