TOUGH JUDGE IS MISSED

Dear editor,

During the late 1960s a gentleman in our province was sentenced to 15
years in jail for trafficking in heroin.

The guilty person thought the punishment was too harsh. With the aid
of a skilled lawyer he took this decision to the Appeal Court of BC
for review with the hope of getting a much lesser sentence.

After the trial Judge Angelo Branca who wrote the main judgment,
saying:

"These traffickers know that very few addicts are able to climb back
to the sanity of non-addiction, and they know their profits are reaped
from an ever widening number of human wrecks ... they have played for
big stakes in a very dangerous business. The penalty must be equally
imposing."

Branca increased a 15-year sentence imposed by the trail judge to life
imprisonment.

Sadly Judge Angelo Branca passed away about 20 years ago. He was a
powerful gentleman who really cared for the people of BC and
unfortunately it appears that no one in our present justice or
political systems is capable of replacing him.

Bob Ritchie

Qualicum Beach