HAMEL-SMITH - MOMS TAKING THE RAP

WOMEN who take the rap for relatives on drug charges should not
expect the court to be lenient with them.

In a stern warning yesterday, acting Chief Justice Roger Hamel-Smith
said the courts have become wise to the practice of women, especially
pregnant mothers, taking the rap for their children.

"It has become the trick of the trade," Hamel-Smith said during the
hearing of magisterial appeal cases in the San Fernando High Court.

Yesterday Hamel-Smith, and Justice Stanley John ordered a 51-year-old
mother to pay $15,000 in 14 days, or serve three years hard labour
for the possession of 12 grammes of cocaine.

In the case, Barbara Thompson, appealed a custodial jail sentence
imposed by a magistrate in the Siparia Magistrates' Court in June for
the possession of cocaine.

Two other young relatives were charged, but Thompson pleaded guilty
to the offence. Hamel-Smith told Thompson that it was evident she had
decided to take the rap on their behalf and hoped the court would
have been lenient.

He referred to cases involving the discovery of large quantities of
drugs at homes, "but everybody gets off, except the person least
culpable", who in most cases was a woman.

If Thompson was taking the rap for her relatives, he told her
attorney Jagdeo Singh, "then why should she not be punished?"

Hamel-Smith reiterated the real culprits in drug cases were smiling
all the way to the bank, while their mothers plead guilty.