The family of a pregnant British teenager held on drug smuggling charges in Georgia has paid £138,000 in a plea bargain deal that could result in a two-year jail sentence. Bella Culley, a 19-year-old student nurse from Billingham, Teesside, may give birth while imprisoned in the former Soviet republic.
Culley was arrested at Tbilisi airport in May after being stopped with, it is alleged, 14kg of cannabis worth £200,000 in a travel bag. She had been travelling in south-east Asia and was reported missing in Pattaya, Thailand. At a court hearing on Tuesday, her mother, Lyanne Kennedy, confirmed the family had raised 500,000 lari (£137,870) and were waiting for the funds to be credited to the relevant government account.
The plea bargain was agreed between prosecution and defence lawyers. Prosecutor Vakhtang Tsalugelashvili 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 had previously been told she could face up to 20 years or life imprisonment if convicted.
Culley, who is due to give birth before Christmas, 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.” The sentence is due to be handed down on Monday 3 November, with the possibility that Culley may be permitted to have her baby under house arrest.
Kennedy said the family had been attempting to raise £225,000 (800,000 lari) in the hope of securing Culley’s immediate release. “It was a lot more,” she said of the final sum. “They did budge but we still couldn’t raise that amount.” Culley had previously pleaded not guilty, claiming she had been tortured into taking the drugs into a country she had never heard of.
