Si_Poppi
02-05-2009, 10:29 PM
Mark Andrew Phillips' strange story reads like the script from a twisting and turning suspense novel.
"I was threatened in a hotel room at gunpoint," he writes in a statement he gave to a Dominican Republic court. "Imagine the horror of realizing you would need to do someone else's dirty work or your immediate life and those whom you love would be put in imminent danger. I did not want to commit this crime but I felt I had no choice."
You either believe him or you don't. A Dominican court didn't and sentenced him to five years in prison, convicting the 33-year-old Woodbridge man of trafficking more than $200,000 worth of cocaine, which he says his friend taped to his chest.
For the past 19-months he has been rotting away in the Centro Penitenciario de Correccion y Rehabilitacion, in San Felipe, Puerto Plata.
It is not an entertaining drama for Phillips. Still, this story is like Midnight Express -- only Caribbean-style.
But for a mom worried about the health of her son it "has been a nightmare.
"I am very concerned about his health. I have not heard from Mark since Saturday," Judith Phillips, a kindergarten teacher, said yesterday.
It was on that day, prison officials stuck him in "The Hole" where his mom says in a 30-second phone conversation he told her "15 inmates were told to go in first and urinate."
Grim and tough times for Mark. He went there in June 2007 in what was supposed to be the beginning of a new business opportunity for the freelance computer programmer. "An old friend from high school had invited him down," said his mom. "He was supposed to set up an Internet network for him."
He stayed two weeks but on the way back, June 26, 2007, there was as Mark said in his statement a "slight change in plans" and his friend "would be packing something on my body."
Mark said he protested. "He told me I had no choice and I had better be cool with it or else me, family or friends would be put at an unnecessary risk."
He tells his family he was forced to go through security and board a flight to Germany and then another to Delhi, India. He got caught in the airport in the Dominican, while the friend walked out of the airport never to be questioned by authorities.
Without anybody ever even investigating this conspiracy possibility, or perhaps looking at video surveillance or even past criminal records of this friend, Phillips was instead last March sentenced to five years in prison for trafficking slightly more than one kilo of cocaine.
Now I know what you are thinking. If it walks like a duck, it's a duck. We make no judgments here today but instead ask some questions. What if this happened to you and would anybody believe you if it did?
Consider Mark, those close to him insist, has no criminal record, no drug problem, no interest in gambling or crime. "He's just a sweet, naive guy," said his former fiancee Carolyne Allan, adding if anybody could be duped it would be "trusting" Mark.
Says his mom: "Mark can't lie and I know he would have nothing to do with something like this."
'IT IS TERRIBLE'
The conviction is really not as important to them as his health. They are terrified. Can he survive more than three and a half more years in a Dominican prison? "I have been there 11 times and I can tell you it is terrible," said Judith. "He has been beat up and he has lost a lot of weight. I really want to get him out of there and back here to serve his time."
The best thing would be for him to be transferred back here to serve out his time. Both Corrections Canada and foreign affairs confirmed the case and seemed concerned. "Our focus is to get him home first and try to gain his innocence later," says Judith.
I figure if we are going to end up with alleged al-Qaida terrorist Omar Khadr back here from Guantanamo Bay, we can certainly extend the same courtesy to Mark Phillips.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2009/02/04/8268851.html#/news/columnists/joe_warmington/2009/02/05/pf-8269541.html
"I was threatened in a hotel room at gunpoint," he writes in a statement he gave to a Dominican Republic court. "Imagine the horror of realizing you would need to do someone else's dirty work or your immediate life and those whom you love would be put in imminent danger. I did not want to commit this crime but I felt I had no choice."
You either believe him or you don't. A Dominican court didn't and sentenced him to five years in prison, convicting the 33-year-old Woodbridge man of trafficking more than $200,000 worth of cocaine, which he says his friend taped to his chest.
For the past 19-months he has been rotting away in the Centro Penitenciario de Correccion y Rehabilitacion, in San Felipe, Puerto Plata.
It is not an entertaining drama for Phillips. Still, this story is like Midnight Express -- only Caribbean-style.
But for a mom worried about the health of her son it "has been a nightmare.
"I am very concerned about his health. I have not heard from Mark since Saturday," Judith Phillips, a kindergarten teacher, said yesterday.
It was on that day, prison officials stuck him in "The Hole" where his mom says in a 30-second phone conversation he told her "15 inmates were told to go in first and urinate."
Grim and tough times for Mark. He went there in June 2007 in what was supposed to be the beginning of a new business opportunity for the freelance computer programmer. "An old friend from high school had invited him down," said his mom. "He was supposed to set up an Internet network for him."
He stayed two weeks but on the way back, June 26, 2007, there was as Mark said in his statement a "slight change in plans" and his friend "would be packing something on my body."
Mark said he protested. "He told me I had no choice and I had better be cool with it or else me, family or friends would be put at an unnecessary risk."
He tells his family he was forced to go through security and board a flight to Germany and then another to Delhi, India. He got caught in the airport in the Dominican, while the friend walked out of the airport never to be questioned by authorities.
Without anybody ever even investigating this conspiracy possibility, or perhaps looking at video surveillance or even past criminal records of this friend, Phillips was instead last March sentenced to five years in prison for trafficking slightly more than one kilo of cocaine.
Now I know what you are thinking. If it walks like a duck, it's a duck. We make no judgments here today but instead ask some questions. What if this happened to you and would anybody believe you if it did?
Consider Mark, those close to him insist, has no criminal record, no drug problem, no interest in gambling or crime. "He's just a sweet, naive guy," said his former fiancee Carolyne Allan, adding if anybody could be duped it would be "trusting" Mark.
Says his mom: "Mark can't lie and I know he would have nothing to do with something like this."
'IT IS TERRIBLE'
The conviction is really not as important to them as his health. They are terrified. Can he survive more than three and a half more years in a Dominican prison? "I have been there 11 times and I can tell you it is terrible," said Judith. "He has been beat up and he has lost a lot of weight. I really want to get him out of there and back here to serve his time."
The best thing would be for him to be transferred back here to serve out his time. Both Corrections Canada and foreign affairs confirmed the case and seemed concerned. "Our focus is to get him home first and try to gain his innocence later," says Judith.
I figure if we are going to end up with alleged al-Qaida terrorist Omar Khadr back here from Guantanamo Bay, we can certainly extend the same courtesy to Mark Phillips.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2009/02/04/8268851.html#/news/columnists/joe_warmington/2009/02/05/pf-8269541.html