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The British teenager Bella Culley is to be held in a Georgian prison for at least five more weeks as she awaits trial on drug-smuggling charges, a court in Tbilisi has ordered.
Culley, the great-granddaughter of a former Labour MP, was arrested on arrival at the city’s airport in May. Georgian prosecutors said she was carrying a large amount of illegal drugs in luggage she brought with her from Thailand.
During a short hearing on Thursday, she reportedly told the court in the Georgian capital: “I hope you understand my story through my eyes. I never thought something like this would happen to me.”
Her lawyer, Malkhaz Salakia, said there was no evidence she had any intention of breaking the law, adding: “There were people who forced my client to commit this unknowingly.”
It was reported that Culley concluded the submission to the court by saying “madloba” – “thank you”, in Georgian.
“Bella will become a mother soon, she is expecting a boy,” Salakia told the court. “I want her to feel this motherhood in freedom. It’s a moment of her becoming a mother for the first time in her life – she turned 19 this June.
“Since the crime committed is not connected to Georgia, and her family has been here – father before and now the mother is here – they are here to look after her, and there is no possibility of influencing the witnesses because they are police and officials, she can be assigned to visit the police department two times per month or every day.
“However, the judge decides – she will fulfil her duty. It’s summer, and a pregnant woman needs special hygiene in the month of July – we are offering a plea agreement of 50,000 [Georgian lari; more than £13,500], which will be paid immediately and we ask her immediately to be set free.”
But the judge decided no new evidence had been presented and, consequently, Culley would remain in detention until her trial began on 2 September unless a plea deal could be agreed beforehand.
Culley exchanged regular looks and smiles with her mother, Lyanne Kennedy, during the 30-minute hearing and Kennedy became emotional after learning the sex of her unborn grandchild. “I’ll come and see you tomorrow, I love you,” she reportedly told her daughter.
Georgian authorities said Culley, who is from Billingham on Teesside, faced up to 20 years in prison or a life sentence if found guilty. Local police said officers seized up to 12kg of marijuana and just over 2kg of hashish in a travel bag at Tbilisi international airport.
Culley is the great-granddaughter of Frank Cook, a Labour MP who represented Stockton North for 27 years, rising to become a deputy speaker of the Commons. Cook died in January 2012, aged 76.
The Foreign Office has previously confirmed it was “supporting the family of a British woman who is detained in Georgia”. Cleveland police, on Teesside, confirmed an 18-year-old woman from Billingham had been arrested in Georgia on suspicion of drug offences and remained in custody.
