Original subtitles

I realize I'm middle -aged.

Physically not good enough.

Sexually not good enough.

Mentally not good enough.

I just wanted to be by myself and have a breather.

I tasted this absolute freedom.

It's the devil. It's the devil.

I was staying with the devil.

You can take this.

Bring him in.

I'm going to be the richest man in the world.

How stupid can you be?

So in 2003, I was 42.

And I'd just come out of a divorce.

Marriage is broken down.

Financially, it's difficult.

I had an online business website.

And the whole business just blew up in my face.

Basically, I'd lost everything.

My confidence was broken.

I just felt unsure of myself.

I was going through a midlife crisis.

I felt an emptiness, a complete emptiness.

The only family I have is Harold and my twin brother.

How is it?

We've always been together. I can't lie, Harold.

Identical twins.

Financially, I'm battling.

A twin is part of you. You think and like you say the same thing.

There was a problem with myself and my twin brother.

We always resolved the problems together.

You know, you can always come here.

But Harold was married, so there was no way that I could stay with him.

I'm not going to impose myself on you, okay?

Now, just add too much pride.

There was no way that I could live a lifestyle that I was living before.

So I had to find myself a place for me to stay.

And the backpackers was the only option.

Walking into a backpack is not easy.

It was the stigma which I had to overcome.

If you're a South African and you stay in backpackers, you basically are

battling. Having a tough time.

But, and it's cheap.

I was paying 50 riyals a day.

Follow me.

Which is my bunk?

And I saw the conditions of how the people were staying in bunks and

I felt homesick. I'd like the top bunk, please.

I'll take the top bunk.

I didn't fit into this backpack. That was a big change for me.

I felt like a loser.

So the first night was an eye -opener.

I didn't know who was going to come into the room that night.

Before you realize, one of them is peeking all over the floor at 2 o 'clock

the morning, and I'm looking down at this.

And I'm saying, Wake up!

You're peeking on the floor, and then we have an argument.

I could see no future.

I could see no end to this.

I had to look at myself in a hard way.

Do I either go and cry about this?

Do I go back into a hole?

Or do I try something different?

Most weekends, they normally have a little barbeque.

I find that it took my mind off the divorce. It took my mind off the

find myself in.

I was planned into mixing with people that I'd never mixed with before.

You see the different cultures, you see the way they speak, the way they dress,

the way they talk.

It's amazing.

I said, I've never traveled before. Never experienced going out of the

Meeting these foreigners elevated me to thinking about traveling.

The backpackers definitely cut me off from the old David Hart.

It was as if somebody opened the window and all the fresh air was flying in.

One particular night, I turned around.

And this person was right in front of me.

Hi. I'm Ben.

Ben was absolutely confident, not dressed up to overkill. He just looked

Enjoying yourself here?

Yeah.

And out of the blue, he just said to me, How would you like to go to Mauritius?

Would you like to go to Mauritius?

That sounds great.

I work for a consortium. We do business overseas.

Oh, yeah?

What kind of business?

Let's talk over here.

He said he'd make himself a lot of money, spend a week in a hotel.

Would you be interested?

It sounds great.

What's that to do?

All you have to do is take something with you.

He says it would be a pair of leather sandals.

Ah.

What would you put in the sandals, eh?

Ben did say to me, it was drugs.

I had no relationship with drugs.

I didn't know what drug deals were.

Then he said, why don't you go with a female?

I'll pay for the both of you guys.

Diane was standing next to me.

I said, do you want to come to Marisa's?

Ben said... You're the right type of person.

You're the right type of look. You're the right type of couple.

You won't have any problems.

I do know someone that's gone there before.

The aunt did tell me that she had spoken to somebody that Ben had sent to

Mauritius a week before.

They had a great time.

What you'll be doing is a lot of responsibility.

There's a lot of money involved.

Ben said, I'll call you tomorrow morning, and he left.

If Ben had said to me, David, do you want to be a drug lord?

I would have said no.

But the way he asked, would you like to go to Mauritius, made a big difference.

I was honored, in a way, to say, well, he's chosen me. He's given me this

opportunity. It really felt good. It honestly felt good.

Because it was Mauritius, and because everybody loves going to Mauritius, that

was the decision we made.

There was no second thoughts.

What do you mean?

Let's get down to it. The next morning, Ben showed me the two sandals.

And said, this is what you will be taking to Mauritius.

Grand spanking new leather sandals.

The first thing I asked was, what's inside?

And he said, heroin.

Only when he gave me the sandals did it start to sink in.

I had no relationship with heroin.

I didn't know what it looked like.

Never ever did he ever show us the drugs.

These guys are very well organized.

Not one person has ever been caught.

We've got nothing to worry about.

He told me with absolute sincerity.

It's fine. You're safe.

And that in itself made me feel very comfortable.

Try them on.

So how much heroin can you put in a pair of sandals?

You happy?

Not much.

What I thought.

He gave us some cash, $5 ,000 between the two of us, and said,

guys, enjoy your trip.

I think we will.

Ben, to me, was an absolute godsend. He gave me direction.

You're good, I'm good. I was leaving South Africa, doing something active.

There was absolutely no moral thinking that I'm doing something wrong.

Harold, good luck.

I just told Harold and my twin brother I'm going on a holiday with this girl

that stays in the backpacker. Don't even ask any questions. I'll see you next

time, OK? Come on.

OK, bye.

We had a direct flight from Cape Town to Mauritius.

It didn't really cross my mind that I was a drug trafficker because it was

sandals.

I was living in a little bubble, completely naive to the dangers.

I didn't want to know anything about laws, being caught, nothing.

When we got off the plane, the sandals were a bit tight because they were still

brand new.

It was screeching, so I was a little bit concerned that this thing was making a

little bit too much noise.

You could see security people watching.

I was nervous.

I just wanted to get my passport done so we're in Mauritius.

How am I going to handle this thing?

Because I was nervous.

Really, really nervous.

So Diane turned around to me and said, are you okay, David?

Do you want to put the sandals in the bag?

And I said, no, I'm wearing them.

When it came to our chance, I put my leg over the red line.

I said, Diane, and we laughed.

The lady with the passport just said, And said, enjoy your stay.

And we were good.

And I was so relieved.

I actually feel quite good about myself.

And

we

got into the taxi.

We were so excited.

It was absolute bliss. It really was.

And we come to this hotel.

Beautiful hotel next to the beach, palm trees.

Stunning, stunning, stunning, stunning.

Welcome to Mauritius, Mr. Hart.

This is for you guys.

There was a cell phone waiting for me. The sim card. And it was cash.

Three or four thousand dollars.

Enjoy your stay with us.

What? This way?

Everything went absolutely smooth.

We had arrived in British.

But now we have to deliver the sandals.

I remember saying to myself, I could still get caught.

I could still get caught.

Phone rings, and somebody on the phone says, can you meet us outside?

Yeah.

That's all. That's all it was.

So I said to Diane, can we get this deal done now?

Let's try to get this finished with.

Okay, fine.

We didn't know how it worked. We just thought they would come and pick the

sandals up or whatever.

But the car pulls up immediately.

The guy says, Are you South African?

I said, Yes. Get into the car.

We were a little bit nervous.

And while we were driving, the phone rings. The driver's cell phone goes.

Now he's talking a language that we don't even understand.

We were really nervous that night.

It's completely dark, and we get to the outskirts.

All of a sudden, this motorbike came behind us.

screaming right up to her, right up to the car.

And the driver says, give the sandals.

Give them the sandals.

Give them the sandals.

So I wind down my window, and there are two guys with full -weight helmets.

Give them the sandals.

The aunt puts her head between her legs. She was really terrified.

And I take the sandals, and I put it through the window, and his hand was

this.

As soon as I gave the sandals to him, the motorbike went one way, and the

just took a sharp dip.

And we drove like a bat out of hell.

We are so relieved that we got no sandals. We really are.

I felt like the achievement of being able to say, I did it.

Gave me confidence in self -respect.

Something that had a bit of a risk to it.

I got through.

We had everything paid for and now it was spending time.

We went absolutely crazy.

Enjoying ourselves.

I thought, it's not that dangerous.

This is a nice life to lead.

I knew I was going to go again, because this is really money for Jack.

Coming back to South Africa, back to the backpackers, from having the most

amazing first -class food, and now I'm back to a tin of baked beans.

It was a diner. It was an absolute diner.

I tasted luxury.

I tasted this absolute freedom with money in your pocket and just enjoying

So when Ben called me and said to me, We've got another job for you, my

I said, great.

All I wanted to do was just go back and travel again.

But I didn't want to share my money with anybody.

I wanted everything for myself.

Diane said to me... Can we go again?

And I said, Diane, I don't think we should go too quickly.

You know, it could be a little bit suspicious.

Really? Why?

We can't be leaving the country all the time.

I said, let's just relax, enjoy ourselves.

I just wanted Diane to realize when I do it a second time, it's going to be by

myself. I just said, Diane, if it comes up again, I'll phone you, okay?

All I wanted to do was make sure that those sandals on my feet were the same

size, no bigger, no smaller.

Ben did tell me it was here.

He did tell me.

But I didn't even think about it.

I felt empowered that they could trust me, not thinking that they were just

using me.

And before I even realized it, I was on my way to Mauritius.

I landed in Mauritius on the 26th of January, 2004.

Again, quite comfortable that the sandals did not look suspicious at all.

Welcome to Mauritius. Last call, please.

Thank you.

Now I'm going through customs.

And they say to me... What are you here for?

Blood eye.

And that's when I thought it was good.

Why are you back so early?

Now, this is where it really got to me when I finally realized if I get caught,

this is a big one.

But no more questions.

Enjoy your rest day.

I want to get paid for this.

I got to the hotel, and the receptionist said to me, I'll be picked up tomorrow

morning.

I then started saying to myself, if I can do more trips to Mauritius, this

be very educative.

But I was playing with the devil.

Out of nowhere...

To my bedroom.

What are you doing, eh?

And he says, where are your drugs, Mr. Hart?

And I said, I don't know what you talk never.

Start the room.

Stripped everything.

I just went crazy.

He was absolutely confident that he is going to find the drugs.

And I sat there calmly with the sandals on my feet.

I really, really concentrated on not trying to blink, not trying to sniff,

trying to cough, not trying to do anything out of the normal, just keep a

straight face.

But one of the officers walked past and knocked my foot by mistake.

And my sandal fell off.

Call me, just call me, put my sandal back on.

Call me, in front of them.

Because if you want drugs, look at my feet.

All of a sudden, he said, I'm sorry, Mr. Hawkins. I think we're having a

mistake. We got the wrong information, he said.

Enjoy your trip.

Now I'm thinking to myself, well, they've searched me. They haven't found

anything. This is a perfect scenario.

I'm now 100 % safe.

But the achievement turned into panic.

I could not sit in the hotel with the drugs. That was not going to happen.

I could still be being warned.

I need to get the drugs out of the sandals. That was the way I was

So I tried. Whatever was inside me, I let them down.

I wouldn't be able to splash. I didn't know how big it was.

And then the flame rings.

Hello?

I said the producer being here.

Don't worry, David.

Everything is completely under control.

When can we meet?

Let's do it now, yeah?

Good. My taxi will be outside.

That was my biggest mistake.

I was trying to rely on my gut feeling, my instinct.

And my gut feeling wasn't telling me anything.

The only thing that made sense to me at that time was to get into the taxi and

get rid of the drag.

My phone rings.

And now a male voice.

And he said, there must be a person in a suit, a brown suit.

Just give it to him.

I looked behind me.

And I noticed a call.

But they kept it.

Maybe it was paranoia.

I just wanted to get rid of the drugs.

That's all I wanted.

Both the sandals were in my hand.

Like this.

From absolute nowhere.

Arms came round me. Grabbing the sandals.

Man in the brown suit.

I was then yanked up.

The same policeman says, I have got you.

Now, you're going to pay for this.

Bring him in.

So they took me to a cell and then proceeded to open up the sandal.

They were two small packets, this big.

250 grams.

One in one sandal, one in the other sandal.

250 grams.

It was 500 grams.

That's half a kilo in a pair of sandals.

And that's the first time that I was confronted to see what heroin looked

They just wanted to know who the contact was.

Who was going to receive the drugs?

The

interrogation stopped

immediately.

All they wanted was a confession.

I'd come to realise that I had made a mistake.

So I signed that confession with absolute free will.

I thought, there's a fine to be paid.

And I'm going home.

How stupid can you be?

You're going to get 45 years.

You are going to get 45 years.

I was dead.

Dead in the water.

That tends me to be remanded at the central prison and it

was dawning on me, my friend, you're in trouble here.

They were shouting and screaming and everything.

We're going to do this and we're going to do that.

It's chaos.

I was scared, really.

allocated itself.

And he slams the door.

That was a culture shock. To see these faces

with tattoos and scars.

And no teeth.

Being confronted with the prison population

was an absolute minder.

The first night was disturbing.

There were four of us in the cell.

And we had a quarter mattress.

And this is where we began to sleep.

That's hot and humid, really humid, really, really, honestly hot.

That is when I realized there were no other options for my future. One

decision, how do I survive?

That was my future.

How do I survive?

The next morning, I learned how the prison works.

They'll open up at half past six in the morning.

You stand with your foot, and everybody says, and the smell, oh

my goodness.

You've got money, you'd like to buy cigarettes, and you get one packet of

cigarettes per day.

Your whole day will be spent out in the yard, not in the sun.

I knew something was happening.

And then one of the Africans said, don't ask any questions.

They're just going to inject.

I said, what? He said, you're heroin.

Heroin? What?

I've never ever been confronted with a heroin addict. So it was frightening.

Everywhere you went in the prison are heroin addicts.

They live from fix to fix.

It was horrific.

And I started to feel really guilty about it.

I thought about the 500 grand of heroin that I brought in.

How far did it go? What did it do?

I was disgusted.

Because the way the prison was operating was purely on heroin.

In the prison, there was three gangs.

The leader of each gang would distribute the drugs and sell the drugs.

I was sitting in the yard.

And this Mauritian guy came into the yard holding a machete.

It had a long blade with a wooden handle.

And there was a person in this particular yard.

Apparently, he had stolen drugs from somebody else.

Couldn't believe it.

It didn't register.

The amount of blood that was on this ground, I never knew so much blood could

in a person's body.

To see a dead person mutilated like that took a lot of time to pull the end.

I felt as if, was I responsible for this?

After that murder, everybody was just going crazy. They started burning

mattresses.

It was chaos.

And then we heard sirens.

All of a sudden, the riot squad of Mauritius, highly trained, military.

Coming into the prison.

They came in just like this. And

they

ripped that prison to pieces.

To find where the weapons were.

This riot became headline news, and we were locked down.

When I finally got out, I needed to find my twin brother, Harold.

Hi.

How do you make a call in this place?

I've got a phone, but it's going to cost you.

Here.

And he pulls out his cell phone.

Cheers.

Sir, the other number.

Harold. And then I hear Harold's voice.

How are you doing, David?

I started to get tears in my eyes. First time I've heard my brother since I was

arrested. Not well.

I told you, I had done what I'd done.

Okay? You have to help me put out this trial.

All I wanted him to say was... We're going to come visit you. We're going to

the best lawyer for you. That was all the answer in my mind.

And all he said to me was, No,

I'm not going to come to Mauritius. You just get on with it.

My twin brother, breaking this bond,

it hurt.

It never happened before.

Never in my life has my twin brother ever said, Well, you do it. Get on with

You can't show emotions in prison.

That is what prison does to you.

Makes you hard.

But when you're in your cell at night time, inner feelings come out.

And it all just sank in.

And you've experienced what you saw.

I started to cry.

It's the first time in my life that I have cried.

And I cried and I cried and I cried and I cried.

Just continuously sobbing.

But what is my emotions going to help me in this situation?

Absolute nothing.

is when I realize it's me.

There is no support. It's me. It's me. It's David Hart.

I'm the person that's sitting in this prison.

I'm the person that has to deal with it.

And that is a reality check.

The depression set in.

I was at a point where I had to

Show remorse to myself.

So I was sentenced on the 26th of September 2006.

A bit hard.

Yeah.

Nine years.

They sentenced me to nine years for drug importation of heroin.

And because of that fact that you can't do anything about it. Go.

You come to terms that you've got to get on with your life.

But I had committed the Quran.

In order for me to exonerate myself, I needed to give back somehow.

I felt if I could find myself a part of just helping anybody that needs the

help. That was the biggest, biggest adaption I had to make.

Because I knew that I had to change.

And that was the difficult part.

In the prison, there were four classrooms.

Good morning.

Good morning.

So I decided I think I should start teaching computers.

I didn't have any computer books, but I knew the basics.

First class, I was really nervous. This is computer class, yeah?

And I was deciding, what is the first thing I put on this chalkboard? What?

Computer classes.

Like lessons, yeah? You look, and you type.

And I made it fun.

You know what a modem is? This is a modem. Like a telephone, where two

talk to each other.

I want you to find the little tab.

And after the first hour, they didn't want to leave.

And that made me feel tremendous, tremendous.

One day, the commissioner arrived.

And he said,

I'm going to build you a computer room right here.

Right here.

Just prove to me you can do this.

Thank you, sir.

My whole prison way of life changed.

I had more responsibilities.

The biggest thing was I felt useful.

I used to look forward to doing the computers every day.

I landed up teaching 600 detainees, and they all got their basic Microsoft

certificate. And that, in itself, helped me give back.

I felt content.

This void was filled up with achievement.

I had been in prison getting close to three years, and I had come to terms

my prison sentence.

I remember one night I was reading, and all of a sudden my light bulb went off.

And I looked at it and I thought, oh no.

You bring me a bulb?

It was not a banded bulb, it was an Edison bulb.

Hey, you give me the wrong bulb.

You give me a banded screw, I need a screw.

Now, I'm really pissed off because I can't finish my book. The question was,

can't that light fitting take any type of bulb?

I'm getting furious.

Design it. That's all I know. Design it.

Make a light bulb so that they can take both bulbs.

I then spent every night designing my invention.

Every single night.

It kept me going.

For seven years.

It was March 2014.

You're going home tomorrow.

I'm going home. I'm going home. I'm going to Cape Town tomorrow. I'm going.

I'm going home.

I've given back to society in the way that should be given back by every

prisoner.

I've proved that even in the worst situation, there's some good out of it.

When I arrived in Cape Town, Harold was there to meet me.

He said to me, why don't I come stay with him?

So I moved in with him and I've been there since.

The only way that I could prove to society that I'd been a model prisoner

invention.

This is the light bulb socket and this is the Edison.

Now unscrew it.

This is the bayonet.

You can see that the contacts are different.

That's the bayonet.

This is the down light.

And this will change the lighting industry.

I have been looking forward to this moment for eight years.

This is my light bulb socket.

Right now, as I'm sitting in this seat, David Hart feels satisfied.

I feel content.

The old David Hart is not around anymore.

And when you're at peace with yourself, you're at peace with the world. And I am

at peace with myself at the moment.