Woman in tears as she appears in court for drug-dealing...

[dutchman]

She clutched a stuffed toy throughout the hearing



A young Coventry scientist tearfully clutched a stuffed toy dog as she appeared in court for drug-dealing.

Toma Augustaityte was hauled to court after police pulled her over in Coventry and found drugs in the car.

When she was arrested on suspicion of possessing the drug with intent to supply it, she asked: “Why is it with intent? One bag’s for me and one is for my friend.”

Now she has narrowly avoided jail - and was instead given a 12-month community order by the judge at Warwick Crown Court and ordered to take part in a rehabilitation activity.

Augustaityte, 27, of Wyke Grove, Coventry, pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis with intent to supply it.

Prosecutor Graeme Simpson said that on the evening of September 25 last year the police had stopped Augustaityte in Coventry because of a defective light on her car.

The cannabis found in the car weighed 32 grams, with a street value of around £200, said Mr Simpson.

And messages on her phone showed she had been supplying cannabis over a five-month period and had been trying to obtain up to a kilo of the drug.

Mr Simpson added that Augustaityte was currently subject to a community order with 200 hours of unpaid work imposed in November last year for possessing cannabis and a lock knife.

Recorder Bhatia observed: “The aggravating feature is the dealing over a five-month period and the interest in up to a kilo.

"Had she been committed for being concerned in the supply over that five months, that would have taken the sentencing tariff higher. But she was only charged with possession with intent to supply on that occasion."

Sentencing Agustaityte, who had tearfully clutched a stuffed toy dog throughout the hearing, Recorder Bhatia told her: “I accept you were in an abusive relationship, and that you acted out of character.

"This has the potential for an 18-month prison sentence after trial, but I am going to give you full credit for your plea of guilty.

"I am not going to send you to prison. The reason is that I believe you were just in a bad period of your life, influenced by someone who was a bad person.

"You have broken away from that, and what you have been able to achieve is to pick up the pieces of your life, and you are trying to get your life back into order.

"You can count yourself fortunate that you were charged simply with possession with intent.

"Had you been charged, as you should have been, with being concerned in supply, the sentence would have been higher."