Mother takes rap for daughter

Cocaine in handbag

…jailed 4 years, fine $7.1M after pleading guilty

Days after being held for cocaine possession, 19-year-old Rachael Narine was earlier Thursday relieved of charges laid against her, since her mother, Kavita Persaud, 40, took responsibility for the crime.
The case was re-read and Persaud pleaded guilty to all charges.
The duo made their second appearance at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan.
It was alleged that on February 14, 2018, ranks attached to the Customs Anti-

Narcotics Unit (CANU) working at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) conducted a search of a female passenger, who was scheduled to travel to the USA and found a quantity of suspected cocaine amounting to 2.660 kilograms concealed in her handbag.
CANU Prosecutor Konyo Sandiford told the court that after being intercepted and searched at the CJIA, Narine, along with her mother, was escorted to CANU headquarters, where they gave oral and written confession statements, including the name of the person who hired Narine to carry the illicit substance overseas.
The investigators were also provided with information surrounding the amount of money Narine was paid and the location she collected the parcel containing the drug among other details.
The tearful Persaud in her defence told the court that she was a single mother of three children and was desperate at the time and in need of shelter, so she needed the money.
She was fined $7.182 million and sentenced to four years and six months in prison.