Bella Culley has been “toasting bread over a candle flame and communally showering twice a week” while pregnant in a Georgia prison, where she was detained after being charged with drug smuggling.
Accused pregnant drug mule Bella Culley toasted bread over a candle and took communal showers in her Georgia prison cell, her mother claimed.
The 19-year-old, who is reportedly due to give birth in December, will be formally sentenced next week after being charged with drug smuggling in Georgia earlier this year. Bella, a nursing student from Billingham, Teesside, went missing in Thailand in May before later turning up in Georgia. She was arrested after 11kg of cannabis and more than 400g of hashish were found in her luggage.
Bella’s mother, Lyanne Kennedy, revealed that the British teenager has been transferred to a “mother and baby” prison unit. He previously spent five months in a cell at Rustavi Prison Number Five in Georgia.
READ MORE: Jailed ‘drug mule’ Bella Culley could be released before giving birth despite plea dealREAD MORE: Bella Culley ‘Will Serve 2 Years’ in Georgia Jail After ‘Drug Mule’ Plea Deal
The mother described the harsh conditions Bella faced in the old cell, such as having a hole in the floor for a bathroom, communal showers twice a week and only one hour of fresh air a day.
Lyanne also told the bbc that the new unit has better conditions. She said: “She now has two hours to walk, she can use the communal kitchen, she has a shower in her room and a proper bathroom. Everyone cooks for each other. Bella has been making bread with egg and cheese toast, and chicken with salt and pepper.”
Bella’s case has drawn attention to Georgia’s strict laws and punishments around drugs and drug smuggling. The British woman reached an agreement with Georgia prosecutors and was told that she will be sentenced to two years in prison.
a court in TbilisiOn Tuesday, he heard how his mother, a charity worker, and his father, Niel Culley, 49, an oil rig technician, successfully paid 500,000 Georgian lari (£138,000) to the court. The teenager was previously warned she could face 20 years behind bars.
Bella’s lawyer said the amount of fine paid would determine the length of her prison sentence, but for a “substantial sum” she could walk away. The huge sum of money raised won’t be enough to set Bella free, but it has significantly reduced her potential sentence.
Bella claimed she was forced to deal drugs by thugs who branded her with an iron and showed her a video of a man being beheaded, saying the same thing would happen to her if she didn’t comply. At a previous hearing in July, he said: “I didn’t want to do this. They forced me through torture… All I wanted to do was travel.”
The teenager’s lawyer, Malkhaz Salakaia, said Bella pleaded guilty to smuggling drugs into Georgia after flying from Thailand via the United Arab Emirates.
