The Federal High Court Abuja, on Monday, sentenced a 66-year-old woman, Sikirat Adeyemi, to five years in prison for exporting 1.340kg of heroine.
Adeyemi who was arraigned by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) had pleaded guilty to the offence.
When the matter was called on Monday, she pleaded for forgiveness, almost in tears, through an interpreter.
Delivering judgment, Justice Florence Giwa-Ogunbanjo, held that the crime she committed was a grievous one which the court could not forgive.
“In view of this, the defendant is sentenced to five years in prison. The sentence is to commence from when she was initially arrested,” the judge ruled.
She ordered that the convict’s international passport and the €1,000 found on her when she was arrested should be forfeited to the Federal Government.
She further ordered that the drugs recovered from her should be forfeited to the Federal Government and destroyed 90 days after the judgment, if it was not appealed against.
Earlier, counsel to Adeyemi, Mr Adrian Amadi, by way of “allocutus” told the court that “The convict is 66 years old with an aged mother of 98 years who she looks after. She was a successful business woman who lost her business which led her into this unfortunate situation.” (NAN)
