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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not feel any sympathy for drug-smuggling women?

592 replies

DarceyBissell · 12/08/2013 17:42

Just that really. Two young women facing 25 years in a Peruvian jail for trying to smuggle 11kg of cocaine. Saw they described as 'vulnerable' in one paper. Hardly. Greedy and stupid though.

OP posts:
KittyLane1 · 12/08/2013 20:20

I feel really sorry for them. They are 19 and 20. Might have been scared into it. Might have been threatened and forced. Might have done it for money. Might have done it for a high. However they are young and made a stupid mistake. They are stuck in a hell hole a whole world away from their families.

If they are found guilty I hope they are moved to a British jail

ArtVandelay · 12/08/2013 20:20

I feel sorry for them. They are either really stupid or have been coerced. So therefore I feel sorry for them.

Mintyy · 12/08/2013 20:21

Sorry, I just can't share the same space.

ArtVandelay · 12/08/2013 20:21

Feel sorry for their mums too - god knows how I'd feel if one of my lot did that.

EllaFitzgerald · 12/08/2013 20:22

I feel awful for their families knowing they're being held in conditions they've likely never had any experience of before while they're waiting for trial. Peru is not a country known for its fair and speedy judicial process.

NellysKnickers · 12/08/2013 20:23

YABU, maybe you should stop and think for a minute what your reaction would be if it was your dc in this position. You don't know their backstory, don't be so quick to judge.

sweetestcup · 12/08/2013 20:23

Yes their families must be going out of their minds, wondering what on earth is going on, since they thought they were in Ibiza working.

AKissIsNotAContract · 12/08/2013 20:24

Yes l do have sympathy for them. I don't understand how anyone wouldn't.

Salmotrutta · 12/08/2013 20:24

Well, given that the Peruvian police are pretty corrupt who's to say it wasn't planted on them?

nobeer · 12/08/2013 20:28

parmarella I'm glad you mentioned Maria Full of Grace too. A very powerful film, and based on a 1000 true stories. www.imdb.com/title/tt0390221/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

mrspaddy · 12/08/2013 20:31

I lived in Peru for a while.. lovely, kind people but it the system isn't fair. There is a huge rich/poor divide. I certainly think the girls were very foolish.
Whilst we cannot speculate on the truth yet, the stuff was in their bags.. they had travelled over and were on their way back to Spain.....what is the explanation if it wasn't smuggling?
I was searched at that airport as part of routine and wasn't isn't a nice experience.

OutragedFromLeeds · 12/08/2013 20:42

I feel sorry for them, even if they did do it for money, with no coercion etc.

They're young and they're stupid, that doesn't warrant 25 years in a Peruvian jail. I can't believe that anyone thinks it does!

sweetestcup · 12/08/2013 20:47

Why do you feel sorry for them outraged if they did it for the money? People are well aware that drug smuggling is a crime and of the penalties if you are caught. What chaos and misery would have ensued if they had successfully smuggled nearly 12 KG of cocaine eh.

OutragedFromLeeds · 12/08/2013 20:58

For the reasons that I said sweetest. They're young and they've made a stupid mistake. I don't believe they deserve 25 years in jail for it. If they could prove they had done it before or are high up in a chain I would think differently, but a one-off stupid mistake? No.

MrsOakenshield · 12/08/2013 20:58

I would be very surprised if they wasn't some coercion in one way or another, or that they were completely unknowing. Vulnerable, silly girls are excellent targets for this kind of thing, and they certainly won't be thinking of life imprisonment in the backside of nowhere with only a modicum of justice to hand. If that was the case, why does this happen so often?

When I was travelling in Australia a few years back there was a big news story about a couple of Aussie girls being found guilty of drug smuggling in Thailand or somewhere like that. There seemed to be strong feeling that the drugs had been planted in their luggage, and at all the airports people were getting their luggage wrapped in clingfilm so they could easily see if it had been tampered with.

sweetestcup · 12/08/2013 21:03

The chances of actually getting 25 years seem slim however, that would only be the maximum sentence if they were tried for the total amount, not the individual amount found in each girls case. Still don't get the reasoning for sympathy, sorry, just because they are young and stupid. They still commited a crime.

NotQuiteWithItAtAll · 12/08/2013 21:03

I do think they were incredibly stupid and foolish, but i can't help feeling sorry for them. Who knows what made them do it, but i'm not far of their age, and remember how stupidly influenced i was by other people.
And i don't get why people go on about how it ruins peoples lives.
No one forces people to take drugs. That blame is on themselves surely? Even if it was legal. People would still take at knowing the risks?

soverylucky · 12/08/2013 21:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

OutragedFromLeeds · 12/08/2013 21:06

They did commit a crime and they deserve to go to jail, but for 25 years, in Peru? I don't think so and I feel sorry for them that they're facing this possibility.

sweetestcup · 12/08/2013 21:06

I would guess it happens a lot because people are greedy and the risk is worth it for the financial rewards. It could be worse, it could be a country that still has the death penalty for smuggling drugs.

sweetestcup · 12/08/2013 21:08

notquite even if you have no sympathy for drug users - which you clearly don't - cant you see how it ruins the lives of their families?

NotQuiteWithItAtAll · 12/08/2013 21:17

Of course i do have sympathy for drug users and their families. I am one of them families. To have tried it once - which can be all it takes - to become hooked on drugs, you know the risks, its your own fault.

We don't know the facts. And i feel terribly sad for them having to spend possibly the next 26 years in a place like that.

inallmydays · 12/08/2013 21:18

at least the jury will have all the facts before they decide . not just assume because they read one paper .

treaclesoda · 12/08/2013 21:23

do they have jury trial in Peru?

MrsOakenshield · 12/08/2013 21:25

the lives of the families of these girls isn't going to be great, if they end up in prison in Peru (or do you think they'll just wash their hands of them?) - any money they have will be spent on legal fees and flights to Peru.

I hope the jury do have all the facts, inall - that's the rub, though, isn't it - in Peru, who knows what facts will or won't come out. The only fact we seem to know is that drugs came into Peru in their case - that's it.