DRUG IMPORTER: I WANTED TO PAY FOR MY DAUGHTER'S OPERATION

A Polish father claimed yesterday he imported $270,000 worth of cocaine to
pay for an operation for his young daughter.

But Marius Orlowski's "sad story" failed to stop Acting Assistant Justice
Archibald Warner sending him to Westgate for seven years.

Orlowski, who cannot speak English, apologised through a Polish interpreter
and in a prepared statement translated for Supreme Court said: "I know the
court will have a hard time believing what I'm saying but I was guided
completely by the well being of my daughter. My wife with whom I'm
separated left for America. And left the child with me."

The statement went on to say that in order to correct a birth defect the
young girl required an operation on her legs every few years costing
$5,000-$8,000 each time.

But despite Orlowski's "sad story" Mr. Justice Warner said that his
sentencing "was not a question of lack of compassion but merely observing
the high court's judgements. So little can be given in these circumstances
and the little that can be given will be given." According to a previous
Court of Appeals' decision, a judge can give only limited consideration
when sentencing a parent who commits a crime to provide for a sick child.

"The courts can't have a sentimental view," added Mr. Justice Warner.

But Mr. Justice Warner said that he did weigh up Orlowski's guilty plea as
well as his co-operation with Police in considering his sentence for a
crime which carried a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

On October 6 last year Orlowski was arrested based on specific information
given to Police, when he arrived on a flight from New York's JFK airport.
After Police had searched him and his bags, Orlowski was taken to King
Edward VII Memorial Hospital for an abdominal X-ray.

The X-ray revealed foreign objects were present in his abdomen and over the
course of the next four days Orlowski excreted 103 cream coloured pellets.
Upon examination the pellets were found to contain 1,017 grammes of cocaine
with a 68 percent purity.

Later, in an interview with Police, the defendant admitted that he had been
recruited in Poland to fly to Jamaica and from there to import drugs to
Bermuda.

Yesterday Orlowski's lawyer Elizabeth Christopher said that in addition to
his admission to the crime, Orlowski had given Police information on the
"limited operation" he was involved with in which Europeans were used as
drug mules.

According to Ms Christopher Orlowski provided Police with "the blue prints"
which resulted in the arrest of two Dutch women on October 22 for drug
importation.

In light of these circumstances, Ms Christopher asked for a sentence of
five to seven years for Orlowski.

But Crown counsel Anthony Blackman denied that the arrest of the two women
was in anyway assisted by the defendant and cited that the usual sentence
for drug importation of this magnitude was 10-12 years imprisonment.

Mr. Justice Warner said he had taken into consideration "the few mitigating
factors" of the case in his sentencing but also had to way up the large
street value of the drug as well as the "aggravating fashion" it was imported.