Pregnant daughter of TCD student gets life
THE daughter of an Irish university student faces the prospect of giving birth in a foreign jail after being jailed for life for drugs trafficking.
The likely birthplace of Samantha Orobator's baby remained a mystery last night as she began her life sentence in Laos.
Officials from the British Foreign Office admitted that they have yet to clarify whether the 20-year-old Londoner will give birth within the walls of the infamous Phonthong prison or raise the child there.
There is still a possibility that she will be transferred to the UK to serve her sentence.
Orobator's mother, Jane, who is studying in Trinity College in Dublin, was in Vientiane yesterday but was too distraught to speak.
Death
Samantha Orobator avoided a death sentence for smuggling heroin on the grounds of her condition. She became pregnant in prison and is due to give birth in September, but the exact circumstances of how she became pregnant are unclear.
"We talked very briefly earlier to her mother, Jane, who is, understandably, distraught," Katherine O'Shea of the London-based prisoners' rights group Reprieve told the Irish Independent last night.
"She couldn't really speak, to tell the truth. We haven't been able to contact Samantha, and neither has the Foreign Office."
A spokeswoman for the British Foreign Office confirmed that officials were "urgently seeking access to Samantha to discuss her future options".
It is understood that these will include submitting a formal request to the Laotian authorities that Orobator serve her sentence in the UK.
A prisoner transfer treaty was signed by both countries last month, but the Laotians will have the final say.
Orobator arrived in court yesterday wearing a blue prison outfit and smiled at reporters.
She was escorted by female prison guards but was not in handcuffs or ankle chains.
Jane Orobator, who lives in Castleknock with three of her younger children, was present.
After a three-hour trial, a panel of judges found the defendant guilty of trafficking 680 grams of heroin last August, when she was caught trying to board a plane to Thailand.
Her mother said that there was no evidence her daughter had been involved in drugs before and her friends said she was not a drug user. Jane Orobator said the young woman was "very fragile ... I can't begin to imagine what she is going through".
In her defence, Orobator told the authorities in Laos that she was placed under duress.
The authorities continue to investigate how the young woman became pregnant despite being segregated from male prisoners. One government-friendly newspaper reported that she had obtained the sperm of another prisoner so she could avoid the death penalty.
Although Orobator has been sentenced to life, she may be eligible for release after a few years if transferred to the UK, as it is her first offence and a defence of duress has been advanced.
- Jason O''Brien
