The family of a pregnant British teenager being held on drug smuggling charges in Georgia have paid £138,000 in a plea bargain deal that could result in a two-year jail sentence.
It may mean that Bella Culley, a 19-year-old student nurse from Billingham, Teesside, will give birth while imprisoned in the former Soviet republic.
Culley had been travelling in south-east Asia and was reported missing in Pattaya, Thailand. In May she was arrested at Tbilisi airport after being stopped with, it is alleged, 14kg of cannabis worth £200,000 in a travel bag.
At a court hearing in Tbilisi on Tuesday Culley’s mother, Lyanne Kennedy, told reporters that the family had managed to raise 500,000 lari (£137,870) and were waiting for the funds to be credited to the relevant government account.
The family had been attempting to raise £225,000 (800,000 lari) in the hope it would secure the immediate release of Culley, who is due to give birth before Christmas.
Reports from the courtroom say that prosecution and defence lawyers agreed a deal whereby the lesser amount will be paid, in exchange for a two-year sentence.
Culley had previously been told she could face up to 20 years in jail or life imprisonment if convicted.
The sentence is due to be handed down by a judge on Monday 3 November. One possibility is that Culley is permitted to have her baby while under house arrest, rather than inside the women’s prison where she is being held.
She smiled and waved at her family during Tuesday’s court hearing. Afterwards, Kennedy, a charity worker, said of her daughter: “She’s looking big, pregnant, but she looks strong.”
Culley had previously pleaded not guilty to charges, claiming she had been tortured into taking the drugs into Georgia, a country she had never heard of. At a hearing in July, she said: “I just wanted to travel. I am a good person. I am a student at university. I am a clean person. I don’t do drugs.”
According to the Daily Mail Culley, who is studying to be a nurse, pleaded guilty on Tuesday and asked the judge: “Will I be able to take the baby with me if I go back to jail?”
The judge responded: “Nobody is going to take the baby away from you.”
Prosecutor Vakhtang Tsalugelashvili reportedly told the court: “The plea bargain has been reached, our conditions have been met – two years of imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 Georgian lari.”
Culley’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.”
An application for bail was refused on the grounds a doctor had said the conditions Culley is in were “satisfactory”.
Kennedy told reporters that the court had demanded a higher sum than she and Culley’s father, Niel Culley, an oil rig technician who lives in Vietnam, had been able to raise. The couple have no property in the UK.
“It was a lot more,” said Kennedy. Asked about the negotiations, she said: “They did budge but we still couldn’t raise that amount.”
