Driver denies dumping drug grower

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/wales/south_west/8353485.stm

Version 0 of 1.

A Vietnamese man has denied helping to dump in a ditch the body of a drug grower who died in a cannabis factory.

Ba Doai Tran, 70, who admits producing cannabis, told Swansea Crown Court he was only a driver taking supplies and people between London and Wales.

The body of Kim Van Tran, who was also Vietnamese, was found near Horeb, Carmarthenshire, in May.

Ba Doai Tran, Ernest John Lewis, 57, of Swansea, and a 17-year-old youth also deny conspiracy to supply cannabis.

Mr Tran is the only one on trial for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice over his alleged role in disposing of the body.

The prosecution claims Kim Van Tran was a "gardener" at a cannabis factory in a domestic property in the village of Porthyrhyd, Carmarthenshire, where he died.

His body, wrapped in plastic bags and bound with tape, was found by the side of Horeb Road, between the villages of Horeb and Five Roads.

The prosecution had claimed Ba Doai Tran was the main organiser of "a sophisticated conspiracy to produce cannabis on a large commercial scale".

I was very happy when I was arrested by the police... I was in custody and no-one could hurt me any more Ba Doai Tran

But in evidence to the jury via a translator he denied this.

Questioned by his barrister Ieuan Rees, he said he was approached in a betting shop and asked to work as a driver ferrying supplies between London where he lives and Wales.

He said he had developed a fondness for Wales whilst his daughter lived in Newport and said the farms, fields and forests reminded him of his home town in Vietnam.

He told the court he knew it was an offence but said he could get paid between £50 and £100 for doing something he enjoyed - driving to and from Wales.

He said because of his health problems - including what he said were injuries suffered during the Vietnam War - he was unable to get a legitimate job.

Physically attacked

He also said family members in Vietnam had become unwell and he had no other means of raising the money to support them.

Mr Tran was also asked by his barrister about a sat nav that was found in the car he was driving when he was arrested.

One of the locations stored in its memory was very close to the site where Kim Van Tran's body was found.

Mr Tran claimed it belonged to the Chinese and Vietnamese people he worked for.

He said he was very afraid of them and claimed they had often physically attacked him.

"I was very happy when I was arrested by the police," Mr Tran said.

"I was in custody and no-one could hurt me any more."

The jury has previously heard two other Vietnamese men had entered guilty pleas.

One man admitted perverting the cause of justice and cannabis production, while the other man admitted the production of cannabis.

The trial continues.