NZ hostage sees bandits jailed

New Zealander Dennis Corrin had mixed emotions as six South American terrorists responsible for kidnapping him were sentenced in a United States court to up to 30 years' prison.

On October 12, 2000, the Nelson helicopter pilot was taken captive with nine other men while working on a South American oilfield.

For the next 141 days he remained a hostage of bandits in the Ecuadorean jungle, only freed after the captives' employers paid a US$13 million ($19 million) ransom.

Two of the hostages had escaped earlier but one, an American, was murdered.

Two weeks ago, six of Mr Corrin's kidnappers were sentenced to prison terms of between 20 and 30 years with no parole for their roles as members of a violent terrorist group responsible for hostage-takings between 1997 and 2001, the Nelson Mail reported.

Mr Corrin and his wife Marguerite attended the sentencings at the United States District Court in Washington DC.

Speaking from Greece, where he is currently working, Mr Corrin told the newspaper he had mixed feelings about the sentences.

He was not angry, but was pleased the men had been caught and imprisoned.

But he also felt sorry for them because "they looked so pathetic in court in their prison uniforms".

The men had pleaded guilty to hostage-taking, conspiracy to commit hostage-taking, hostage-taking resulting in death, and the murder of a United States national.

The five Colombians and one Ecuadorean - aged between 30 and 52 - had been extradited to the United States.

Mr Corrin said the kidnapping had not affected him. "Occasionally I think about it but it doesn't bother me at all."

He was still flying helicopters for Erickson Air-Crane, the company he worked for when he was taken captive.

- NZPA