PHILIPSBURG--Two young women from Brandon, Florida, were sentenced to 25 months imprisonment after the Court of First Instance found them both guilty of smuggling 8,754 grams of cocaine into St. Maarten on January 25, 2020.
The case against defendants Asia Eliallyaha Pitts (22) and Kayla Dalaina Smith (20) was heard by the judge in the Courthouse on Wednesday.
In connection with the coronavirus lockdown, both suspects, their lawyer Remco Stomp and the prosecutor attended the court hearing by video conferencing.
Customs officials found five packages of cocaine in the women’s luggage on their arrival at Princess Juliana International Airport from Curaçao three months ago. The illegal substance was concealed in hidden compartments in the women’s luggage.
A Narcotics Analysis Reagent Kit (NARK) was used to test the white substance found in the luggage, which revealed that the women were smuggling cocaine.
The two defendants are a couple and have the shared responsibility for two minor children. They denied any involvement with drugs and claimed that they had been vacationing and were on a one-night stopover in St. Maarten on their way home via Tortola and St. Thomas.
Lawyer Stomp pleaded for the “partial” acquittal of his clients, or their dismissal from all prosecution. He also pleaded for a lesser sentence.
According to the prosecutor, it could be legally and convincingly proven that the two defendants had “deliberately” tried to import more than eight kilos of cocaine into St. Maarten.
For this crime, Pitts and Smith should both be punished with prison sentences of 30 months, the prosecutor said, also calling for the confiscation of the drugs and the suitcases in which these were transported.
The Court imposed 25 months with reduction of the time already spent in pre-trial detention and ordered confiscation of the narcotics and those suitcases that had not previously been returned.
