Скачать или смотреть Ghana delays sentencing of British teens convicted of being drug couriers

(5 Dec 2007)
1. People waiting outside courtroom
2. Photographer with camera
3. Lawyer and cameraman standing outside of courtroom
4. Lawyer with files in her hand
5. Photographer takes photo
6. Group of three journalists standing outside courtroom
7. People exiting the courtroom, a man puts his hand in front of camera, car drives off.
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Gary Nicholls, Political Press Officer, British High Commission
"The juvenile act of the legal system here does stipulate that the maximum sentence for juveniles here is three years, and that's the assumption we're working on as well.
Reporter asks - can you just say the thing about the UK social services again?
A. The judge called the social services here probation officer and he presented a report received from the UK, which was seeking an extension of time in order to properly compile the report. The judges therefore adjourned the case until 9th January, by which time the report should have been received from the UK."
9. Two journalists waiting under a tree
STORYLINE:
The sentencing of two teenage British girls convicted of trying to smuggle cocaine from Ghana to Europe in laptop bags has been delayed until next month, British officials said on Wednesday.
The court postponed the sentencing - originally scheduled for Wednesday - until Jan. 9 to give probation officers more time to complete a report on their mental state, said Gary Nicholls, a British High Commission spokesman.
The report is required for the sentencing of juvenile offenders in Ghana.
The two 16-year-old students from London - convicted last month of possession and trafficking of narcotic drugs - face up to three years in jail.
"The juvenile act of the kind of legal system here does stipulate that the maximum sentence for juveniles here is three years, and that's the assumption we're working on as well," Nichols told reporters outside the court in Accra.
The two girls were arrested at Accra airport in July with about 13 pounds of cocaine in their computer cases.
Officials have said the two were recruited in London by drug traffickers who promised them an all-expenses-paid vacation in Ghana in return for serving as drug couriers.
The teens reportedly left for Africa telling their parents they were going to France.
The head of the girls' legal team has said they plan to appeal.
West Africa is increasingly becoming a transit point for drugs headed to Europe.
Cocaine, mostly from Colombia, is brought on small planes and dropped on islands off the little-policed Atlantic Ocean coast, then distributed to couriers who carry it into Europe.
British and Ghanaian officials began collaborating last year after a surge in drug-related arrests at London airports linked to West African flights.

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