Drugs mule gets 24 months

PHILIPSBURG – The court in first Instance sentenced drugs mule Orlando Cyril Overman on Wednesday to a 24-month prison term, with 14 months suspended and 3 years of probation. The public prosecutor had demanded 24 months with 12 months suspended for the 43-year old defendant’s attempt to smuggle 1,050 grams of cocaine into St. Maarten in bolitas.

Overman was picked out at the airport on December 20 when he got off a  Caribbean Airways plane that arrived at the Princess Juliana International Airport from Trinidad.

Overman contested the weight of the cocaine found in the bolitas. “That cannot be correct. there were between 60 and 70 bolitas and there is never more than 10 grams in one bolita,” he said.

The defendant also said that he had the feeling they were waiting for him at the airport. That was correct. The public prosecutor said that there was a tip from the Marechaussee that there was a well-known drugs mule aboard the Caribbean Airways flight. “When he was questioned, he gave contradictory answers, he was nervous and he sweated a lot,” the prosecutor said, adding that he has no reason to doubt the report about the amount of cocaine found in the 85 bolitas Overman finally produced. The prosecutor said that Overman had transported the drugs because he needed money. A year ago, the Marechaussee in Statia confiscated $8,000 from him and since that time his small contractor-company was in financial trouble.

Attorney Zylena Bary told the court that her client was not a suspect when he arrived at the airport and that there was no reasonable suspicion of guilt. She also denied that her client is a well-know drugs mule and asked the court to declare the prosecution inadmissible or to acquit her client because the evidence is not admissible.

The judge said that customs personnel develops a feeling for drugs mules and that there was a reasonable suspicion of guilt when they held Overman for questioning. “The weight of the cocaine is not entirely clear, therefore I give you a little bit of the benefit of the doubt,” the judge said.

A cell phone investigators confiscated will be given back; the public prosecutor will look into the whereabouts of $450 that was also seized in December but that did not appear on the list of confiscated items. If the prosecutor manages to track the money down, it will be returned to the defendant.