A mother of four, who told the court in a plea of mitigation that she trafficked a quantity of marijuana to provide for her four children, was on Friday sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and fined $754,000.
Anitha Qualis of New Amsterdam, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), was arraigned before Magistrate Crystal Lambert in the Bartica Magistrate’s Court.
The law stipulates that the offence warrants a minimum of three years’ imprisonment, but Magistrate Lambert agreed with the woman’s attorney, Siand Dhurjon, that there were sufficient and exceptional reasons to go below the mandatory minimum provided for in the Narcotics Act.
Convicted: Anitha Qualis
The Magistrate, however, disagreed with Dhurjon’s impassioned submissions that the accused should be given no sentence of imprisonment on compassionate grounds.
Dhurjon had highlighted that 35-year-old Qualis was deprived of having opportunities in life to advance herself. He explained that she did not attend secondary school and was a victim of sexual abuse from someone in a position of trust when she was only 11-years-old.
The attorney further explained that Qualis also bore three other children during an abusive six-year relationship; they are ages 10, 14, and 15.
Attorney-at-Law Siand Dhurjon
He told the court that, as a woman, Qualis was belittled and abused and kept down by her long-time partner, who eventually abandoned her.
He said, “She was abused physically, sexually, and humiliated emotionally by her partner and had little opportunity to improve her conditions.”
Dhurjon added that after his client lost her job at a snackette, she felt an “irresistible compulsion” to do all things necessary to feed her starving children.
He also explained that Qualis has had no criminal involvement save this incident.
For all of these reasons, when Magistrate Lambert handed down the sentence, Dhurjon applied for the suspension of the penalty under the Criminal Law Reform Act, Cap 11:05, which would have meant that Qualis would be released and if she reoffends then she would be reincarcerated.
But the learned Magistrate refused because she stated that she “did not see reason enough for the suspension of her sentence.”
The prosecution’s case stated that at 14:30h on September 19, ranks were on mobile patrol duty at Karrau village, Essequibo River, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), when they observed Qualis acting in a suspicious manner.
The woman was questioned, and she handed over a black compressed parcel containing a quantity of leaves, seeds, and stems suspected to be cannabis, which was hidden underneath her clothing. She was arrested and taken to the Bartica Police Station.
During her court appearance on September 22, Qualis told the court that: “I accepted the weed, I am a mother of four, and my children’s father left for the interior, and I never heard from him again. I decided to try a thing to provide for my children.”
However, Dhurjon, in an invited comment, said that he was retained by an Essequibo Coast, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) associate with a Non-Governmental Organisation to render services at no cost to Qualis at the Bartica Magistrate’s Court.
The attorney mentioned that the businessman has undertaken to provide gainful employment and counselling to Qualis upon her release. He also noted that moves are already underfoot to appeal the severity of the sentence against Qualis and to seek her urgent release in light of the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the prisons. (G1)
