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BC tutor facing death penalty pleads to see his dad
By Mata Press Service
Matheiu Forand (left) and another man being led away by Taiwan police. |
"My father came from Canada to see me. I ask the court to give me a chance to talk to him," said Mathieu Forand of Port Moody who has been charged with being in possession of 414g of cocaine, 515g of marijuana and hundreds of ecstasy pills. "I apologize to Taiwan," the tearful 28-year-old told a judge at Taipei’s District Court last week. The judge allowed Forand’s request to have visitors in jail stating that he confessed to selling drugs and assisted in clearing up some details in the prosecution’s case.
However, Forand was denied bail because of the large amount of cocaine that had allegedly been found in his possession. About 50 of James’ friends attended the trial. Some of them shed tears when Forand asked the court to let him see his family said a news report from Taiwan. Forand’s father told the Taipei Times after the hearing that he was happy that he would be able to visit his son in jail. At press time he was on his way home to Port Moody.
Forand, who has been in police detention since last August, has allegedly also confessed to having sold various drugs in Taiwan from 2003 April until his arrest in August. Another defendant in the case, Su Sheng-his, a Taiwanese American suspected of trading in drugs with Forand, has denied that he sold drugs, according to Taiwanese news reports. Su told the court that he had bought drugs from Frorand, and used drugs, but was not a dealer. Su was also denied bail. Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration said it uncovered an international drug smuggling ring based in Neihu, Taipei, last August.
According to the coast guard, James was the leader of the smuggling operation. Eight other people, including Taiwanese Americans, as well as people from Canada, Australia and Hong Kong, were also arrested in connection with the drug ring, but were released soon after. Many of the suspects worked as English teachers, local media reports said. The coast guard said the ring had smuggled drugs into the country inside hollowed out textbooks from Vancouver and sold them in pubs and other night spots.
The judge told the Taipei Times after the recent hearing that, according to the nation’s criminal code, people convicted of selling class one drugs such as cocaine could face life in jail or the death penalty. However, mitigating factors, such as the full cooperation of the defendant, could lead to a reduced sentence, the judge said. The case is being closely watched by the foreign English teacher community in Taiwan, and hotly debated on websites like Forumosa.com.
Some have commented that Forand deserves the death penalty and that he has ruined the reputation of English teachers in Taiwan. Others said the case has been sensationalized by Taiwan’s print and TV media playing to the sentiments of groups that have linked foreign English teachers to the moral decay of local youth.
Stills from a film called 'Made in Taiwan' that involved Forand. |
Forand was also part of a documentary crew that produced the file "Made in Taiwan" that takes a look at stereotypical English teachers through the classic East-meets-West love story. David Frazier the editor of the website enPOTS wrote that "this case seems to advance a stereotype and present the potential for stigmatization in a way no others have. Though Forand was allegedly dealing to foreign and overseas Chinese nightclub partiers, the headlines all focused on his status as a teacher of Taiwanese children."
Frazier commented that how this case is handled by media and the justice system should be of special concern to an expat community. "It’s now inevitable that our alien mores, including wide-spread drug consumption, will increasingly come into conflict with local, more conservative values and their reflections in the national Criminal Code."
The editor goes on to say "Back home in Canada his crime would probably merit a few months in prison but certainly not life. Here he faces a railroad court system and draconian drug laws. My pie in the sky wish for justice is to have him sentenced and serve time back in Canada, and even though that’s not possible, the fact that gives me the most hope is that he’s a young, good-looking and friendly white guy, and for that he’ll get better treatment than most." Forand’s case came to court as Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said that they had arrested two men suspected of importing 1.6 kilograms of marijuana via airmail from Canada.
The suspects allegedly told the police that they ordered the marijuana from a Canadian man and used Federal Express to import it. CIB agents said they will continue to track down the source and the distribution network of the smugglers. Over the past year there have been several cases of English teachers caught importing or using marijuana from Canada, Korean students in Vancouver being used as drug mules and B.C. Bud making inroads in Vietnam’s growing drug culture. In the city of Suwon, South Korea prosecutors are preparing for a huge court trial involving a drug smuggling ring that hired female Korean students in Vancouver to carry narcotics valued at over C$316.6 million.
The Suwon district attorney‘s office has so far booked 45 people and detained 18 of them on charges of trafficking in narcotics, including five students they say were running the drugs. Prosecutors say the group since March 2004 approached Korean women studying English in Vancouver to sign them up as mules for its operation. The group offered to pay their airfare as well as W1.5 million (about C$1,826) each time they took small quantities of drugs to Australia, Japan and Korea. The women would carry packs of up to 1 kilogram of cocaine or speed strapped to their torso under a maternity support belt, prosecutors say.
There are an estimated 10,000 Korean students in Vancouver. In Vietnam, a series of massive drug operations has caused ecstasy supplies to run dry in Hanoi forcing local young addicts to turn to marijuana, reported local media. Newspapers said the two most obtainable forms of marijuana in Hanoi now are known by their street names: "Canadian grass", which is smuggled from Canada, and "Tai Ma", meaning Great Hemp.
Over the last two years, before the recent crackdown, a gram of the so called Canadian grass cost 800,000 to 1,200,000 Dong, or C$60 to C$91 at the local "marijuana market." A Canadian grass joint now costs 100,000 VND, or C$7.66.
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