Some years ago I represented a man charged with sexual assault. I concluded he, genuinely, had not committed the acts he was charged with. The case was weak at best. Well, the Judge convicted but held off sentencing. When the sentence came down my client received no jail – basically he was convicted and told to not do it again. That struck me as a terrible sentence – it insulted the victim (because it suggested her complaint was well founded but not very serious) and it said to the accused “you did it but we’re not going to punish you for it”. My suspicion is the judge convicted and then had second thoughts – I wonder if here the court convicted but thought the accused weren’t “really” guilty – after all, two years for negligence killing 25, 000?
Campaign groups representing survivors of the
The accused, several of them now in their 70s, were convicted of criminal negligence and sentenced to two years in prison but bailed pending an appeal.
The convictions are the only ones so far in a case that was opened the day after the tragedy, which happened 26 years ago.
Up to 25,000 people are thought to have died after being exposed to clouds of lethal gas that escaped from a chemical plant run by the
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