Barbados court orders Vincentian woman to pay $50,000 for drugs

Vincentian Desrey Veronia Stowe has to come up with BDS$50,000, or she will spend the next three years behind bars in Barbados at Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP), Dodds.

Stowe was fined last week when she appeared in the District “B” Magistrates’ Court on four cocaine-related charges. Up to press time, the fine was not paid.{{more}}

Stowe, who is known locally as Vernice and is originally from Bequia, but lived at Belair, was on Monday, June 6 stopped at the Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados after authorities suspected the 35-year-old of being in possession of illegal narcotics.

She arrived in Barbados by air from St Vincent and the Grenadines on a LIAT flight and was interviewed by police and was later referred to Customs for a search of her luggage.

During the search, two bottles containing a liquid were found. Tests revealed that the liquid in both bottles was cocaine, weighing 1.5 kilograms.

As a result of the find, the mother of two was arrested and charged with possession of cocaine, possession

with intent to supply cocaine, trafficking cocaine and importation of cocaine.

Reports are that Stowe told police that she did not know that she was carrying the drugs, as she was given the bottles to take to someone.

Stowe’s arrest set social media on fire here, as she is a very popular individual, having in the past been involved in intimate relationships with a former country manager of a telecommunications company and a politician who contested the 2010 General Elections. It is alleged that the men are the fathers of her two children. (LC)