One Night in Sofia - Bulgaria

December 2009

Locked up in a foreign jail thousands of miles from home, a gap year student is accused of murder. This is every parents worst nightmare but it has been the Palfreemans experience for the past eighteen months.
Jock Palfreemans life changed on an evening out in Sofia. I was attacked and they pulled knives on me six times. There was probably a mistranslation or misunderstanding. Jock Palfreeman insists he acted in self-defence but Bulgarian justice charged him with first-degree murder. His father is desperate to prove his innocence but he is fighting a losing battle: Unfortunately the law is different for different people in this country.

Produced by ABC, distributed by Journeyman Pictures

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• sofia
• australian
• student
• murder
• journeyman
• pictures
• news
• documentary
• current affairs
• journeyman pictures

[Firewalkerbg]

Poor Australian, faced a system where people can't murder other people and get away with it and now doesn't have confidence to deal with it... Then the propaganda goes - you know, despite the fact that someone's life was taken, this Australian prick is innocent, no matter what... because he's Australian, you know. Probably if Australians (or at least one of them) dropped their "I'm more than you all" attitude at the airport someone would still be alive and someone else wouldn't be locked down.

[TsarMihail]

That's it. Show the worst images, put on some sad music. Good job. It will bring back the dead boy. Very different justice system? What kind of system do you want? One in witch murder is forgiven with a pat on the shoulder?

[petrovski40]

I don't know if the boy is innocent but one thing I can say is when u are in foreign country u stay away from trouble. Another thing is some young people don't think about the consequences and that's why they pay dearly for its own stupidity. This things rarely happens to disant people. Mind you he should be happy that he is still alive. My heart goes to the family of the dead boy and the father of the Australian boy.

[TsarMihail]

You took a knife coz you had ''bad feeling'' about Sofia? And yet you came here for pleasure?

[jane62603]

@HighAltitudeAttitude DON'T BRAGG TOO MUCH ABOUT THAT DEAR

[jane62603]

this is a sad, way of showing that your somewhat racist to people that share culture somewhat the same as your own! then you wander ( why?) the country struggles to the extend it does... Unity is what made some countries to be...... think about that...... THIS IS NOT ONLY ABOUT THE TRAIL OF THIS AUSTRALIAN MAN BUT OF EVERYTHING THAT MAKES BULGARIA A COUNTRY

[hirotarobg]

@Wallabytrack Then why are you hating and bragging, are you stupid ??

[Wallabytrack]

@hirotarobg DUH! Are you Stupid!???????????

[hirotarobg]

@Wallabytrack You do know that the reason you have one of the best economics in the world is because while you were colonizing the world, there was someone in the east who was doing their best to hold off all of the invaders coming from Asia, and some of them lost their independence in the process, right ?

[shynizzl]

How come you will be surrounded by 20 man and you will be able to stab 2 of them.If you think logic it is logical to see he stab them in the back!!!