Story Created:
Oct 4, 2012 at 10:01 PM ECT
Story Updated:
Oct 4, 2012 at 10:01 PM ECT
A MOTHER breast-feeding her two-year-old child and smoking marijuana was chastised by a magistrate for her "nonsense".
Sherine Roopnarine, 31, of La Romaine, was told she deserved to be sent to jail because the child could become dependent on the illegal substance.
Around 9.35 p.m. last Friday, a police officer on duty at Charles Street, La Romaine, saw Roopnarine drop a package while standing in a yard. The package contained marijuana.
The homemaker was charged with having the drug.
Defence attorney Jason Jackson said the drug was for Roopnarine's personal use.
He also said Roopnarine was a mother of two, aged 11 years and two-and-a-half-years, who had been staying at separate homes since Roopnarine's arrest.
Jackson told Magistrate Rae Roopchand the woman was still breast-feeding the younger child.
"The drug is going to the child via her (Roopnarine's) breast. What kind of nonsense is this? ... Narcotics are being passed on to the child," Roopchand said.
The magistrate said this could cause the toddler to become dependent on the drug.
Roopnarine admitted to the court that she had been charged with a similar offence four years ago and had paid a fine.
"I should send you inside (to jail) for a while until the child stops breast-feeding," Roopchand said.
But the tearful mother was spared a jail term and instead fined $1,500.
She will spend four months doing hard labour if the money was not paid immediately.
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