Businesswoman held with cocaine at Kingston airport fined $245,000

Businesswoman Tashika Grant who was held in September 2022 with more than two pounds of cocaine at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston on Tuesday pleaded guilty and was fined a total of $245,000.

She was fined $15,000 for possession of cocaine and $230,000 for attempting to export cocaine.

Attorney-at-law Able Don Foote pleaded for leniency for Grant after she made the guilty plea in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.

Senior Parish Judge Lori-Ann Cole-Montague dismissed the charges of conspiracy to export cocaine and dealing in cocaine.

Grant was about to board a flight for Florida on September 1,  2022, when she was searched by security personnel.

During the search, a bulge was felt at the back of her sweatpants.

Cocaine weighing more than two pounds were found strapped to her body.

Foote, in his plea for leniency, argued that the issue of duress was a live issue on the prosecution's case because Grant was assaulted and forced by assailants to carry the drugs.

Foote pointed out that the actions to carry the drugs were therefore not of Grant's own free will or voluntary.

He further argued that in those circumstances a non-custodial sentence should be imposed due to the fact that Grant was a contributing and productive member of the society who found herself in that quandary.

Following Foote's submissions, the judge indicated that the offences were serious but she would be minded to impose a non-custodial sentence due to the circumstances of the case and Grant's good character.

- Barbara Gayle

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