Pregnant American – By Latrishka Thomas
Pregnant American Woman Fined
An American woman of Antiguan parentage has been fined $3,000 after she was caught with cannabis at the VC Bird International Airport as she prepared to fly home following a family visit.
Forty-year-old Keishell Labeach — who was four-months pregnant — was intercepted at the airport’s oversized baggage area on March 25 after security personnel alerted uniformed officers to a concern.
The police subsequently discovered two transparent bags, three capsules, and two Ziploc bags containing cannabis among her belongings. The drugs, which weighed a total of 163.4 grams, was valued at $1,634.
Labeach made no attempt to deny ownership when questioned by officers. She told them the cannabis was hers and that she had placed it in her suitcase following an argument at home and forgotten it was there.
When she appeared before Chief Magistrate Ngaio Emanuel last week, her attorney Wendel Alexander told the court that his client had no intention of travelling with the substance and asked for a non-custodial sentence, drawing the court’s attention to the fact that she was four months pregnant.
Labeach was ordered to pay the fine within 14 days, or she would serve six months in prison in default. The cannabis was confiscated.
Yesterday, the Chief Magistrate applied the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court sentencing guidelines in determining the penalty, placing the offence in a category which attracted a non-custodial sentence at the lower end of the scale.
Labeach therefore ordered to pay the state within 14 days or spend six months in prison.
The cannabis was also confiscated.
