UNBEARABLE
Court hears audio of victims’ last words Traffickers are back in dock for sentencing
TRAGIC The 39 migrants paid £10,000 for the Channel crossing which they hoped would take them to a prosperous new life but ended in their horrific deaths inside the trailer
A PEOPLE-SMUGGLER who killed 39 Vietnamese migrants closed his eyes as a harrowing recording of one victim’s final words was played for the first time in court yesterday.
Ronan Hughes, 41, and seven others in his gang lowered their heads as a clip of the man’s last phone call was played.
Speaking between ragged breaths as he suffocated inside a sealed container, the man said: “I can’t breathe… I want to come back to my family. “Have a good life.” Moans of distress could be heard in the background while another trapped migrant pleaded: “Come on, everyone. Open up, open up.”
In a second audio clip, a male victim said: “It’s all my fault”. Moments later another voice said: “He’s dead.”
Hughes and his gang are being sentenced at the Old Bailey for their roles in the “sophisticated” and “longrunning” human trafficking operation. The gang were arrested after 28 men,
Police plan of position of the bodies eight women and three children were found dead inside the HGV trailer in Grays, Essex, in October 2019.
As the three-day sentencing hearing began, prosecutor Jonathan Polnay was momentarily overcome as he outlined the life stories of the 39 victims.
He told how their families, many from poor farming communities in Vietnam, had sold houses, mortgaged land and borrowed vast sums of money to pay for their loved- ones’ 5000- mile journeys to Britain.
They dreamed of finding work in restaurants or nail salons so they could send money home. Instead, their parents had been left with crippling debts – in one case 520 million
DEATH TRAP Lorry and the sealed trailer
Vietnamese dong, which is £16,000. Husband and wife Tran Hai Loc and Nguyen Thi Van, both 35, were found holding hands, dead, inside the trailer.
Their children, a boy, six, and girl, four, are orphans and a huge debt hangs over their grandparents.
One family member said: “We don’t know how we can repay it as we are old and can’t work. Our life will become very difficult.”
The 39 victims took different routes to the UK before paying £10,000 for the Channel crossing.
Nguyen Huy Phong, 35, is survived by his wife Nguyen Thi La, who must now raise their child alone.
She said: “We still owe a big debt. It will be very hard for me to earn money and raise our child by myself.
“I am a farmer, just growing rice and do some animal husbandry to feed our child.
“I have no other sources of income, just my life is very difficult.”
Phan Thi Thanh, 41, sold the family home and left her son with his godmother before setting off on the ill-fated journey.
Her son, now living in the UK with his dad, said: “I feel very heartbroken with mum not around.”
The parents of 32-year-old Nguyen Ba Vu Hung, said: “He is the pillar of the family, working to earn money to support the family and pay expenses, we currently have to repay the loan.”
Hughes is being sentenced alongside fellow ringleader Gheorghe Nica, 43, and gang members Maurice Robinson, 26, Eamon Harrison, 24, and Christopher Kennedy, 24, 38-year-old Valentin Calota, Gazmir Nuzi, 42, and 28-year-old Alexandru Hanga.
Hughes’s lawyer told the judge his client has shown “genuine remorse”.
It will be very hard for me to raise our child alone NGUYEN THI LA WIFE OF ONE OF THE VICTIMS