Vietnamese court jails four people for role in British
truck deaths
ABC News | 09-14-2020
A Vietnamese
court has sentenced four people to between two-and-a-half and seven-and-a-half
years in prison for their role in the deaths of 39 migrants, whose bodies were
discovered in the back of a truck in England during October last year.
The deaths
shocked Britain and Vietnam and shone a spotlight on the illicit global trade
that sends the poor of Asia, Africa and the Middle East on perilous journeys to
the West.
The
Vietnamese defendants, aged between 24 and 36, were found guilty of "organising
and brokering illegal emigration", after a one-day trial in the central province
of Ha Tinh, Pham Van Thin, the father of one of the victims said. The
victims, who included two 15-year-old boys, were mostly from Ha Tinh and its
neighbouring Nghe An province, where poor job prospects, encouragement by
authorities, smuggling gangs and environmental issues have fuelled migration.
They were discovered last October in a container at the back of a truck on
an industrial estate in the town of Grays, about 37km east of London.
A police
statement said the defendants arranged for Pham Thi Tra My — whose
desperate text messages sent from inside the container first alerted
the world to the victims' plight — to help them travel illegally to France and
then to Britain.
Ms Pham, 26,
was found dead with the 38 other victims in the container.
"I honestly don't want the defendants to face long prison sentences as I know
that it was just an accident," Mr Thin, Ms Pham's father said.
"Handing
them long prison terms won't help me get back my daughter."
Last month,
a 40-year-old Irish haulier, Ronan Hughes, became the second man to plead guilty
to 39 counts of manslaughter relating to his involvement in the case.
The
other was Maurice Robinson from Northern Ireland, who was driving the
truck when the bodies were found.
A third man,
Eamonn Harrison, 23, also from Northern Ireland, pleaded not guilty to the same
charges.
A trial is
due to begin on October 5.
Vietnam Human Rights Network |