Pubdate: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 Times Colonist Contact: http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481 Author: Richard Watts, Times Colonist Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) SCHOOLGIRL TRAFFICKER SPARED JAIL An 18-year-old woman convicted of trafficking cocaine while attending the exclusive St. Margaret's School for girls will spend the next 18 months on probation. During that time, the woman, who cannot be named because she was 17 at the time of her arrest, must live with her mother in Calgary, attend school or find work, and stay home from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. Provincial Court Judge E.J. Quantz told the woman he also expected her to apologize to the principal of St. Margaret's, where annual fees for some students can top $35,000. The sentence will give the woman what's known as a "youth history," but not a criminal record. She was convicted Sept. 21 of possession for the purpose of trafficking. Her arrest came Oct. 14, 2003, after a search of a school locker yielded just under one kilogram of cocaine, tucked inside a backpack. The court heard that the locker and backpack belonged to a classmate, who went to the principal when she became worried about getting into trouble. The classmate testified the woman returned with the drugs after spending the Thanksgiving holiday at her father's home in the B.C. Interior. Court heard the woman's father was a drug dealer who had stored the cocaine under her bed, and that she brought the cocaine back to Victoria in part out of anger at her father. Prior to sentencing, defence counsel Dale Marshall called the young woman's home with her father a disruptive one. At the age of 16, he said, she'd found herself caring for two children, aged three months and three years -- the offspring of her father and two women: an 18-year-old and her aunt, both drug-addicted and living at the house. Crown counsel Michael Mark had asked that the woman serve time in jail, citing the seriousness of selling drugs from a school. But Judge Quantz said he had sympathy for the convicted woman because of her difficult upbringing, and was encouraged by her compliance with strict bail conditions. "This is not a case which requires custody," said Quantz. "The road that led this youth to participate in this event was clearly paved by her father." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek