A sleepwalker says she began working for a south Essex drug dealer to pay for vandalism allegedly caused by the residents of a women's refuge.
Shahida Sarwar was spared a prison sentence on Friday (September 25), despite being caught with almost £5,000 worth of drug dealing money.
The 49-year-old, of Theydon Crescent, Basildon, was arrested in possession of 12 bags of cocaine, five wraps of cocaine and £4,850 in cash.
She quickly confessed, Basildon Crown Court heard, telling Essex Police she was a drugs runner for a dealer called Tubbs and had accepted the illegal work to fund repairs to her car.
The car had been vandalised, claimed defence barrister Caroline Moonan, after she was threatened by fellow residents of a shelter for battered women.
Police were called on August 13 to reports of a woman driving a Citroen “erratically” and “alleged to have been taking cocaine at the wheel”.
One informant followed Sarwar whilst on the phone to 999 reporting her activities, telling the force Sarwar stopped in three different locations to meet men who briefly got into her car and then left again.
Police caught up to her in Luncies Road, where the third man was still stood next to Sarwar’s car. Questioned, one of them said something about drugs, triggering police to search Sarwar and her car.
That was when they uncovered the drugs and cash.
Messages retrieved from her iPhone showed Tubbs – whose real name Sarwar claimed not to know – directing her to addresses and discussing whether customers were paying by cash or bank transfer.
Mrs Moonan said her client had worked for a decade as a personal assistant at a gas company in London, but was made redundant right before the Covid-19 pandemic, during which securing a new job became extremely difficult.
As such, she was unable to keep up the rent on her home and ended up living in her car.
She got into a relationship with a violent man who turned out to have a string of convictions for domestic abuse, but kept returning to him through a sense of obligation to his young children, who continually contacted her and begged for help, said the lawyer.
Sarwar eventually moved into a women’s refuge but other occupants took issue with her sleepwalking, Mrs Moonan continued.
She said her client was threatened and then found her car had been damaged, but she had no financial means of repairing is – so she accepted the illegal job with Tubbs.
Sarwar had only been doing it for two weeks before she was caught, the court heard, and had since been housed in Basildon and begun seeking work.
Judge Siew Loke said she accepted Sarwar had been “acting under direction” but added: “The amount of money found in your possession does indicate you were in a position of some trust.”
She would have sentenced Sarwar to three years in prison, she said, but her early guilty plea entitled her to a one-third discount, bringing it down to two years.
“I am satisfied there is a reasonable prospect of rehabilitation in your case,” the judge said, telling Sarwar the sentence would be suspended for 18 months.
She was ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.
Her phone and drugs will be destroyed, while the £4,850 seized from her will be donated to charity by the court.
Sarwar was also ordered to pay £337 in court fees.
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