Melina Roberge and Isabelle Lagace
A Canadian drug mule who attempted to smuggle cocaine into Australia on a luxury cruise ship has been sentenced to eight years in prison by a judge who said the woman had turned to crime as a way to achieve fame on Instagram.
Melina Roberge, 24, told the New South Wales state district court that she had risked a life sentence for the opportunity to take selfies “in exotic locations and post them on Instagram to receive ‘likes’ and attention” during a $17,000 vacation she couldn’t afford.
Judge Kate Traill condemned Roberge’s motivation for crime as a “very sad indictment” on her age group who “seek to attain such a vacuous existence where how many ‘likes’ they receive are their currency”.
“She was seduced by lifestyle and the opportunity to post glamorous Instagram photos from around the world,” the judge said. “She wanted to be the envy of others. I doubt she is now.”
Roberge and two other Canadians have pleaded guilty to smuggling 95kg (209lb) of the drug in suitcases aboard the MS Sea Princess during a seven-week cruise in 2016 from Britain to Ireland, the United States, Bermuda, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Chile then Australia.
Roberge is likely to be deported to Canada after she has served four years and nine months in prison.
Her accomplice, Isabelle Lagace, 29, was sentenced in November to seven and a half years in prison backdated to their arrest. Lagace will also probably be deported after serving a non-parole period of four and a half years.
Lagace told the court she took part to settle a…
… Read More
—-
Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Urban Christian News