A court in England has convicted two men of killing 39 migrants who were found dead in a lorry container in Essex. – By Gerald Gekara.
Eamonn Harrison the truck driver, and Gheorghe Nica the organizer, stood trial to face 39 counts of manslaughter.
The events of October 2019 in Essex shocked the world after the Vietnamese nationals were discovered at an industrial estate in Grays, Essex.
While in transit, court documents state that temperatures in the unit had reached an “unbearable” 38.5C (101F) as the men, women and children, aged 15 to 44, were sealed inside for at least 12 hours.
The migrants had each paid more than £10,000 to be smuggled into the UK and had desperately tried to raise the alarm as they suffocated inside the pitch-black refrigerated unit.
Following a two-month trial at the Old Bailey, lorry driver Harrison was found guilty of 39 counts of manslaughter, while organiser Nica was convicted of the same charges.
