MONGOLIA: ECCENTRIC SCOTTISH TRAVELLER DAVID GRANT, ACCUSED OF INJURING BUSINESSMAN WITH CATAPULT

Record ID: 190145

  • Title: MONGOLIA: ECCENTRIC SCOTTISH TRAVELLER DAVID GRANT, ACCUSED OF INJURING BUSINESSMAN WITH CATAPULT
  • Date: 1st May 1995
  • Summary: ULAN BATOR, MONGOLIA (RECENT) 1. GV TWO MEMBERS OF GRANT FAMILY WITH PONIES OUTSIDE STABLE 0.08 2. GVS TWO OF THE GRANT CHILDREN RIDING PONIES THROUGH STREETS AND COUNTRYSIDE (5 SHOTS) 0.46 3. SCU DAVID GRANT AND HIS DAUGHTER WHO HE CLAIMED FIRED THE CATAPULT SEATED INSIDE A HOUSE IN ULAN BATOR 0.52 4. CU GRANT SAYING "MY ANSWER IS WE PLANNED IT OVER MANY WINTERS' EVENINGS IN SCOTLAND AND DECIDED EVENTUALLY ON A HORSE DRAWN CARAVAN BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE HAD EVER MADE A JOURNEY LIKE THIS WITH A YOUNG FAMILY." (ENGLISH) 1.05 5. CU GRANT SAYING "WE'VE HAD TROUBLE FROM DRUNKS IN A NUMBER OF COUNTRIES INCLUDING HUNGARY AND VERY UNFORTUNATELY IN MONGOLIA WHERE ALCOHOLISM SEEMS TO BE QUITE A SEVERE PROBLEM. BUT OTHER THAN THAT REALLY WE'VE HAD A PRETTY GOOD TIME." (ENGLISH) 1.21 6. CU GRANT'S SON SAYING " I THING I'D PROBABLY HAVE LIKED TO STAY A LITTLE BIT LONGER IN SCOTLAND BUT I REALLY DON'T KNOW. I'M NOT SURE." (ENGLISH) 1.33 7. SCU KATE GRANT, DAVID GRANT'S WIFE SEATED WITH HER TWO SONS 1.38 8. GV GRANT FAMILY WITH PONIES 1.47 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 16th May 1995 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ULAN BATOR, MONGOLIA
  • City:
  • Country: Mongolia
  • Reuters ID: LVADI1KK8YJ4P2F3R49ONJ1O5VG1
  • Story Text: A Mongolian court overturned on Friday (May 26) the conviction of an eccentric Scottish traveller accused of injuring a businessman with a catapult, but stopped him from leaving the country until the case was re-investigated.

    The Ulan Bator City Court overturned the conviction and three-year suspended prison sentence against 53-year-old David Grant, who has made interational headlines by hauling his family across Europe and Asia in a horse-drawn cart.

    The court threw out the conviction because of insufficient evidence.

    But it barred Grant from leaving Mongolia until police complete a re-investigation of the case, which stemmed from an accusation by a Mongolian businessman that Grant blinded him in one eye with a catapult.

    Grant, on the road for nearly five years with his wife and three children, had been described by legal sources as the first foreigner convicted in a Mongolian court.

    The ruling will prevent Grant from resuming his journey round the world.

    Businessman Bold Jadamba accused Grant of firing a stone at him from a catapult in an incident 550 km (340 miles) from Ulan Bator in 1994.

    Grant said one of his daughters fired her catapult at three Mongolians who were harassing the family's horse.

    The men left without complaining and Grant said he only discovered he had been accused of causing bodily harm after reaching Ulan Bator.

    Grant said he was not permitted to work while waiting for the case to be resolved.

    British diplomats said it was impossible to know how long the new inquiry might take or what verdict might result.

    The London-based human rights organisation Amnesty International has said a jail term in Mongolia could be a death sentence, citing high rates of illness and poor nutrition.

    Nearly 200 convicts died of starvation and illness in Mongolia's prisons in 1994.


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