A court in England reverted to Google Translate to tell Vietnamese defendants that their case was adjourned until Monday, after a court interpreter failed to show up.
The presiding judge for the case Geoff Evans informed Le Quoc Amli, 32 and Quan Hoang, 50, that the interpreter was absent and asked them if they understood English, Nottingham Post reported. To which Huang replied, “No English.”
A clerk at the court opened Google Translate on a laptop computer, typed in words given to her by the judge, and a woman’s voice rang out from the computer saying, in Vietnamese, “Coming back on Monday”. The message looped until the two were led out of the courtroom.
No applications for bail had been made for the two defendants. They will be kept in custody throughout the trial.
In February this year, the Nottingham Post reported seven Vietnamese men were found to have worked at a cannabis farm that was uncovered after the events of the London Grenfell Tower disaster. More than 4,000 cannabis plants were found, but the Vietnamese managed to get away.