TEENAGE drug mule suspect Bella Culley announced she was expecting a baby boy today as she made an emotional court appeal for freedom.
Bella, 19, whispered the baby news to her lawyer at a hearing in Georgian capital Tbilisi where she repeated claims that she had no idea £200,000 worth of cannabis was in her baggage.
Tim StewartDrug mule suspect Bella Culley announced she is expecting a baby boy[/caption]
SuppliedBella Culley seen in court at the beginning of July as her devastated family watched on[/caption]
Prime TimeShe was caught at Tblisi International Airport with 30 pounds of marijuana and hashish in her luggage on May 10[/caption]
The British youngster was supported for the first time by her mother Lyanne Kennedy, who appeared visibly moved as the sex of the unborn tot was revealed.
Bella, from Billingham, Teesside, faces 20 years in jail if convicted of smuggling the huge stash from Thailand to the former Soviet state – and bringing up her child behind bars.
But she addressed a hearing directly on Thursday, insisting she had no control over her plight.
Bella said: “Gamarjoba!” – hello in Georgian – before pleading: “I hope you can understand the story from my eyes. I never thought something like this would happen to me.”
The teenager – in a grey turtleneck top with her baby bump showing – concluded the brief statement with the word “Madloba”, Georgian for ‘thank you’.
Bella has claimed she was burned with a hot iron and shown a beheading video by a Thailand-based gang which forced her to fly to Tbilisi in May.
The unidentified father of her child is understood to be a British man she spent time with at the start of her disastrous back-packing trip.
She was arrested on arrival at the airport but claimed the bag was checked in by a gang member and she never saw it before Georgian police stopped her at customs.
Bella’s attempt to escape a jail term with a plea bargain deal has been complicated by the release of Thai CCTV footage.
It is said to contradict her claims that she tried to alert cops at Bangkok airport.
Her lawyer Malkhaz Salakaia told Tbilisi City Court today: “Bella has an obvious health condition – she is soon to be a mother to a baby boy and I want her to experience it while free.
“It’s a pivotal moment in one’s life, especially one so young. She is only 19.”
Mr Salakaia added: “There was no malicious intent on Bella’s part – she was pressured and forced and there is irrefutable evidence of that.
“Her testimony contains even the names and last names of the individuals who forced her to transport it, she was threatened, as well as her family, including her mother who is present today.
“I want to underline that she didn’t hand in the baggage – all she knows is that there is this luggage and she will be met by certain individuals once she arrives.
“The bag wasn’t even locked, and it went through three countries and two continents, while Bella to this day is unaware whether Tbilisi is a country or a city.
“Bella didn’t commit this crime and there is no grounds to doubt her testimony. I hope you are convinced your honor and knowing your past practice.
“I am sure she won’t be found guilty.”
UnpixsCops said cannabis was found wrapped in air-tight bags in Bella’s luggage[/caption]
FacebookThe Brit told a court she was tortured into trafficking £200,000-worth of cannabis by evil crimelords[/caption]
But state prosecutor Vakhtang Tsalugelashvili argued that there was a risk Bella would flee the country if she was granted bail.
He said: “Since there are no new developments in the case, we again fall back to our previous arguments that she might attempt to escape if released on the bail and leave the country.
“There is also a risk of a repeated offence given given the large amount of drugs involved so we think that same procedures should remain in place.”
Bella’s lawyer Mr Salakaia said her parents – estranged Ms Kennedy and her oil rig worker dad Niel – were willing to stand a bail surety of £13,600.
And he spoke of his concern that conditions at Tbilisi’s grim No5 Women’s Penitentiary were not good for her unborn child in the heat of summer.
Inside the dark world of Brit ‘drug mules’
A SLEW of drug mule arrests involving Brits have emerged in the last few months.
In April and May, two Brit women were arrested abroad for alleged drug smuggling.
Bella was the first after she allegedly tried to smuggle a suitcase of weed into Georgia.
Meanwhile, former air stewardess Charlotte May Lee was also caught allegedly trying to smuggle drugs worth £1.2million into Sri Lanka.
Her two suitcases were said to have been stuffed with 46kg of a synthetic cannabis strain known as kush — which is 25 times more potent than opioid fentanyl.
If found guilty, South Londoner Charlotte could face a 25-year sentence.
As a young mum was detained in Germany for allegedly smuggling cannabis in her bags on a flight from Thailand – in yet another shocking case.
Glamorous Cameron Bradford, 21, from Knebworth, Herts, was detained at Munich Airport on April 21 as she tried to collect her luggage.
It comes as a Brit couple claiming to be tourists from Thailand have been busted with more than 33kg of cannabis in their suitcases at a Spanish airport.
The pair were picked out by suspicious cops at Valencia Airport after displaying a “nervous and evasive attitude” and are now behind bars on drug trafficking charges.
Experts told The Sun how wannabe Brit Insta stars are being lured by cruel gangs into carting drugs across the world.
Then last month, a six-year-old British boy was arrested in Mauritius suspected of smuggling part of a £1.6million dope haul stuffed inside his wheelie case.
The lad was picked up by customs officials along with his mum and five other Brits as they arrived on the tropical island.
Authorities branded the use of a child in the audacious drug smuggling plot as “inhumane”.
Mr Salakaia said: “Pregnancy needs special treatment – basic hygiene.
“She needs water for example, which for several days was not the case in this heat.”
Bella was denied bail and ordered to remain in custody until the next hearing on September 2.
Her mum Lyanne burst into tears as the judge Giorgi Gelashvili announced she would return to jail and called out: “I love you – I’ll come tomorrow.”
Lyanne said as she left court: “I love Georgia – it’s a beautiful country, but at first we thought Bella was in Georgia in America.
“I’ve been here three times already and I’m going to visit Bella tomorrow.”
FacebookBella has said she never touched the drugs found in her suitcase[/caption]
NCJShe was denied bail and ordered to remain in custody until the next hearing on September 2[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
