I feel bad for Karel Sroubek’s mother.

Every parent can empathise with the plight of having a child go rogue, fall foul of the law, get themselves into a pile of trouble.

In this case, quite a lot of trouble.

It’s a fine line between wanting to defend them, and possibly wanting to wring their neck.

Most parents though, endure that dilemma and make those calls privately, inside the sanctity of their own family circle.

And given most parents aren’t inclined to completely write off their offspring, we can assume family support in difficult times, is often a given. So what do we gain here by hearing from Karel Sroubek’s Mum?

She’s done a tearful interview, pleading for one last chance for her son, defending his decision to return to the Czech Republic, making excuses for his behaviour.

‘He was young, he wasn’t thinking straight, that he was homesick, that he’s not a bad person'.

Most mothers like to think all those things, but the facts here, are that he was convicted and is serving time for importing 4.9 kilos of MDMA.

“He is not a gangster”, his mother says, but he is a convicted drug smuggler.

He is in prison, he has connections to the criminal world, he lied and used a fake identity to get into NZ.

I can’t imagine how awful and upsetting this must be for his mother, but to appeal to the NZ government to give him a second chance? Why?

He’s broken the law, lied, he’s serving jail time, the Government doesn’t owe him, or to be frank, his mother anything.

To blame the media, to blame the Government, to blame the ex-wife, to make this all sound like a political beat-up, is to deflect from the actions, and the reality of her son’s behaviour.

When relatives of high profile criminals get rolled out publicly, it’s always uncomfortable.

They’re not the ones who’ve done anything wrong, but they’re usually the only ones claiming the accused is a good person, a decent family member and has just made a small mistake.

I don’t doubt Sroubek’s mother believes all that but it doesn’t help us get anywhere to hear it.

She wants her son to be given a second chance, of course, she does.

I feel for her, but her plea carries no weight.