The
defence for nine Korean sailors accused of smuggling Chinese
migrants into Canada claims the defendants were victims of high seas
piracy. The Crown says that doesn't make any sense.
Both were making final arguments
Friday afternoon before a B.C. Supreme Court jury.
Last summer's
arrest |
The Koreans say they
were forced to bring the migrants to British Columbia last summer.
Defence lawyer Brad Hickford says Capt. Chong-Un Kim's vessel was
boarded and he was taken ashore and threatened.
"He was told that if he didn't co-operate, he might be killed,"
Hickford told the court. "But more importantly, the thing that
shocked him the most was that they knew about his family, and they
knew about his daughter."
The defence claims the crew only transported 131 Chinese people
to Canada because of this constant threat, that this is their second
trial — their first was when the crew was prisoners on the boat to
Canada.
The Crown says the story is simply unbelievable.
"Why would someone hijack a boat, demand to be taken to Canada,
and let off on an isolated island with no means of survival. It
simply does not make any sense," said prosecutor Peter La Prairie.
Judge Ronald McKinnon allowed the news media to record final
arguments and will do the same for his charge to the jury on Monday.
The trial had been expected to last two weeks. It has now been
six months.
