Nayele set free after serving 3 years in UK jail

Ruby Nayele Ametefe, who was jailed in the United Kingdom for eight and a half years for dealing in narcotic drugs in 2015, has been released on parole.

She served three out of the eight-and-a-half-year term.

Sources close to the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) told the Daily Graphic that Nayele was released a couple of days ago.

Meanwhile, she has renounced her Ghanaian citizenship for Austrian citizenship.

The sources said she was released on parole for being of good behaviour while serving her jail term.

Read also: Cocaine: Nayele Ametefe gets eight-year jail term

Plea

Nayele had pleaded guilty to carrying 12 kilogrammes of cocaine to the UK.

The Isleworth Crown Court in London accordingly sentenced her based on her own ‘guilty’ plea.

She was reported to have appeared in court well-dressed on the day of the sentencing.

Sources said she looked unresponsive when the sentence was handed down.

Read also: NACOB donates Nayele assets to orphanage

Prosecution

The prosecutors had told the court that Nayele had $23,000 and additional 6,000 pounds sterling in her handbag when she was arrested.

The money, it said, was payment for her courier services.

According to the prosecution, Nayele was carting the cocaine to South America. It told the court that her travel itinerary indicated that she was leaving the UK two days after her arrival for the Dominican Republic.

In his submission for mitigation, the lawyer for Nayele had told the court that she came from an underprivileged home and married a spare parts dealer at Ghana’s famous spare parts market, Abossey Okai.

Counsel told the court Nayele was a single mother of three after her marriage broke down.

According to the lawyer, Nayele came into contact with powerful people in 2004 and her life changed dramatically.

She travelled extensively with influential people as their companion.

Counsel said she was forced by circumstances to engage in transporting drugs to support her newly attained high-class lifestyle and to take care of her three children.

Read also: Why Nayele did not appeal her sentence – Defense lawyer explains

Confiscation

In April 2016, the Financial and Economic Crimes Division of the Accra High Court gave the state the green light to confiscate a house belonging to the convicted drug peddler, Nayele Ametefe.

In its judgement, the court, presided over by Mrs Justice Georgina Mensah-Datsa, held that per the evidence on record, the house, located at East Legon in Accra, which became a subject of litigation, belonged to Nayele.

It, therefore, ordered that the house, valued at $1.6 million, be sold and the proceeds shared in accordance with Section 66 of the Economic and Organised Crime Act, 2010 (Act 804).

Per the court order, 50 per cent of the proceeds went to NACOB, 20 per cent to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), 15 per cent to the Consolidated Fund and 15 per cent to the Judicial Service.

 The court was, however, of the view that the state could not prove that another house, located at Pease, near Kuntenase in the Ashanti Region, belonged to Nayele.

Legal tussle

The judgement of the court brought to an end a legal dispute between Nayele’s mother, Madam Akua Adubofo, and NACOB/EOCO.

The NACOB had initiated a series of actions to confiscate her properties after Nayele was jailed, per Section 11 of the Narcotic Drugs (Control, Enforcement and Sanctions) Law, 1990 (PNDCL 236).