Nayele Ametefe sentenced 8 years, 8 months
Nayele Ametefe was sentenced on her own plea by the Isleworth Crown Court in London Tuesday afternoon. The sentence was discounted because of her early guilty plea.
Luv FM's Kwabena Ampratwum, who was in court, said Nayele appeared in court well dressed and looked in different when the sentence was handed down.
An aggressive family member of the convicted drug courier, Ampratwum said, attacked some members of the press outside the court after the sentence was pronounced.
On what transpired in the court, the Luv FM journalist reported prosecutors as saying that the cocaine carried by Nayele had a purity of 78% and a street value of 1.872 million Pounds.
The prosecutors told the court Nayele had $23,000 and an additional 6,000 Pounds in her handbag when she was arrested.
The money was payment for her courier services.
According to the prosecutors, Nayele Ametefe, whose brazen act shocked even the most notorious daredevil, was carting the cocaine to South America.
Her travel itinerary, the court was told indicated that she was leaving the United Kingdom two days after her arrival, for the Dominican Republic.
The 12 kilograms of cocaine was, therefore, not meant to be consumed in the UK.
Highly connected
In his submission for mitigation, lawyer for Nayele told the court she came from an underprivileged home and married a spare parts dealer at Ghana's famous spare-parts market, Abossey Okai.
She has three children, the first being 16 years old. Her marriage broke down and she has been a single mother.
According to the lawyer, Nayele came into contact with powerful people in 2004 and her life changed dramatically. She travelled extensively with influential people as their companion.
The lawyer said Nayele has remained connected to powerful people in authority who are currently in power in Ghana.
She was forced by circumstances to engage in transporting drugs to support her newly attained high-class lifestyle and to take care of her three children, the lawyer said.
However, Nayele would not disclose the identities of her handlers, claiming concerns over the safety of her children, should she do so.
After listening to both prosecution and defence counsel, the court convicted the 32-year-old to eight years and eight months' imprisonment.
She has to serve at least half of the term before she can be eligible for parole.
The case is pending for confiscation hearing on 6th July 2015, Godwin Adjei-Gyamfi, former Senior Prosecutor, Crown Prosecutor Service, UK, said in a facebook post.
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