Alex Enumah in Abuja
A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced a South African woman, Ann Jessica Will, to 25 years imprisonment, for bringing 5.75 kilogrammes heroin into the country.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu handed down the jail term on Thursday, shortly after convicting the defendant on the two-count criminal charge filed against her by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Will was arrested by operatives of the anti-drug agency on July 6, at the Abuja international airport.
She was arraigned last month and subsequently pleaded guilty to the two-count charge.
In the first count, she admitted conspiring with one Jan Coenraad De Jager, a male, South African, who is said to be at large.
Delivering sentence on Thursday, the judge held that in a criminal trial where the defendant pleads guilty, the burden of proof is not stressed, as admission of the offence is conclusive proof.
“I have listened to the prosecution talked about the street value of the drug, I have also listened to the defence lawyer and the convict, and that she is a first time offender….. I am persuaded not to give the maximum sentence….the defendant is hereby sentenced to 15 years in count one and 25 years in count two.
“The sentences are to run concurrently,” Egwuatu held.
Earlier, the convict’s lawyer had pleaded with the court to be lenient with the convict, who is a mother and has no one in Nigeria to look after her little baby, she came with into the country.
Will also pleaded with the court for mercy, claiming that she was not aware of the content of the bags handed to her by her fiance’s acquittance, when she was coming to Nigeria.
“I did not know there was drug in the bags…I have learnt my lessons,” she said.
She was charged in count one, with conspiracy under Section 14 of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Act 2004 which provides for a prison sentence of not less than 15 years and not exceeding 25 years upon conviction.
She was, in count two, charged with unlawful importation of 5.75 kilogrammes of heroin, under Section 11(a) of the same NDLEA Act, which provides for life imprisonment upon conviction.
The charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/422/2026 read: “That you, Will Jessica Ann, female, adult, a South African citizen, with International passport number A20785662, and Jan Coenraad De Jager, male, a South African citizen (at large) on or about the 6th day of July, 2026, at the arrival hall of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, during the inward clearance of Qatar Airways flight No. QR1433 from Doha to Abuja, without lawful authority, conspired to import 5.75 kilogrammes of heroin, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 14 of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, Cap N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”