Granny fined over drugs found at old-age home

AT the grandmotherly age of 63, a Windhoek resident on Friday notched up her first conviction for possessing illegal drugs – in the form of a hoard of 2 003 Mandrax tablets.

By no stretch of the imagination could Margareth Pholoma be said to fit the stereotypical image of a drug dealer or of someone with a habit of having illegal substances in her possession. Still, neatly and conservatively dressed in a matronly dress and headscarf, this bespectacled mother of three sons – aged between 43 and 29 – had to take her place in the dock in the Windhoek Regional Court on Friday.She faced charges of illegally dealing in drugs, alternatively possessing illegal drugs.Pholoma opted to plead guilty to the alternative charge, and Public Prosecutor Brownwell Uirab accepted the plea.Her lawyer, Bradley Basson, told Magistrate Christie Mostert that she was admitting that 2 003 Mandrax tablets, weighing 2,9 kilograms and with a street value of N$100 150, were found in her possession at – of all places – the Katutura Old Age Home on March 10 2003.According to Pholoma, she had been approached that morning by a man who introduced himself as a friend of her brother, Basson told the Magistrate.He said the man asked Pholoma if she could keep something for him as he was still looking for a place to stay, and he then left what he said were tablets that he planned to sell with her.The man seemed very concerned about the bag he was leaving with her, the Magistrate was told.In return for the favour he gave Pholoma N$500.She then kept the bag in her office at the Katutura Old Age Home, where she has been working for the past 19 years, Basson said.Pholoma is now employed as the supervisor at the Katutura Old Age Home, and takes home a salary of about N$1 000 after deductions each month, Basson informed the Magistrate.The Police arrived at her office that afternoon and found the Mandrax tablets in the office, Pholoma admitted.At the age of 63, Pholoma has now had her first run-in with the law, Basson said.Pleading with the court not to send her to prison, he remarked that she had already learned a lesson from her arrest and prosecution: “She learned that a quick buck of N$500 would end up getting her into trouble.”Magistrate Mostert told Pholoma that he regarded the crime that she had admitted to as serious.However, to send her to prison would simply have the effect of ruining the rest of her life, he said.He sentenced her to pay a fine of N$10 000 or serve two years’ imprisonment, and also added a five-year jail term, which was suspended in whole for five years on condition that she is not convicted of dealing in or possessing prohibited dependence-producing drugs during the period of suspension.The fine was paid on Friday.Still, neatly and conservatively dressed in a matronly dress and headscarf, this bespectacled mother of three sons – aged between 43 and 29 – had to take her place in the dock in the Windhoek Regional Court on Friday. She faced charges of illegally dealing in drugs, alternatively possessing illegal drugs.Pholoma opted to plead guilty to the alternative charge, and Public Prosecutor Brownwell Uirab accepted the plea.Her lawyer, Bradley Basson, told Magistrate Christie Mostert that she was admitting that 2 003 Mandrax tablets, weighing 2,9 kilograms and with a street value of N$100 150, were found in her possession at – of all places – the Katutura Old Age Home on March 10 2003.According to Pholoma, she had been approached that morning by a man who introduced himself as a friend of her brother, Basson told the Magistrate.He said the man asked Pholoma if she could keep something for him as he was still looking for a place to stay, and he then left what he said were tablets that he planned to sell with her.The man seemed very concerned about the bag he was leaving with her, the Magistrate was told.In return for the favour he gave Pholoma N$500.She then kept the bag in her office at the Katutura Old Age Home, where she has been working for the past 19 years, Basson said.Pholoma is now employed as the supervisor at the Katutura Old Age Home, and takes home a salary of about N$1 000 after deductions each month, Basson informed the Magistrate.The Police arrived at her office that afternoon and found the Mandrax tablets in the office, Pholoma admitted.At the age of 63, Pholoma has now had her first run-in with the law, Basson said.Pleading with the court not to send her to prison, he remarked that she had already learned a lesson from her arrest and prosecution: “She learned that a quick buck of N$500 would end up getting her into trouble.”Magistrate Mostert told Pholoma that he regarded the crime that she had admitted to as serious.However, to send her to prison would simply have the effect of ruining the rest of her life, he said.He sentenced her to pay a fine of N$10 000 or serve two years’ imprisonment, and also added a five-year jail term, which was suspended in whole for five years on condition that she is not convicted of dealing in or possessing prohibited dependence-producing drugs during the period of suspension.The fine was paid on Friday.