The Dutch lorry driver found guilty of the manslaughter of 58 Chinese immigrants at Dover port last June has been sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment. His co-defendant, Ying Guo, has been given a six-year sentence for conspiring to smuggle illegal immigrants into Britain. They were convicted on unanimous verdicts. Perry Wacker, who is 33 and from Rotterdam, was accused of shutting off an air vent to avoid detection by immigration officials. The 54 men and four women suffocated. Mr Justice Alan Moses told Mr Wacker that he demonstrated cynical exploitation of his victims.
The jury of nine women and three men unanimously convicted them after nearly 13 hours of deliberations following a six-week trial at Maidstone Crown Court in Kent. Although 60 Chinese immigrants tried to illegally enter Britain hidden in the back of a sealed lorry container laden with tomatoes on 18 June 2000, only two made it out alive.
Fifty-four men and four women suffocated during the six-hour ferry crossing from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Dover. Shocked port officials made the gruesome discovery and pulled two men from the trailer alive. Survivors Su Di Ke, 20, and Ke Shi Guang, 22, have been issued visas to stay in Britain for four years on humanitarian grounds.
