CLAIM SETTLED

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 62, 14 March 1934, Page 9

CLAIM SETTLED

BRITISH SHIP'S OFFICER

AWARD BY PORTUGAL

(British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 12. The Lord Privy Seal (Mr. Anthony. Eden) stated in. the- House of Commons today that the claim of the British officer of the Mercantile Marine, Mr. Brewer, against the Portuguese Government had been satisfactorily settled by the award of £,800. Mr. Eden expressed the appreciation of the British Government of the attitude adopted by the Portuguese Government in making this award, and in arranging a retrial of the case against Mr. Brewer, as the result of which he was eventually acquitted by the Supreme Court at Lisbon. Mr. Brewer, a ship's officer, was arrested at Benguela in 1927 on a charge of petty theft, and, after being in custody for ten months awaiting trial, was sentenced to imprisonment and a fine. He strongly protested his innocence, and representations by the British Government resulted in a retrial at Benguela, where Mr. Brewer was found not guilty and awarded 200,000 angolares moral damages. The case was then reopened by the High Court of Lojindo in Portuguese West Africa, which, decided there must be a new trial. Mr. Brewer successfully appealed againsi this decision, and was awarded 5000 angolares (about £.50) by the Supreme Court, instead of the 200,000 angolares previously awarded him. Further proceedings followed, culminating in the settlement mentioned above.

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