A 31-YEAR-OLD drugs “courier” who tried to smuggle high-purity cocaine into Jersey to settle a debt has been jailed for five years.
Faustin Kapinga Mutombo, from London, travelled to the Island by ferry from Portsmouth on 17 January last year, carrying the drugs inside his body.
When stopped, Mutombo told Customs and Immigration officers he had come to Jersey to visit a friend.
But he was taken to Hospital and after two weeks there he passed two clingfilm-wrapped cylindrical packages containing 56 grams of cocaine.
The drugs had a 76% purity level and an estimated street value of between £8,400 and £14,000.
Crown Advocate Lauren Taylor, prosecuting, told the Royal Court that Mutombo had ten previous convictions, two of which were for importing cocaine and heroin.
She added that he was deemed at high risk of reconviction and recommended a sentence of five years and six months.
Mutombo appeared in court by video link from HMP Wandsworth, where he was held on remand. He has already served 422 days there – the equivalent of one year and nine months with the usual one-third reduction – and will serve the rest of his sentence in Wandsworth.
Advocate Allana Binnie, defending, argued for a shorter sentence.
She said Mutombo owed someone in the UK money which with interest had reached £8,000, and he had been pressurised into carrying the drugs in order to clear his debt.
She stressed: “He was a mere courier. There was no financial benefit for him. It was borne out of frustration.”
She also said Mutombo had endured “adverse childhood experiences” which had led to long-standing mental health problems.
Mutombo had once had a promising career as a mixed martial arts fighter but he had been diagnosed with leukaemia which had a devastating impact and put an end to his career, she said.
He will need to take anti-cancer medication for the rest of his life.
“His hopes, his dreams, the meaning of his life have all gone,” Advocate Binnie said.
She also pointed out that his previous drugs convictions were from ten years ago.
Commissioner Alan Binnington said the Jurats were taking into consideration Mutombo’s physical and mental health problems, but said he had been carrying “a commercial quantity” of drugs and added: “Couriers are a vital part of the enterprise. If there were no couriers the amount of drugs coming into Jersey would significantly reduce.”
Jurats Ronge, Le Cornu, Berry, Entwistle and Powell were sitting.
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