Coke mule suspect closer to trial

COCAINE smuggling suspect Bruno da Silva Paiva must stand trial in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on charges of dealing in cocaine, alternatively possessing the drug, the Prosecutor General has instructed.

Paiva (29), who was arrested in Windhoek on April 25 last year after his wife, Darlin da Silva Paiva, had died of a suspected cocaine overdose, was informed about the Prosecutor General’s decision when he made his latest appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Paiva’s 26-year-old wife died in the couple’s flat in the city on the afternoon of April 25 last year.She and Paiva had returned to Windhoek after a trip to Sao Paulo in Brazil earlier that day.After her death, it was discovered that Paiva’s wife had some 31 foreign objects in her intestines, according to the Police.These objects were plastic pellets that allegedly contained cocaine.Darlin Paiva was killed when one of the objects broke open inside her stomach, releasing a fatal dose of the drug into her system, it is claimed.Bruno da Silva Paiva was kept under observation after being arrested following his wife’s death.According to the Police some 13 small plastic pellets, also containing cocaine, emerged from his digestive tract after his arrest.It is alleged that he and his wife had swallowed the drugs during their visit to Sao Paulo, in order to smuggle the drugs into Namibia.Theirs is the first drug-smuggling case of its kind in Namibia.Paiva should be indicted on a charge of dealing in dangerous dependence-producing drugs, consisting of 436 grams of cocaine that is valued at N$218 215, and an alternative charge of possessing the drugs, the Prosecutor General has instructed.This amount of cocaine includes the drugs allegedly found in his wife’s intestines.For a first conviction of dealing in the drugs, Paiva could be sentenced to up to 15 years’ imprisonment and a fine of N$30 000.Paiva, who was born in Angola and says he has been living in Namibia since 1994, remains free on bail of N$20 000 until his next scheduled court appearance on September 4, when a date should be set for his trial.Paiva and his wife had a daughter, who is now aged six.The child is in the care of the parents of Paiva’s wife.”What my wife and I did is totally unacceptable,” Paiva stated from the witness stand when he successfully applied for bail in September last year.”It was an accident,” he said about his wife’s death.”I blame it on circumstances which is life,” he said about the entire incident.In terms of his bail conditions he is still required to report at the Windhoek Police Station three times a day.He is also under virtual house arrest at night, as he is not allowed to leave the place where he lives between 20h00 and 06h00 without written permission from a designated Police officer.Paiva’s 26-year-old wife died in the couple’s flat in the city on the afternoon of April 25 last year.She and Paiva had returned to Windhoek after a trip to Sao Paulo in Brazil earlier that day.After her death, it was discovered that Paiva’s wife had some 31 foreign objects in her intestines, according to the Police.These objects were plastic pellets that allegedly contained cocaine.Darlin Paiva was killed when one of the objects broke open inside her stomach, releasing a fatal dose of the drug into her system, it is claimed.Bruno da Silva Paiva was kept under observation after being arrested following his wife’s death.According to the Police some 13 small plastic pellets, also containing cocaine, emerged from his digestive tract after his arrest.It is alleged that he and his wife had swallowed the drugs during their visit to Sao Paulo, in order to smuggle the drugs into Namibia.Theirs is the first drug-smuggling case of its kind in Namibia.Paiva should be indicted on a charge of dealing in dangerous dependence-producing drugs, consisting of 436 grams of cocaine that is valued at N$218 215, and an alternative charge of possessing the drugs, the Prosecutor General has instructed.This amount of cocaine includes the drugs allegedly found in his wife’s intestines.For a first conviction of dealing in the drugs, Paiva could be sentenced to up to 15 years’ imprisonment and a fine of N$30 000.Paiva, who was born in Angola and says he has been living in Namibia since 1994, remains free on bail of N$20 000 until his next scheduled court appearance on September 4, when a date should be set for his trial.Paiva and his wife had a daughter, who is now aged six.The child is in the care of the parents of Paiva’s wife.”What my wife and I did is totally unacceptable,” Paiva stated from the witness stand when he successfully applied for bail in September last year.”It was an accident,” he said about his wife’s death.”I blame it on circumstances which is life,” he said about the entire incident.In terms of his bail conditions he is still required to report at the Windhoek Police Station three times a day.He is also under virtual house arrest at night, as he is not allowed to leave the place where he lives between 20h00 and 06h00 without written permission from a designated Police officer.