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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be surprised at the Bali drugs smuggling outcome

85 replies

BegoniaBampot · 28/01/2013 11:31

Just heard today that they expect Lindsay Sandiford to be executed within 24 hours, jeez that was fast. Really expected this to be drawn out and then the sentence eventually commuted to life imprisonment or such.

OP posts:
ScarlettInSpace · 28/01/2013 13:52

fudge I really don't agree with the death penalty, I don't think murdering someone is the right response to them commiting a crime.

However, regardless of whether I believe it is a suitable punishment the fact remains that in some countries it exists and when people commit certain crimes in these countries they are fully aware that it is the penalty they will pay if caught.

I wouldn't dream of trafficking drugs, but if for whatever reason I decided to carry drugs, then by default I have accepted the terms under which I act, regardles of whether I think it is a just penalty.

There are plenty of laws & rules I don't agree with, but I adhere to them because they are the law/rules of society, I don't think they don't apply to me just because I disgree with them.

Original poster
BegoniaBampot · 28/01/2013 13:53

Guess the moral of the story is, the next time your smuggling drugs - make sure if you get caught, you get caught in the UK.

OP posts:
TroublesomeEx · 28/01/2013 13:55

Well, I don't have any interest in travelling to the USA.

But not really because of the death penalty thing.

(I don't travel well)

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 28/01/2013 13:56

Or maybe the moral of the story could be don't think drug smuggling is a quick way to make easy money so don't be a greedy evil bastard and take the easy way out but go and get a bloody job like the rest of us mere mortals have to!

The story about her doing it to save her kids is just a load of horses manure to be honest!

thefudgeling · 28/01/2013 13:59

folk i think lots of people have said things along the lines of "I don't agree with the death penalty BUT she knew the law and what would happen if she got caught", with the implication that her execution should therefore be allowed to happen.

Scarlett I'm not saying the penalty shouldn't be carried out because she doesn't want or agree with it, though. I'm saying it shouldn't be carried out at all. And again, I get that what she did was wrong, I think people who make money out of others misery are disgusting. But I believe it's wrong to kill them whether they knowingly committed a crime punishable by death or not and regardless of their nationality, so the argument that she know what she was doing seems to my mind irrelevant.

Mosman · 28/01/2013 14:01

Dr Jennifer Fleetwood, who is a specialist on women?s involvement in the international drug trade - who makes her living out of researching the probability of the guilt of women looking at being shot claiming to be innocent concludes that this case is an exception - just like every other one she examines no doubt.
I wonder how many Dr Jennifer Fleetwood looks into and declares yep that one is as guilty as sin.
Also the fact that the accused took part in a sting operation hoping that it would reduce her sentence is rather suspicious if I was innocent I'd be telling them I am never touching cocaine never mind delivering it to a house where a child lives wrapped up as a birthday present.

Bobbybird40 · 28/01/2013 14:02

thefudgeling - if they removed the death penalty in that part of the world for drugs smuggling, the problem would become many, many times worse than it already is. It would be catastrophic.

dontsqueezetheteabag · 28/01/2013 14:04

I have been to Bali, when you fly in theer are signs all over the place about the consequences of smuggling drugs. This is the same in all asian countries.

The woman knew what she was doing and the consequences if she was caught.

No sympathy for her whatsoever! I have been pretty skint at times and have amanged to get by without committing a crime!

thefudgeling · 28/01/2013 14:08

Bobby if they legalised drugs we could focus efforts on helping addicts and their families and far far fewer people would die.

Or at least that's my opinion at the moment and I'm open to being convinced otherwise.

Branleuse · 28/01/2013 14:11

She obviously didnt know the right people to bribe. Drugs are commonplace in indonesia and the police turn a blind eye if you bribe them enough. Rich people dont even need to be discrete. Its usually the poorer people who get done though

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 28/01/2013 14:11

thefudgeling

Your last comment just oozes niaveity!! Addicts in the grip of addiction do not want help, they want more drugs. Without the death sentence then this will be easier for them ........millions more would die.

rainbow2000 · 28/01/2013 14:15

I dont understand how people who are caught doing illegal things in different countries think they are above the law.The law is the law of that country and you shouldnt be treated any different just cause you are a foreign national.

And the people saying she shouldnt get the death penalty would be ok if she sold your dc drugs.Of course not you would be out for her blood.

thefudgeling · 28/01/2013 14:16

Betty your comment oozes condescension! Having known and loved several addicts in the grip of addiction I think I can safely say that some of them actually do want help. And also that drugs are not hard to find whether illegal or not!

If my opinion is so naive why do the police and government give any time to considering it as an option?

thefudgeling · 28/01/2013 14:17

rainbow of course it's wrong to sell drugs, I still think prison is an adequate punishment and the death penalty is inhumane and wrong!

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 28/01/2013 14:19

I have known some too. Yes, in a way they want help but ultimately they wanted the drugs more!

Bottom line is she knew what she was doing. She had money worries or whatever and just decided to make a quick buck by importing drugs - sod whose life she was gonna ruin, sod whose children would die, it was all about her her her!!

Well, she got caught caught and should pay the price.

No drugs sadly are not hard to find but witout scumbags like her about, maybe in time, they will be that little bit harder.

thefudgeling · 28/01/2013 14:23

Yes, people do horrible things in the name of greed.

I guess I'm not going to convince anyone here round to my way of thinking.

Executing one person is not going to reduce the illegal drugs problem, though. It's a drop in the ocean.

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 28/01/2013 14:25

But surely if it stops even one person from going down that same route???I don't know, I just think if there are no consequences for things like this it is just going to get out of hand!

There has to be a line somewhere.

thefudgeling · 28/01/2013 14:33

Problems need logical solutions, not emotive ones. It's a matter of working out which system would result in the least harm. I'm still not convinced that legalisation is a naive concept, and neither are many others according to this:

www.economist.com/what-the-world-thinks/should-drugs-be-legalised

but, there are no easy answers, no matter how much we wish for them.

thefudgeling · 28/01/2013 14:36

and thanks for replying Betty. I think this subject needs to be talked and thought about a lot more than it is.

Have I derailed the thread? Not sure but I will stop now!

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 28/01/2013 14:40

It's an important topic Fudge - one that does need debating and discussion. I don't think the thread is derailed....... :)

thefudgeling · 28/01/2013 14:48

Betty going back to your previous post, I think the thing is, the situation already is out of hand, despite the way we deal with it currently.

Anyway, I really will stop now!

stickyj · 28/01/2013 14:48

I think that if you do the crome, you pay the price. If you decide to smuggle drugs knowing that the country's laws say the death penalty, then tough.

I no longer see my oldest son who is hooked on cocaine. It is breaking my heart but i am trying tough love. If it wasn't for drug smugglers, I would have four children, not three Sad

thefudgeling · 28/01/2013 14:53

I am sorry stickyj, I hope he gets himself help and gets off it.

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 28/01/2013 14:54

I dunno Fudge - I reckon if the UK were firmer and had better law enforcement for drug related crimes (and other serious crimes too) maybe it wouldn't be so out of hand!!

I don't think the death penalty is always such a bad thing you know but that is another debate!

I think of people like sticky and like I said before, drugs is one of my worries for DS's future. When I was a kid we could go to school and buy a cigarette off the ice cream man for 10p.....what the hell can they get now?? It scares me shitless I don't mind admitting and I seriously think anyone caught dishing out drugs should be severly punished and not just a few weeks/months in a cushy prison cell either!

Lyrasilvertongued · 28/01/2013 14:58

This is interesting reading: www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/grandmother-lindsay-sandifords-cocaine-sentence-executing-drug-mules-isnt-just-inhumane-its-also-pointless-8463367.html
I also agree that what she did was wrong, but the article makes a good point about the wrong people in the chain being caught and penalised and the 'kingpins' remaining hidden and continuing the whole process.