{"id":807109,"date":"2026-07-17T23:58:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T23:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/807109\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T23:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T23:58:07","slug":"distillery-owner-could-face-only-three-months-in-jail-over-alleged-poisoning-australian-teenagers-australia-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/807109\/","title":{"rendered":"Distillery owner could face only three months in jail over alleged poisoning Australian teenagers | Australia news"},"content":{"rendered":"

The distillery owner linked to the deaths of Australian backpackers Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles could serve just three months in jail after a court in Laos<\/a> announced charges over the case.<\/p>\n

The teenagers, who were both 19, were travelling through south-east Asia when they were fatally poisoned<\/a> with methanol while drinking at Nana backpackers hostel in Vang Vieng.<\/p>\n

Two Danish women, a British woman and an American man also died in the incident in November 2024.<\/p>\n

The court said the charges were selling food that is harmful to health and operating an illegal business, making the accused liable to a prison sentence of between three months and four years and a fine if found guilty, Denmark\u2019s foreign ministry announced Friday, citing authorities in Laos.<\/p>\n

It also said the case will formally remain open for 15 years, and charges can still be brought for a more serious offence, such as negligent homicide, if proof is sufficient. It did not say if the charges were related to all the deaths.<\/p>\n

The statement from the Danish government did not identify the accused or say what the defendant had pleaded to the charges.<\/p>\n

The announcement of charges was made at the ministry of public security in Vientiane, the Danish government said. A request from Associated Press for entry to cover the proceedings was not approved.<\/p>\n

The families of the Australian women had feared that the charges would be light and had expressed their anger<\/a> ahead of the confirmation on Friday.<\/p>\n

Danish and Australian officials voiced their disappointment and are seeking justice for the victims.<\/p>\n

Holly\u2019s father, Shaun Bowles, who had been briefed on the likely charges, said on Friday that he was devastated that the charges did not reflect the seriousness of the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is devastating news to us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like their lives didn\u2019t even matter,\u201d said Bianca Jones\u2019 mother, Michelle. \u201cWe\u2019re just really appalled by it all. You know, they were just going over to have a bit of fun and just doing the rite of passage that every, you know, child or teenager does. So for that outcome, it was just devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, said in a statement Friday morning that she was \u201cdeeply frustrated and bitterly disappointed\u201d that authorities were not pursuing \u201cthe most serious charges\u201d in relations to the women\u2019s deaths.<\/p>\n

Wong and Australia\u2019s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, had dispatched an envoy to Laos on Friday \u201cto convey the Australian government\u2019s objections and reinforce our expectations for an investigation that delivers justice for Holly, Bianca and the other victims of the methanol poisoning\u201d, the minister said. Australian officials had also summoned Laos\u2019 ambassador to Canberra, she added.<\/p>\n

The Danish foreign ministry statement cited the country\u2019s foreign minister, Lars L\u00f8kke Rasmussen, as declaring he was deeply disappointed that the indictment did not reflect the seriousness and extent of the tragedy affecting so many families.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged it can be complicated to meet the precise burden of proof required to bring the most serious charges in such a case, but also pointed out that it is difficult to come to terms with such a lenient indictment.<\/p>\n

Rasmussen said that now his office will work with the relatives and other affected countries to discuss their next moves in the case.<\/p>\n

The victims had been staying at the Nana Backpacker hostel, where some reportedly consumed \u201cfree shots\u201d of Laotian vodka before heading out to other venues.<\/p>\n

When the Australian teenagers failed to check out as planned, they were found sick in their room and eventually evacuated to hospitals in neighboring Thailand, where they later died.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The distillery owner linked to the deaths of Australian backpackers Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles could serve just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-807109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}