Andros Woman Sentenced For Guns And Drugs

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – A magistrate has sentenced 26-year-old businesswoman Gladys Newton to three years in prison after she pleaded guilty to gun and drug-related crimes.

Newton broke down in tears after Gun Court Magistrate Lennox Coleby handed down her sentence.

Police arrested Newton and her 62-year-old mother, Pollyann Newton, after they found the contraband in their shared home in Mastic Point, Andros on June 5.

As a result of her daughter’s guilty pleas, the prosecutor ASP Lincoln McKenzie withdrew the charges against Pollyann.

While executing a search warrant, the officers found a .45mm pistol, with its serial number erased, and eight rounds of .45mm ammunition in a shoebox in the younger woman’s bedroom closet.

They also found two kilos of cocaine, with a wholesale street value of $40,000, in a backpack that was in the same closet.

Gladys Newton told the officers that her boyfriend had placed the items there and asked her to hold onto it.

In mitigation, defense lawyer Mario Gray told Magistrate Coleby that Newton had been left holding the bag. He said that this was her first run-in with the law.

In passing sentence, Coleby said that Newton would receive credit for her early guilty plea. She was sentenced to 36 months for the gun and 24 months for the ammunition.

The sentences will run together.

As for the drugs, Newton has three years to pay a $36,000 fine for the drugs. Otherwise, she’ll spend an additional two years in prison.