Mother begs to save daughter from execution
The trial of 20-year-old Samantha Orobator was due to start yesterday in the Asian country of Laos, where she faces charges of smuggling 680g of heroin last August.
She has been in custody for at least seven months and she is now five months pregnant. Her trial could start today amid desperate appeals to the Laotian authorities for leniency.
Samantha’s mother, Jane, a 40-year-old student at Trinity College Dublin, said she did not believe her daughter was capable of drug smuggling and said she was overcome with worry over the possibility of her daughter facing death by firing squad.
Tough sanctions against drug smuggling in Laos means a conviction of smuggling more than 500g of heroin carries a mandatory death sentence.
“They should just bring her back here, because I am just tired of thinking about the scenario of what happened,” she said. “It is not in this girl [to commit a crime].”
Jane Orobator lives in Castleknock in Dublin with her three other daughters, aged seven, nine and 14, and has been in Ireland for almost eight years.
Samantha is her eldest daughter and has been living with Jane’s sister in London and has only ever visited her family in Dublin for a few months at a time. Her father is in Nigeria.
Jane said she last spoke to Samantha, who she described as “very quiet” and “an introvert”, last July when her daughter was on holidays in Holland. She only discovered news of her arrest in late September.
“I have been in constant contact with the Commonwealth Office in Britain,” she said.
She discovered in January that Samantha was nine weeks pregnant, despite being in custody since her arrest.
“It is upsetting,” she said, “because someone that was arrested was obviously not pregnant, so how come she is pregnant now?
“It is very distressing for the children.
“I would have loved to go to Laos, but I do not have the resources, I do not have the means to go.”
She said she attempted to appoint a lawyer for her daughter, who has been held at the notorious Phonthong Prison in Laos, but was told she would have to pay $6,000 (€4,500) up front.
“I do not know what to do – I have not been in a situation like this before,” she said yesterday.
Samantha Orobator, who is British, was arrested at Wattay Airport in Laos and authorities from Britain are trying to ensure that she has legal representation for the trial, which was originally due to take place next year.
The British Vice-Consul has flown from Bangkok in neighbouring Thailand to visit Ms Orobator, while a lawyer from the legal rights charity Reprieve, Anna Morris, has also flown to Laos to monitor the trial should it go ahead today.
Ms Morris said yesterday she expects to see Samantha today at Phonthong Prison – it is thought this is the first time she will have had direct contact with anyone working on her behalf since her arrest.
“We are asking them [Laotian authorities] to appoint a lawyer to her,” Ms Morris said. “The legal outcome we want to ensure is that she has a fair trial and that her welfare is protected throughout.”
She said the circumstances of Samantha’s pregnancy were “unclear”, but confirmed that the 20-year-old was five months pregnant.
British authorities are making representations to their Laotian counterparts, but fears have been expressed over the Asian country’s legal system and its human rights record.
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