Mauritius’s Supreme Court on 21 October 2026 rejected a judicial review brought by Marie Nathalia Laviolette, a 37-year-old bakery owner from L’Escalier, and kept her in pre-trial detention.[1] The Supreme Court upheld the Mahébourg court’s refusal to release her on bail on 10 March 2026.[1]

The case began in January 2026 with a cannabis cargo brought by sea from Réunion, valued at 24 million rupees and hidden in a house at Baie-du-Cap.[1] Police arrested three suspects in that operation on 31 January 2026, among them Laviolette’s husband Jean Berty David Kardaree.[1] Another man arrested in mid-February 2026, Terry Toussaint, identified Laviolette by the alias Sorenza as Kardaree’s wife.[1]

Since 24 February 2026 she has faced two provisional charges: aggravated drug trafficking over 20 kg of cannabis intended for sale, and inciting Toussaint to collect the parcel at Baie-du-Cap and bring it to her at Rose-Belle.[1] Her lawyer, Sanjeev Teeluckdharry, argued that no drug or suspicious money was found at her home, that she had no criminal record, ran a bakery and was mother to four minor children.[1]

Judges Iqbal Maghooa and Renuka Devi Dabee found the offences grave and the risks of flight, reoffending, witness pressure and destruction of evidence too high, citing the disappearance of the accused’s phone and of the 20 kg of cannabis.[1]