PHILIPPINES: A BRITON FACING THE DEATH PENALTY ON CHARGES OF DRUG SMUGGLING DENIES THE CHARGES

Record ID: 318399

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: A BRITON FACING THE DEATH PENALTY ON CHARGES OF DRUG SMUGGLING DENIES THE CHARGES
  • Date: 20th December 1994
  • Summary: MANILA, PHILIPPINES (DECEMBER 20, 1994) 1. GV HALL OF JUSTICE 0.04 2. SV INTERIOR COURTROOM 0.07 3. SV PAN NIGEL GATWARD WALKS TO WITNESS STAND/ SWORN IN (2 SHOTS) 0.14 4. SV THE JUDGE 0.21 5. GV COURT PROCEEDINGS 0.25 6. SLV/MCU ALLEGED LUGGAGE (2 SHOTS) 0.32 7. MCU GATWARD SPEAKING/LUGGAGE CONTENTS (ENGLISH) (3 SHOTS) 0.41 8. LV GATWARD PUTTING ON UNDERSHIRT 0.50 SEQ.6: TRANSCRIPT: GATWARD: "YES I'M SURE I WILL BE ACQUITED COZ' THIS IS NOT MY BAG, THESE ARE NOT MY CLOTHES, AND THESE ARE NOT MY DRUGS." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 4th January 1995 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MANILA, PHILIPPINES
  • City:
  • Country: Phillippines
  • Reuters ID: LVADOVMSQMGJ4NBAT3B2H6ZHVXUY
  • Story Text: A Briton facing the death penalty in the Philippines on charges of drug smuggling, on Tuesday (December 20) again denied he owned the luggage in which heroin was found concealed.

    Nigel Richard Gatward, 30, denied the bag or the clothes in it were his.

    Trying to prove his claim, the mobile telephone salesman from Clapham in south London put on several items of clothing from the luggage to show that they did not fit.

    Gatward was arrested in Manila on August 31 as he was about to leave on a plane bound for Amsterdam. Police said a bag he had checked in contained 5.2 kg (11.5 lb) of heroin.

    "Yes, I am sure I will be acquitted," Gatward told reporters during a break in the proceedings. "This is not my bag. These are not my clothes. These are not my drugs." His lawyer, Fernando Perito, was confident he could get his client cleared of the charges, which carry the death penalty.

    A Japanese businessman was sentenced to death for drug trafficking earlier this month by a judge in the central Philippines.

    He was the first foreigner given the death sentence since capital punishment was restored early this year for a range of "heinous" offences including drug smuggling.


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