R. v. L.
England and Wales Court of Appeal, Criminal Division
[2013] EWCA Crim 991 (2013)
- Written by Rich Walter, JD
Facts
The United Kingdom (UK) was signatory to the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (the UN Trafficking Protocol). Police arrested THN (defendant), a 17-year-old Vietnamese boy, for producing large quantities of illegal drugs. In an otherwise-unrelated case, police arrested L. (defendant), a 31-year-old Ugandan woman whom human traffickers had brought into the UK and forced to work as a prostitute, for possessing a forged passport. Crown prosecutors secured convictions in both cases. Evidence subsequently emerged that human traffickers had brought THN into the UK in a freezer container and then forced THN to work in the traffickers’ drug business. Evidence also subsequently emerged that after several years of traumatizing abuse, L.’s captors released L., gave L. the forged passport, and convinced L. that the passport was genuine. In both cases, the crown prosecutors admitted that they would have dropped their prosecutions had the subsequently discovered facts been known at the time. THN and L. appealed their sentences to the England and Wales Court of Appeal.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Judge, C.J.)
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