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Old 24-02-2014, 08:12   #16
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Re: New member and Prison in Saint Lucia

One is innocent until proven guilty and that is certainly the case here. In most cases the accused is set free if he meets certain conditions such as identify, risk of flight, re-occurrence of the offence, lives within 500 miles of the offence jurisdiction, is a citizen of the country, etc. If the accused does not meet all of the conditions he is kept in custody until trial. If he is proven beyond a reasonable doubt that he is guilty, the time served while awaiting trial will most likely be counted in. On the other hand if he is proven not guilty ..... Oh well that is the nature of the justice system and he will most likely not be compensated for any loss while in custody.
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Old 25-02-2014, 06:01   #17
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Re: New member and Prison in Saint Lucia

If you have been following this case you know that there were, at one time, what appeared to be his wife and kids and a dog onboard. I just have to wonder what has happened to them and, of course, the behemoth vessel he was on.
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Old 25-02-2014, 18:43   #18
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Re: New member and Prison in Saint Lucia

The story goes that the accused was on his boat and a local allegedly was trying to rob him. Somner threw him off the boat. The perp did not know how to swim well, and died of exhaustion in the hospital. The allegation is that when Somner could see the perp was struggling to stay alive, he did nothing.
If its like the rest of the region, any death is initially charged as murder. If the requisite intent is not proven, its reduced to manslaughter at trial. And there is no bail possible for a murder charge. If he goes to trial in two years that is blinding speed.
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Old 25-02-2014, 19:33   #19
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Re: New member and Prison in Saint Lucia

Where he is it's guilty till proven innocent! It's not the US folks ! Ya should ck things out before posting !! No bail on capital crimes ect. French Law is real different then in the states. And Ive spent some time on fishing boats with the same type of engines and anchor systems, and he sure has it down cus it's tough to keep up and handle! Don't know about his sailing abilty, but his mechanical skills are first rate !!
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Old 25-02-2014, 19:47   #20
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Re: New member and Prison in Saint Lucia

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Originally Posted by CataPleiades View Post
I am a french professional based in Martinique and I joined this forum a few minutes ago in order to see how, as a maritime community, we could help our friend Eric Sommer who is in jail in Saint Lucia for more than one year now.

He isn't my friend. I have no earthly idea who he is. Why in the world would you think I would and I'm certainly not going to get involved with some cause I know nothing about based on a post by some first time poster I know nothing about. French professional? That is supposed to sway us? Professional what?

As I was reading the thread discussing about his case, the thread was closed....

Probably closed for good reason as the moderators don't just close threads to be doing it. To think then it's fine to restart it makes no sense.

The question is not to discuss what exactly happened, nobody knows. The question is to start intitiatives to help him.

What do you mean the question isn't to discuss what happened? You think that has no relevance? Why then would we possibly care to start initiatives to help him? Should we all just arbitrarily pick someone in jail and decide to start initiatives to help them?

It makes now more than one year that he is in jail, the judge postponed the judgement 8 times now, arguing that some pieces were missing, yes it makes 8 times that the judge decided to postpone the audience.

And who are we to argue with the judge? What audacity that takes on our part to argue with a judge on a case we know nothing about and you've said we don't need to discuss what happened.

His case is fully known in the french major forum as Sail The World or Hisse et Oh.

And so? Charles Manson's case is well known too. Is the fact it's well known supposed to move us to action?

I do believe that Saint Lucia being in the commonwealth and very sensitive to anglosaxon opinions, perhaps some initiatives coming from this community could help.

Why in the world would this community have initiatives. And why would you think suddenly a cruisers forum has influence on a Saint Lucia judge? Plus what does being in the commonwealth have to do with this and anglosaxon opinions? Are you now claiming this is some racial or ethnic or national origin issue? So if there are people here who are not anglosaxon there opinion would not count? I find that entire idea offensive.

Thank you for your attention.

Don't thank us. The two of us are actually quite liberal and very strong supporters of human rights and those that there seems to be some basis of false accusation but we are also selective. We will do anything to help our friends who we know closely and know enough to believe if they get in a difficult situation. But part of being that way is deciding on the causes to be involved with and not jumping on a bandwagon because someone uses the internet to post information that may or may not be true.

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We resisted answering for quite a while but sometimes keeping quiet is condoning. Frankly, I'd far more trust the good people of Saint Lucia to handle this than some stranger posting randomly on a cruisers forum. I don't know why this thread is still open, but by it being kept open it did drive us to respond.
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Old 25-02-2014, 20:23   #21
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Re: New member and Prison in Saint Lucia

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We resisted answering for quite a while but sometimes keeping quiet is condoning. Frankly, I'd far more trust the good people of Saint Lucia to handle this than some stranger posting randomly on a cruisers forum. I don't know why this thread is still open, but by it being kept open it did drive us to respond.
that's pretty harsh
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Old 25-02-2014, 20:34   #22
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Re: New member and Prison in Saint Lucia

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that's pretty harsh
Yes, we realize that. It was meant to be. This wasn't a cruiser with a cruiser opinion or question. This was spamming a board but in many ways worse that spam trying to get you to buy something and for some reason expecting everyone to buy in on his cause. There are many people out there who need help. I'm sure this forum sometimes has members who experience illness or injury or losses in their family and others here know well and ask for those who can to help. In those cases we'd be among the first to try to assist. But don't just tell me to blindly get involved in the affairs of another country on a cause I know nothing about in an inappropriate place.
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Old 25-02-2014, 20:41   #23
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Re: New member and Prison in Saint Lucia

I guess i didn't recognize it for what it was.
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Old 25-02-2014, 20:45   #24
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Re: New member and Prison in Saint Lucia

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Originally Posted by BandB View Post
Yes, we realize that. It was meant to be. This wasn't a cruiser with a cruiser opinion or question. This was spamming a board but in many ways worse that spam trying to get you to buy something and for some reason expecting everyone to buy in on his cause. There are many people out there who need help. I'm sure this forum sometimes has members who experience illness or injury or losses in their family and others here know well and ask for those who can to help. In those cases we'd be among the first to try to assist. But don't just tell me to blindly get involved in the affairs of another country on a cause I know nothing about in an inappropriate place.
Tough love.
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Old 25-02-2014, 20:48   #25
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Re: New member and Prison in Saint Lucia

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I guess i didn't recognize it for what it was.
I have no idea what the real situation or facts is but I'm not going to reach some conclusion based on a post on a forum and not going to take action without knowing what I'm talking about.

I also am not sure who I would be to decide while sitting on my boat in the panhandle of Florida what was going on in Saint Lucia and what a judge should be doing there. I'm sure whatever the story is there are at least two sides to it and probably many more. I had no knowledge of the situation and now my complete knowledge is that apparently one man is dead and another in jail. I feel for the families of both men.
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Old 26-02-2014, 00:08   #26
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Re: New member and Prison in Saint Lucia

Thread closed.
CF is not the place for petitions such as this.

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