Drug-mule granny is jailed for €400k haul

Nicola Donnelly

A GRANDMOTHER who imported over €400,000 of cocaine into the country has been sentenced to eight years in jail, with six and a half years suspended.

Martina Joseph (45) acted as a courier for a person in her home country of Saint Lucia who ordered her to bring cocaine in a suitcase into Ireland but her luggage was misplaced in Paris on a stop-over.

Joseph travelled on to Ireland without the drugs and booked into a hotel. Her suitcase, containing the drugs, arrived two weeks later and was delivered to her hotel.

Her daughter Suella Joseph (23) was sentenced earlier this year to a seven-year term with six years suspended for importing over €150,000 worth of cocaine from Saint Lucia in the West Indies. Both were arrested following a garda tip-off.

Martina Joseph of Castriesbabonneau, Saint Lucia, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to importation of €411,579 worth of cocaine to Ireland between December 22, 2010 and January 18, 2011.

Judge Mary Ellen Ring ordered Joseph leave the country within 48 hours of the completion of her prison sentence.

hnews@herald.ie