Text 8611, 111 rader
Skriven 2010-06-14 22:09:07 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
     Kommentar till en text av Janis Kracht (1:261/38)
Ärende: Important message from the moderator
============================================
Hello Janis,

On Monday June 14 2010 09:45, you wrote to me:

 JK> Yes, no one did anyone a favor with that action.  Joran needed money
 JK> and he picked a pathetic way to get it, though.

Witnesses say that he was indeed hard up for money. But that is not an excuse.
Well, we know Joran van der Sloot is not a nice guy.

 >> I can understand that Beth Holloway is naive and desperate enough to
 >> hope that giving mnoey to JS will unearth the truth. But I have great
 >> difficulty that th FBI takes the same position. By now JS has told
 >> half a dozen conflicting versions of what happened to Nalalee
 >> Holloway

 JK> And even now, his stories about happened to Ms. Flores are crazy.  Two
 JK> killers in his room?  That last from the authorities in Chile...

I did not hear about that one yet. Joran van der Sloot is no longer in the
headlines here. There is more importtant news. We ahad an election for
parliament last week and now the dificult process of building a coalition
geovernment is the talk of the day. Plus that yesterday, there were the same
elections in Belgium and that too is prominentky in the news. Plus of course
that there is the football world championship in South Africa...

 JK> Who knows.  I don't think the FBI could ignore the extortion though.
 JK> Once the offer was made to Beth Twitty (think that's the Mom's current
 JK> married name), I would think the FBI could not ignore those charges.

Maybe you can help me there becuase I do not understand the extortion part.
when i look up "extortion" in my dictionary I see that it traslates into
"afpersing". But afpersing involves some kind of threat. Like "pay me or I will
kill your cat". Wher is the threat? As I understand it, JS offered to sell
information. That is not a crime, at least not in Aruba and according to ERoy
Witt, not in the US.

All that Bett Twitty or her attorny had to say was "no thanks" and that would
have ended the matter. Even a no response would have done that. As it is tey
accopted they offer. Why was the FBI involved at all? And how is it extortion?

Plus of course there is the dubious circumstance that the handing over of the
money took place in Aruba and it was secretly recorded. Secretly recording
people is illegal under Dutch law, and therefore also under Aruban law.

 >> There is nothing worse for a parent than to lose a child. What I am
 >> going to say now may sound cold and hearthless. But as someone with
 >> personal experience in losing a child, I think I am entitled to say
 >> it. The best thing for Beth Holloway is to forget JS and move on.
 >> The case will not be solved, JS will not

 JK> Yes, I understand and I don't think what you said was neccessarily
 JK> cold and heartless.  It's really the only way to deal with such things
 JK> IMO.

And the never ending confrontations do not help. :-(

 >> be convicted for what happened to Natalee Holloway. We will probably
 >> never kno what happened to Natalee, attempts to get JS beind bars by
 >> laying traps for hi won't change that. Neither will revenge.

 JK> I don't think the intention was to lay a trap or the FBI wouldn't have
 JK> waited for Joran to contact Twitty.

The conversation was secretly recorded and JS thought he was talking to Beth
Twitty's attorney, not to an undercover FBI agent.

 JK> No one is talking about that idea that I've seen. Think about it.. if
 JK> someone contacted you who was known to be involved in such a case, I
 JK> doubt even you could ignore that person contacting you.

If JS were to aproach me to sell me information I would indeed ignore it. What
would I have to gain? The information would probably be useless anyway, The man
is a pathological lyer. I would treat such an offer the semae as "bridge for
sale".

 >> What I see is a case for manslaughter, but even if he gets convicted
 >> for murder, that is not proof that he is also responsible for the
 >> death of Natalee Holloway.

 JK> Could be, I'm not sure how Peruvian authorities will judge the case.
 JK> What strikes me is the comment that the murder (or wrongful death,
 JK> what have you..) was considered to be 'cruel' in it's method.

My take is that it is just trumping up the case. That may very well be the way
the prosecution works in countries like that. Keep in mid that it  is a banana
republic. I do not expect him tpo get what by our standards will be a fair
trial. The powers that be in Peru are deepley in shit ober some nasty
corruption scandals. They are very happy with this distraction and merrily feed
it.

As I understand it, he broke her neck. For what it is worth, that does not seem
"exceptionally cruel" to me. Isn't execution by hanging (= breaking the neck)
not presented as "humane" ?

 JK> How much that fact will play in the judges decision is an unknown.

It is anyone's guess. My guess is that he will be convicted anyway. The powers
that be have already decided that he is guilty and so he will be convicted.

 JK> But you know, it won't matter what he is charged with from what I've
 JK> read.. a month, a year or several years, whatever.. in Castro Castro
 JK> will be an eternity to Joran I think.

I do not expect him to come out other than feet first.


Cheers, Michiel

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