Lawyer to help Cohens

Press, 26 July 1989, Page 6

Lawyer to help Cohens

PA Auckland An Auckland laywer, Mr David Hagor, will fly to Malaysia next week to help appeal against the death sentence for a New Zealand dug addict, Lorraine Cohen, for heroin smuggling. He will assist the defence lawyer, Mr Karpal Singh, at the Kuala Lumpur Court hearing on August 7 when they will also appeal against the life imprisonment sentence on her son Aaron, aged 22, for possession of heroin. ’ < . The public prosecutor’s office in Kuala Lumpur is seeking a death sentence for Aaron for drugs trafficking. Their appeal comes as Malaysia takes a hardline approach against drug offenders. Last week an Englishman convicted of heroin trafficking, Derrick Gregory, was hanged in a Kuala Lumpur prison. the Cohens were arrested in February, 1985, after being stopped at Penang airport carrying heroin hidden in their clothes. They were sentenced in September, 1987. Mr Hagar, who assited at their trial, is the secretary of the New Zealand Howard League for Penal

Reform. “I am assisting in the appeal on behalf of the league because these are New Zealanders facing the death penalty and the league has always opposed the death penalty,” he said. His legal services would be free - and league supporters were likely to give the $2500 needed for air fares and expenses. They would appeal against the Cohens’ convictions and sentences. “The discrepancy in the weight of the drug has never been resolved and the Crown has failed to discharge the onus of proof.” He has received letters from Mrs Cohen, the last six weeks ago, and said she was reasonably optimistic of the case succeeding on legal grounds.

Waikanae’s Mr Kenneth Webb, who writes every fortnight to Mrs Cohen, said she was no longer a drug addict, - had become a confirmed Christian and was regularly visited by a nun from a local convent. Mr Laneth McKinnon, of Sanson, who gave $2OOO to the cost of the Cohens' trial and continues to correspond, said: “I hope people will keep them in mind in the next few weeks.”