A 21-year-old drugs smuggler caught smuggling 30 kilos of cannabis into the UK has avoided jail after a court heard her 16-year-old brother was shot dead in a gang war when she was just four

A drug smuggler who was caught smuggling 30kg of cannabis into the UK has avoided jail after a court heard her 16-year-old brother was shot dead in a gang war when she was four.

Monique Zollner, 21, was arrested in April last year with drugs worth £180,000 after arriving in the UK with them stuffed into two suitcases following a flight from Canada to Manchester.

At Manchester Crown Court, Zollner, of Fallowfield, Manchester, faced up to three years in prison after admitting importing cannabis. However, she was released on an 18-month suspended sentence after a judge said she was “vulnerable” due to her age, drug addiction, lack of convictions and a history of “family trauma”.

Zollner was just four years old when her brother Louis Brathwaite was shot dead in 2008 during one of Britain’s bloodiest turf wars.

A schoolboy was killed when two hitmen shot him while he was playing slots with friends at a William Hill bookmaker.

A police investigation found his murder was linked to two other murders of young men who died in gangland shootings at the height of the gang war in South Manchester between rival gangs Gooch Close, Doddington and Longsight Crew.

Zollner, who is pictured standing by Louis’ grave as part of a public campaign to catch her brother’s killers, was “shocked” by the murder – and another more recent but unreported incident.

The court heard she had become addicted to nitrous oxide and owed her mother Sophia £2,000.

Eventually she fell into the trap of a drug dealer who promised her £16,000 if she would make the 4,000-mile journey from Toronto to Manchester via Frankfurt, taking a shipment of marijuana with her.

Zollner broke down in tears in the dock as she was sentenced, with Judge Sarah Johnston telling her: “So much of the harm that these courts deal with every day is rooted in the illegal drug trade, and you brought 30kg of marijuana into this city for distribution.

‘But you are a sensitive young woman and you have experienced two incidents in your life, the first when you were a very young child and the second only a few years ago; I am convinced that they can properly be classified as serious and traumatic.

I don’t intend to go into detail in open court, but as a result, you suffered greatly, and your physical and mental health deteriorated. You had to seek ways to treat yourself.

“I feel that your family is most at risk of suffering because of your addiction or predisposition to nitrous oxide abuse.

‘However, your candor in this matter is consistent with your growing maturity, including showing genuine remorse and the first signs of understanding what a serious crime you have committed.

“In my opinion, you need support, as well as punishment. You need help reducing your nitrous oxide use and developing healthier coping strategies.”

The court had earlier heard that Zollner was detained on April 13 when suspicions arose about luggage she was bringing to the UK.

Miss Lisa Boocock, prosecuting, said: “Under questioning she stated that she did not have the keys to the suitcases and admitted that she had been given them to pass on to someone else.

“It contained a total of 60 packets of cannabis, each weighing 500g. When questioned by police, she explained that she had incurred a debt of £2,000 from her mother and to pay it off, she had arranged with the man to bring her two suitcases of cannabis and receive £8,000 for each.

“She plays a significant role in this enterprise. But one could say there was something naive about her bringing drugs into the country.”

Zollner, who has no previous convictions, was also ordered to complete 60 hours of unpaid work, 15 days of rehabilitation activities and a nine-month drug treatment programme.

Her defence lawyer, Adam Roxborough, said mitigating: “There was an element of pressure which drew her into his business and also an element of naivety.

She had never had anything to do with the police before in terms of arrests and was greatly influenced by people higher up in the hierarchy.

“It is clear that this is a sensitive young woman who has experienced significant family trauma. These events occurred as a result of her debt to her mother.

“It was stupid and another example of her naivety and immaturity that she didn’t tell her mother, but when someone gives themselves over to other, more sophisticated criminals, they become the victim of what they want.

“She didn’t want to repay the debt in the conventional sense, so she gave in to the pressure and temptation to repay it in another way. It’s obvious that she wasn’t the one who organized this venture.

‘She was probably exploited because she was the person who attracted less attention from the authorities. She is very remorseful and concerned about her family. She is devastated and disappointed in herself.

‘She has tried to self-medicate with substances because of events in her life and has struggled with that. She is not pro-criminal. She is a sensitive person who has been taken advantage of during what has been a very difficult life.’

Louis’ killers were never caught and a £50,000 reward was offered for information leading to a conviction.

The teen was not a gang member but was friends with another young man who was the target of the shooting on January 24, 2008.

Investigators believe Louis was shot by mistake in an “act of retaliation” after the murder of 20-year-old Halton McCollin, who was shot ten days earlier while waiting in line for a takeout meal.

Giuseppe Gregory, 15, was shot dead in a gang ambush in May 2009 in revenge for Louis’ murder.

The investigation revealed that Giuseppe’s killers were members of the Fallowfield Mad Dogs – a group that grew out of Gooch’s gang – and had set up a MySpace page in Louis’ memory.