Canadian drug mule who smuggled £15million of cocaine to ‘become Instagram famous’ sobs as she’s jailed for 8 years
Melina Roberge, 24, broke down as she was sentenced alongside her porn star pal at a court in New South Wales, Australia
A GLAMOROUS drug-mule was sentenced to eight years in prison by a female judge, who delivered a blistering attack on her quest for Instagram fame.
Melina Roberge, 24, broke down as she was sentenced alongside her co-accused, former porn star Isabelle Lagace, for plotting to smuggle £15million of cocaine on a luxury cruise ship.
Roberge will serve a minimum of four years and nine months in prison, with her earliest possible release date in May 2021 – three months after Lagace’s non-parole period expires, .
The 24-year-old, the youngest of three Canadians who imported 95kg cocaine on a luxury cruise, made world headlines when she post pictures of their exotic port stops on Instagram.
On Wednesday, NSW District Court Judge Kate Traill attacked Roberge’s motivation for taking the drug cruise.
Judge Traill said: “It is a very sad indictment on her relative age group in society to seem to get self worth relative to posts on Instagram.
“It is sad they seek to attain such a vacuous existence where how many likes they receive are their currency.
“She was seduced by lifestyle and the opportunity to post glamorous Instagram photos from around the world.
“This highlights the negative influence of social media on young women.”
Judge Traill, who also accepted that Roberge’s motivation to do the drug run was financial, revealed that the offender had been sexually involved with the “sugar daddy” who recruited her.
Roberge bit her lip and wiped her eyes with a tissue in court.
Judge Traill said Roberge had begun a sexual relationship with a “much older man”, her so-called “sugar daddy”.
The judge said: “He charmed her and spoiled her and became intimately involved with her.”
The “sugar daddy” enticed her to work as an escort and she slept with men he introduced her to in nightclubs, the court heard.
Roberge, who stood to earn a possible $100,000 (£70,000) from the $21million (£15million) cocaine plot, was being sentenced for trafficking 29kg — 23kg of it pure — of the total importation.
She and travel partner Lagace made international headlines with the Instagram photos of themselves in bikinis at exotic stops en route to Sydney.
The pair and a third French Canadian drug plotter, Andre Tamine, were arrested in August 2016 when MS Sea Princess berthed in Sydney and Australian Border Force officials raided their cabins.
During sentencing submissions last month, Roberge revealed the “sugar daddy” had recruited her and Lagace after she earned 10,000 euro working as an escort in Morocco.
Court documents released after sentencing submissions showed the then 22-year-old was given gifts and money.
In June 2016 she said “my sugar daddy contacted me” and she became a last-minute replacement on the MS Sea Princess.
Roberge and Lagace were flown first class to the UK to join the cruise ship and act as the glamorous foil for the real business of the drug importation.
The two were given first class cruise tickets worth $20,000 and 4,000 euros spending money.
The Sea Princess stopped at Bermuda, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Tahiti before berthing in Sydney six weeks later.
It was in Peru that Roberge said she believed, due to multiple trips ashore by four men on the cruise involved in the drug deal, that the cocaine was brought on board.
She told a Sydney court last month that she had been “excited” about taking the luxury trip, which she could not have afforded to pay for.
And since her arrest and incarceration in different maximum security Sydney women’s prisons, she had regretted her actions.
Andre Tamin, 64, has also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced later this year.