The pregnant student nurse, aged 19, was arrested in Tbilisi in May after 11kg of cannabis and over 400g of hashish, a highly potent form of cannabis, were found in her luggage
British “drug mule” Bella Culley has been told she will be sentenced to two years in jail after agreeing a plea deal with Georgian prosecutors.
The 19-year-old, who is 25 weeks pregnant, will be formally sentenced next week for allegedly attempting to smuggle drugs into the former soviet republic earlier this year.
A court in the capital Tbilisi was today told Culley’s family, including her mother Lyanne Kennedy, 44, who works as a charity worker, and her dad Niel Culley, 49, an oil rig technician, have successfully paid 500,000 Georgian Lari (£138,000) to the court.
Bella, who was wearing a grey sleeveless cardigan and a pink t-shirt while sporting a new hairstyle, appeared surprised as the details of the agreement were heard during a short hearing at Tbilisi City Court.
But the teenager, who has already served five months in jail on remand, was seen smiling and later waved happily at her mum. Her lawyer had previously said the size of the fine paid would determine the length of her sentence – with the possibility of jail time being annulled, depending on how much money was handed over.
Speaking after the hearing, Bella’s mum Lyanne said the court demanded a higher figure than the family has paid in order for her daughter to be released today. She said: “It was a lot more!”. Asked about the negotiations, she added: “They did budge [on the amount], but we still couldn’t raise that amount.”
Prosecutor Vakhtang Tsalugelashvili told the court: “The plea bargain has been reached. Our conditions have been met.” Bella’s lawyer Malkhaz Salakaia said: “I can confirm. All relevant parties have been informed as well. We would like to ask the judge to schedule one final hearing to pass the final verdict.”
Bella’s lawyer also requested that his client be released on bail ahead of the sentencing hearing, which will be held at Tbilisi city court next Monday (November 3). Judge Giorgi Gelashvili denied the motion telling him there were no legal grounds on which to change her conditions.
Mr Salakaia had said: “She pleaded guilty, fully co-operated with the investigation and the plea bargain has just been reached. So we’d like to ask the judge to release her on bail, given her advanced pregnancy.” Bella was also heard asking her lawyer: “Will I be able to take the baby with me if I go back to jail?”. He told her: “Nobody is going to take the baby away from you”.
It is not known whether she will serve all of her sentence in jail in Tbilisi, or if she could be released to house arrest or extradited to the UK to serve her sentence.
Bella, a student nurse from Billingham, Teesside, went missing in Pattaya, Thailand, in May before later turning up in Georgia, which was part of the USSR until 1991. She was arrested after 11kg of cannabis and over 400g of hashish, a highly potent form of cannabis, were found in her luggage.
Bella has claimed she was forced to traffic the drugs by gangsters who branded her with an iron, showed her a video of a man being decapitated and threatened to behead her family if she refused to co-operate.
At a previous hearing in July, she claimed: “I didn’t want to do this. I was forced by torture… All I wanted to do was to travel.”
Speaking outside court after the hearing, Mr Salakaia told the Mirror: “Bella is fine, her pregnancy is going smoothly. She will be able to communicate with the baby once she gives birth.”