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

The ‘Women's Talk' entertainment programme, which has been airing on Lao National Television for the past two months, is now asking for viewer feedback to improve the show's quality.

The 30-minute show, which features four young female presenters, broadcasts every weekend from 10:15-11:45am on the Lao National Television channel.

The show is centered on social topics for women, such as beauty secrets and healthy eating, and the programme is separated into three parts – ‘Life Updates', ‘ Question Time' and ‘Special Secrets'... more

During the ‘Update' section, presenters discuss local and international issues, followed by ‘Question Time', featuring interviews with special guests such as singers and other leading women talking about their lives, their ideas and any tips they have to share with other women.

The final part of the show, ‘Special Secrets', talks about strategies and secrets for life in women's health and beauty, as well as good attitudes and manners in everyday life.

Last week, Vientiane Times was able to interview the presenters of the show - Dalivan Soudachan (Peggy), Southida Sisoudachan (Dada), Chanthala Saythasavanh (Anny) and Manila Souvandouand (Kai).

Can you explain about your entertainment backgrounds?

Peggy: I won the Miss Popular Vote title for the Apone Lao contest last year, and was a model for a calendar, and I've done some presenting for tigo.

Anny: I'm a singer for music group LOG, and I also used to be involved with presenting events like Miss Lao-ITECC last year.

Dada: I've participated in different beauty contests like the one at the National University of Laos in 2006, and have joined many other activities, like the Fomost Star Challenge in 2005. I've also been a presenter for Star Phone and some other shows.

Kai: At the moment I'm singing with Over Dance, but I'm the only girl in the group. I have also had the chance to work as a presenter at different promotions and modeling events, which has been a good experience.

How is presenting ‘Women's Talk' different from other work?

Peggy: It is quite different to my previous jobs because ‘Women's Talk' is for television, which means I need to pay more attention to my presentation. Television involves a lot more detail and we need to find a lot more information and practise more to make it work well.

During the programme we try to be natural, and you can easily make mistakes, but if you do something wrong you can just laugh, because it doesn't really matter, as our production team can cut it and we will do the scene again.

Dada: I find this job quite hard because I am used to just posing for photographs and standing around for beauty contests. I didn't need to speak before and haven't had much experience with this, so I need to try and be more careful with my acting and speaking. We have to talk and talk, but also concentrate on getting across useful information to our viewers. I feel I'm quite different from Peggy, Kai and Anny, because you can tell they have more experience on the stage, but that this is really a first time for me. But I'm trying my best to improve as much as possible.

Anny: My mother is really beautiful. She has some secrets for make-up and beauty which keep her young, so I ask her for advice for myself. When I had the chance to go on television I told my mother's secrets to the viewers so that they could be more beautiful as well. At the same time, our team's producers also find information for the show from the Internet and some magazines and newspapers. I love this show so much because I can share with other women all my life-long secrets that everyone can use, and I can learn from this at the same time. I don't find it difficult, I can just prepare myself well, then talk and talk, and there you have it!

Kai: This programme is a great challenge for me, even though I have done a little presenting before, and recoding too, going into the TV studio is different from the recording studio. But I think I have taken on some valuable lessons about what works and what doesn't for listeners.

By Viengsavanh Phengphachan
vientianetimes