ST JAMES, Jamaica – A British woman was sentenced to 12 months in prison by the St James Parish Court for attempting to smuggle four and a half pounds of cocaine onto a flight to England.

Ashanta Ferguson, who was arrested in November of last year, was sentenced on Monday by presiding parish judge Kaysha Grant-Pryce after pleading guilty to possession, dealing, and attempting to export cocaine.

Ferguson’s attorney, Charles Williams, asserted during the sentencing hearing that the defendant had been tricked into smuggling the illegal substance by a man with whom she was romantically involved. Williams further argued that his client had not wasted the court’s time.

“She came for two weeks to spend time with her father, and while there she met a young man for whom she got pregnant. On the way to the airport, the young man gave her something and asked her to take it up [to England] for him, but whether or not you are academically smart, you still have to have common sense and you cannot say you did not know,” said Williams.

The accused woman’s involvement in cocaine trafficking left Judge Grant Pryce perplexed, given her position as a peer counsellor in Britain.

“These are very serious matters, and this was not a small personal amount of cocaine, plus it has a tremendously high street value out there. I find it strange that a peer counsellor, a person trained to mentor young minds, would contemplate such an activity, but I am not holding that against you; however, I cannot punish you with a slap on the wrist,” Grant Pryce told Ferguson.

Besides being obligated to serve a year-long prison sentence, Ferguson was also instructed to pay a hefty sum of $1 million for possession of cocaine and $500,000 for attempting to export it out of the country. Failure to pay these fines would result in an additional nine-month prison term. She was admonished and discharged for dealing in cocaine.

On November 19, 2022, at 7:00 pm, Ferguson was reportedly at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, preparing to board a flight to the United Kingdom, when her luggage was subjected to a routine search. While combing through her belongings, authorities found two hidden compartments in the woman’s luggage that contained cocaine with a street value of approximately £50,000 [J$9.5 million].

Ferguson was subsequently interviewed in the presence of her attorney on Monday, November 21, following which she was arrested and charged.