British woman jailed for life in Laos !

British national Ms Samantha Orobator, 20, who pleaded guilty to possessing 680 grams of heroin, was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment by the Vientiane Court.

The trial began at about 2 pm on Wednesday at the Vientiane Court . Proceedings lasted more than three hours while translations were made from Lao into English.

Members of foreign press agencies based in Bangkok from Reuters, AP and the BBC waited beneath the courtroom to learn the results of the trial.

Court Vice President Chanthaly Douangvilay, speaking to Lao and foreign reporters at a press conference following the trial, said Ms Orobator entered the Lao PDR on July 31, 2008, from Bangkok , Thailand , at Wattay International Airport on Thai Airways International flight number TG 691, holding a tourist visa...more>>

She stayed in a hotel in Vientiane until August 5, when she attempted to leave Laos and board a flight that would take her to Sydney , Australia . During departure proceedings at Wattay International Airport, Customs officials and airport authorities detected unusual objects on her body, whereupon the authorities informed drug officials, who determined she was carrying narcotic drugs.

Ms Orobator signed a letter admitting the items belonged to her and police detained her in accordance with the law.

During subsequent questioning, she also signed reports written by herself dated August 5, 18 and 27, 2008.

Ms Orobator said before she came to Laos she met a man named James in England who asked her to go to Thailand to meet John, his older brother. James gave her the telephone numbers of himself and his brother so she could make contact when she arrived in Thailand .

When she reached Thailand she called the given telephone number, but could not make contact. She called James in England who told her John was now in Laos , and so Ms Orobator herself went to Laos .

In Vientiane she met John and another man named JJ who took her to stay at the Orchid Hotel and later the Phoxay Hotel.

On August 5, 2008, at about 1am the two men gave her heroin, which was contained in 68 capsules and weighed 680 grams. John and JJ wanted her to swallow all the capsules so they could be carried in her stomach. But she was not able to do this and secreted them around her body instead.

While going through security checks at Wattay International Airport later that day, the capsules were detected.

They were sent to the Food and Drug Department of the Ministry of Health to identify the contents, which were confirmed to be heroin.

The Vientiane Court found that Ms Orobator intended to take the heroin to Australia and found her guilty of possessing more than 500 grams of heroin, which is in contravention of the Penal Law of the Lao PDR.

Article 146, paragraph 4, states clearly that any person who possesses, imports, exports, transports or causes the transit through Laos of more than 500 grams of heroin shall receive the death penalty.

Ms Orobator should have rec eived the death penalty. But Article 32 of the Penal Law states it is forbidden to uphold the death sentence on a woman who is pregnant, so the court reduced her sentence to life imprisonment.

Concerning her pregnancy, Ms Orobator told the Lao authorities she conspired with another prisoner, Mr John Watson, to secretly obtain his sperm, which she used to impregnate herself.

When officials took her for a pregnancy test on April 4 this year she was found to be 17 weeks pregnant.

Asked if she would be sent back to England , the court official said this was a matter to be discussed between the two governments. Ms Orobator was born in Nigeria but is now a British citizen.

In a recent development in t he case, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Thongloun Sisoulith and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on May 7 signed a prisoner transfer agreement in London .

The agreement allows the Lao PDR and the United Kingdom to transfer prisoners to each other's government based on the requirements of the two nations.

Vientianetimes

Posted by samakomlao on 8:07 AM. Filed under 2008 2009, 2008 Laos, Bristish, concert vientiane, drug, jail, life sentence, trafficking, woman . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Feel free to leave a response