Prisoner plea to Queen

Press, 28 February 1986, Page 7

Prisoner plea to Queen

By

DAVID JONES,

, NZPA

staff correspondent Wellington

A New Zealander serving a five-year jail sentence in Nepal for gold smuggling has appealed to the Queen to help secure his release, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Simon Butler, aged 27, of Auckland, and a female companion were arrested after gold was found in their possession at Katmandu Airport last December, said a Ministry spokesman. They were later convicted of gold smuggling and each jailed for five

years or, alternately, fined SUS3O,OOO (about $NZ57,000).

The woman was released after the fine was paid on her behalf said the spokesman, who declined to give Butler’s home address or reveal the woman’s name. Butler had been unable to pay the fine and was now serving his sentence in Katmandu jail. The spokesman said that Butler and his family approached the New Zealand Government in a bid to secure his release.

“But they were told that it was not the Govern-

ment’s policy to interfere in the judicial systems of another country,"said the spokesman. The family then wrote to the Queen because they saw no other hope of his being released.

But the chances of any intervention by the Queen were slim, her press secretary said.' He said any request would be passed on to the Governor-General who would act on the advice of the Government

The Ministry spokesman said that if Butler was unsuccessful in his appeal he was likely to spend at least four years in jail before sidered for