Drug smuggler refused suspended sentence

A destitute and homeless South African woman who imported drugs at Dublin Airport has been refused a suspended sentence for her own good by Judge Joseph Matthews.

Helen Bickford (55), with no fixed abode, he described as "an example of the minnows and sardines of the drug trade that wash up on our shores while the great white sharks swim silently in the deep waters creating greater damage".

"I look forward to the day when Jaws is standing in the dock," he said at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court where she pleaded guilty to importing €38,000 worth of cannabis resin in a suitcase on March 3 this year.

Judge Matthews jailed her for three years to date from March 3, with the final 18 months suspended, because he believed a full suspended sentence would leave her at what he called "the mercies of the Celtic Tiger which is run by cash and cars rather than care and compassion".

He noted the probation report said she was more content in her current situation behind the walls of a womens' prison in a strange country than she had been for some time before that.

He said this was a case where "the criminal was also a victim" as Bickford had been homeless and destitute in South Africa after the breakup of her marriage when she was approached "by the Black Mamma to whom she was a perfect target".

He noted a man in a similar case had been given a five year suspended sentence but he feared Bickford might die if he released her now in winter onto the streets of Dublin "where she would be unwanted and uncared for".

Judge Matthews said Bickford might just have a better chance of surviving this than if she was "locked in a dark room with a mean Rottweiler with a nasty migraine".

Bickford had spent her time in South Africa in bars reading newspapers and hoping to talk to tourists. She sometimes spent the night in friends' homes when a bed was available.

Judge Matthews said he hoped Bickford would use this time in prison to rehabilitate herself in "mind, body and spirit".

He added that while people like Bickford make the chronic drug problem in this country worse, she herself was a victim and her case must be regarded with compassion.