Tourist in bali facing 4-12 years in prison for a single joint.

[poledriver]

I don't respect immoral laws anywhere, including in my home country.
Does that mean I simply shouldn't go to any country with immoral laws?
Do you respect all the laws of your country? Does anyone?
(Serious questions.)

If you break the laws in your own country or another country you visit you must be prepared to face the consequences of doing so if you get caught.

I wouldnt go to say Dubai and get drunk in public and kiss and fondle a chick I had just met, or her go topless on a beach etc, where as in Aust doing those things are generally accepted. But in some muslim places that is totally unacceptable, even though I am used to it here I know whilst there I have to respect their laws or face the penalties.

 

[poledriver]

wow.. is that for 24 beers? How much of all this is taxes on the products?

Yeah mate that's for 24 beers. The tax on alcohol (as with tobacco) has gone through the roof in the last 10 years or so.. There are scheduled tax increases every 3 or 6 months or something I believe. I can't tell you exactly how much of that $40 is tax, but obviously alot is. A friend posted on FB recently from some asian place that a case of (24) beers there was 16 dollars I think.

On second thought there are cases of beer for under $40, but not by much, you can get some for $32-$35 etc but they are generally not popular for a reason, sort of budget beer or light beer. There are no cases of beer under $40 that I would buy and consume personally is a better way to say it. I also do not live in a capitol city anymore where they have some bigger chain stores that do have some better deals (like Dan Murphys) there is a Dan murphys 35 mins away but I dont go there much.

 

[bit_pattern]

If you break the laws in your own country or another country you visit you must be prepared to face the consequences of doing so if you get caught.

I wouldnt go to say Dubai and get drunk in public and kiss and fondle a chick I had just met, or her go topless on a beach etc, where as in Aust doing those things are generally accepted. But in some muslim places that is totally unacceptable, even though I am used to it here I know whilst there I have to respect their laws or face the penalties.

This is a more thoughtful & and insightful summation of my feelings about this issue

 

[poledriver]

Leeza Ormsby tells Denpasar District Court she is sorry after admitting she has used marijuana before

SYDNEY woman Leeza Ormsby has apologised to a Bali court and told how she has learned a valuable lesson from her arrest on drugs charges.

Ormsby testified at her own trial in Denpasar District Court where she faces three charges related to her possession of a small amount of hashish found in her handbag.

“I am so sorry. I already know about the law but I violated it. So from the incident I have learned a valuable lesson,” Orsmby told the court.

“From the incident I take a lesson about myself and I started learning about the world.”

Ormsby told the Judges that she loved Bali and visited the holiday island often.

“The place is beautiful, I like yoga, I like Ubud and I often do yoga classes in Ubud.”

Asked to be honest, the Judges questioned whether she had used marijuana in Bali on previous visits. She said yes.

She testified that she had last used drugs the day before her arrest but she has not used it since.

A psychiatrist who examined Ormsby at the request of police, testified that she had a “level one” addiction.

“She is in level one, which means that she can be treated outpatient care,” Dr Nyoman Hanati told the court.

“She is a drug abuser. Yet to be addicted. She only uses it some times. She only used it if she is stressed,” she said Ormsby had told her.

“The result, based on our interview, she has never been happy. She was adopted by a family when she was six-years-old. She has 13 brothers and sisters ...

She had been treated in a woman’s clinic because of depression. She was treated by a psychiatrist there.”

“To eliminate her sad feeling, she often consume drugs. To get tranquillity, she use drugs. Sleeping pill. Sometime she use marijuana, but very rare,” Dr Hanati said.

She said Ormsby had also used heroin six years ago.

The 37-year-old New Zealand citizen, who was living in Sydney, was arrested on February 12 this year after police pounced at a villa to which she had the key after tip off from the locals.

Ormsby was not staying at the villa but she got the key from a friend and at the time of her arrest, she was arriving to collect her laptop and some clothes she had left there.

When she was arrested police found a joint of hashish in her handbag, for which she now faces court.

She was investigated over another 132.2 grams of MDMA and 26.06 grams of hashish found inside a locked drawer in the wardrobe of the villa bedroom, along with a set of kitchen scales, an old microwave, plastic bags and tape.

Ormsby denied any knowledge of these drugs and prosecutors have not pursued charges against her in relation to them.

The Askara Villa had been rented by Sydney musician Azaria Byrne, of band The Art, and his girlfriend for three nights.

However they left for Australia early on the third night and passed the key to another Australian, DJ Marco Mazzucco, as the room had already been paid for that night.

Byrne has denied anything to do with drugs and says there were no drugs at the villa when he left to fly back to Australia after his Bali holiday.

Mazzucco, who has denied any involvement with drugs, was originally detained with Ormsby but later released and police said there was no evidence against him.

Orsmby testified that she got the villa key from Mazzucco on the morning of her arrest in order to collect her things from the villa.

Ormsby faces three charges — two relating to drug possession which carry a maximum 12-year sentence and a third charge, of being a drug user, which carries a four-year term.

Her lawyer Ary Soenardi hopes that she will be acquitted of the two more serious charges and only face the charges in relation to the drug user legislation, which is much more lenient.

The trial was adjourned to next week.

http://www.news.com.au/national/lee...marijuana-before/story-fncynjr2-1226960437228

 

[poledriver]

She and DJ Marco Muzzacco are very lucky they didnt pin the MDMA and hash on them. I'm not quite sure why they didn't, walking into a room with those drugs and scales and having the key and being the person who was (now) residing there would seem like enough evidence the way they have done things in Bali before... Very very lucky and imo they would have known all about the drugs. I'm not sure if they were drug tested to see if they had used MDMA recently, but I'm betting it would have shown up in both of them.

 

[weekend addiction]

Yeah mate that's for 24 beers. The tax on alcohol (as with tobacco) has gone through the roof in the last 10 years or so.. There are scheduled tax increases every 3 or 6 months or something I believe. I can't tell you exactly how much of that $40 is tax, but obviously alot is. A friend posted on FB recently from some asian place that a case of (24) beers there was 16 dollars I think.

On second thought there are cases of beer for under $40, but not by much, you can get some for $32-$35 etc but they are generally not popular for a reason, sort of budget beer or light beer. There are no cases of beer under $40 that I would buy and consume personally is a better way to say it. I also do not live in a capitol city anymore where they have some bigger chain stores that do have some better deals (like Dan Murphys) there is a Dan murphys 35 mins away but I dont go there much.

24 Budwieser or Coors goes for 15 bucks in North Carolina. 20 in pa. 40 is rediculous I would rather by other drugs if it was that expensive for a beer.

 

[poledriver]

Oh yeah me too, problem there is every other drug is a rip off here as well

 

[ro4eva]

“She is a drug abuser. Yet to be addicted. She only uses it some times. She only used it if she is stressed,” she said Ormsby had told her.

This really, really pisses me off.

I don't care who you think you are, and I don't fucking care what title(s) you may have earned.

No human being has the right to judge whether another non-violent human being uses a drug abnormally based on a fucking checklist or survey, or, because it wasn't sanctioned by an "expert" in the field of medicine.

Furthermore, playing games with that non-violent human being's freedom because of something as benign as a joint - are you fucking kidding me?!

Habitual drug use can be an extremely complex issue, spanning decades of a person's life, and it's inappropriate to sum that up with 21 questions.

So for someone to condemn another person for peacefully consuming a drug to a status usually reserved for rapists, murderers, and pedophiles (people who are a danger if left out on the streets) - it's overkill, it's unjust, it's fucking wrong on every level.

Goodness - it honestly wouldn't bother me that much, but the fact that there are smokers and drinkers dropping dead every 7-10 seconds somewhere on the planet - including Bali - and no one bothers to condemn them... I mean, what the fuck, really???

Isn't Indonesia one of the world's largest consumers of tobacco products? Yet they have the nerve to lock up a marijuana consumer. You guys should be ashamed of your hypocrisy.

You're gonna happily sell that dude - who just spat out blood due to lung cancer - a carton of cigarettes, with a big smile? And, you'll serve drinks to anyone until they drink themselves into a coma, with a big smile? But oh my God, should anyone be smoking some marijuana or hash, you'll treat 'em like it's bloody murder?

/end rant

 

[poledriver]

Leeza Ormsby jailed for 10 months in Bali for drug possession

LEEZA Ormsby was caught in Bali with a half-smoked joint of hashish, weighing 0.3 grams, in her handbag.

For her crime the 37-year-old Ormsby, who lived in Paddington in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, she will serve 10 months behind bars.

This afternoon a panel of judges in Denpasar said that she was legally and convincingly guilty of the crime of drug possession.

The sentence, of 10 months in jail, was less than the 15 months which prosecutors had sought.

Ormsby told her lawyer after the decision was announced that she was “relieved” and she hugged a fellow female prisoner in the cells behind the court after the verdict.

Taking into account time served since her arrest on February 12 this year, Ormsby would be free by November, or earlier if she receives sentence remissions next month.

“The defendant is convincingly proven guilty of possessing drugs. The defendant is hereby sentenced to 10 months in prison,” Judge Parulian Saragih said in delivering the verdict.

The judges took into account that Ormsby’s actions were contrary to the Indonesian Government’s program on narcotic eradication however she had confessed her guilt and promised not to repeat her crime and had no criminal record.

Ormsby was arrested two days after Schapelle Corby’s highly-publicised and dramatic release from jail on drugs charges.

The New Zealand-born woman was living in Sydney at the time of the trip to Bali which earned her a stint in Kerobokan Jail.

Before the verdict Ormsby had arrived at court with her trademark peacock blue fan, which she kept up to her face as she spoke with her lawyer Ary Soenardi.

But despite the sentence, Ormsby was lucky not to have been dealt a harsher blow. She had initially been detained and questioned over a larger haul of drugs found inside a Bali villa to which she had the key.

But after months of investigation and questioning, prosecutors decided not to press charges in relation to 132.2 grams of MDMA and 26.06 grams of hashish found inside a locked drawer of the bedroom wardrobe in the villa.

Also found was an old microwave, kitchen scales, plastic bags and tape.

Ormsby admitted ownership of the joint in her handbag but vehemently denied any knowledge of the other drugs.

Another Australian, Sydney DJ Marco Mazzucco, also escaped charges in relation to the drugs.

Mazzucco, who was also holidaying in Bali at the time, was detained shortly after Ormsby at the same villa but was later released. Police said there was no evidence against him. He denied any knowledge of the drugs.

So too did another friend, Sydney musician Azaria Byrne, of band The Art. It was Byrne and his girlfriend who had rented the Askara Villa, in north Kuta, where the drugs were found and where Ormsby was arrested.

Byrne had rented the villa for three nights but left about 8pm on the third night to fly home to Australia.

The court heard evidence from the villa supervisor, Gede Graha Wijaya, that on February 11 Byrne had told him not to have the villa cleaned and serviced.

Byrne left the key with Mazzucco as the night’s accommodation had already been paid for.

Back in Sydney, Byrne told News Corporation that there were no drugs in the villa when he left and he had no knowledge of any drugs.

Mazzucco did not give evidence at the trial but his police statement was read to the court where he told of being at the villa the evening before Ormsby’s arrest.

He was there with Ormsby and several other people until 7pm when they went to dinner at a Spanish restaurant and then to drink vodka at the home of a Russian woman.

Ormsby told the court, in her testimony, that the next morning she had got the key from Mazzucco and gone to the villa to collect her laptop and clothes.

Police, who had laid in wait at the villa all night, nabbed her as she unlocked the villa gate.

Later, when Mazzucco arrived he too was detained.

Ormsby will serve the remainder of her sentence in Kerobokan Jail where she has done some painting classes.

A time to rejoice ... Leeza Ormsby celebrate with another prisoner after being sentenced. Source: News Corp Australia

http://www.news.com.au/world/leeza-...-drug-possession/story-fndir2ev-1226975480890

 

[isthisincognito]

^ And now in Australia I think a pack is about $22 and smoking rates are declining (I think). Quite a few people I know have given up smoking here because it is just so expensive now.

Alcohol seems to be going to the same way here too. A case of beer is no less than $40 where I am at, sometime $50-60 depending on the brand.

A pack of 20 Fosters (which is a relatively cheap brand) goes for about £14 ($27 AUD) in the UK, and a pack of 20 cigs is about £8 ($16 AUD). I thought the UK was bad, although I guess it depends how much you earn

Average Salary in the UK is probably around £26k which would be $46k AUD

 

[poledriver]

Leeza Ormsby to be freed from Bali’s Kerobokan jail in November after winning sentence reduction over drug conviction

AUSTRALIAN woman Leeza Ormsby, who is in Bali’s Kerobokan jail for drug possession, has won a one-month reduction to her sentence.
It means the Sydneysider, originally from New Zealand, who was caught with a marijuana joint in February, will be freed in November.
Indonesian prisons can recommend sentence reductions for good behaviour, which are announced each year on Independence Day, August 17.

Ormsby, 37, was sentenced to 10 months in jail in July and has been in custody since her arrest in February after being found with a half-smoked cannabis joint in her handbag when police raided a holiday villa in north Kuta.

On Sunday she attended Independence Day celebrations in the prison grounds, standing in the back row.
Ormsby said she hadn’t yet been told of her sentence reduction.
“That’s great news if it’s true,” she told AAP.

A ritual destruction of contraband goods was also performed at the jail ceremony.
Prison officials used a circular saw to destroy smartphones, laptops and swords.
Meanwhile, the Abbott Government has welcomed reports that two of the Bali Nine could have their death sentences commuted on the recommendation of Indonesian prison authorities.

Continued -

http://www.news.com.au/national/lee...-drug-conviction/story-fncynjr2-1227027784079

 

[neversickanymore]

That is great news.. it should never be the case, but at least a tiny sliver of people are having mistakes rectified to some extent.

They have contraband swords in jail.. rofl.

 

[slimvictor]

If you break the laws in your own country or another country you visit you must be prepared to face the consequences of doing so if you get caught.

I wouldnt go to say Dubai and get drunk in public and kiss and fondle a chick I had just met, or her go topless on a beach etc, where as in Aust doing those things are generally accepted. But in some muslim places that is totally unacceptable, even though I am used to it here I know whilst there I have to respect their laws or face the penalties.

No doubt that you are right. Break the law, be prepared to suffer the consequences.
However, this is different from saying that the consequences are moral or fair, or that you "deserve" to suffer the consequences.
Also, there is a big difference between being drunk in public and going topless on a beach vs. having a 0.3 gram joint hidden in one's own purse. The first two are obvious, and going topless could easily affect people nearby, whereas having a hidden joint is not obvious and is unlikely to affect anyone.

More that anything, I still don't get the callous attitude some drug users show on this site when they read about other drug users being punished. In your own country, you (this is the general "you", not referring to anyone specific) could almost certainly be jailed if police had evidence of all the drugs you have done. You are very lucky that you haven't been discovered. But when someone gets discovered in another country - one with particularly harsh drug laws - you get so staunchly self-righteous. I only feel pity and sympathy for such people.

I think that whether it is your own country or another one is not particularly relevant, for the point I am making, at least - nobody should be punished for drugs. If you evade the law in your own country, good for you, I say, since the law is immoral. If someone gets caught in another country, it is sad, I think, since the law is immoral.

Is it "stupid" to use drugs where the laws are harsh? Probably. But many, many people do. Is it somehow less "stupid" to use drugs in a country with less harsh drug laws? You could still go to jail.

I just don't understand the perspective of a drug user who says "I would never do that. They are stupid and deserve the consequences."

 

[ro4eva]

Leeza Ormsby, in the unlikely event that you will somehow end up reading this, and for what it's worth, I am sincerely sorry that you were branded a felonious criminal for victimizing a helpless plant (<-- oh the horror!), and I'm praying for your early release without incident.

I stubbornly contend that you did not deserve to be locked up for possession of a mind altering substance. What's more - apparently you've got some serious drug-related issues according to some random douche nugget who probably resorts to an outdated textbook in order to explain how much of a burden you supposedly are on their society. Pay him enough money however, and I bet my left nut that he'd promptly retract his "expert" assessment and opinion about your alleged drug habits. "What habit? She no have bad habit!"

Nevertheless, it is certainly fantastic and relieving news - I'm sure - that your sentence wasn't several years in length, but I digress.

Be sure to visit Denver, Colorado in the US of A if/when you get a chance, as they will most likely treat you as a human being with rights and unique preferences for "taking the edge off" without the probability of prosecution.

I wish you all the best sweetheart.

 

[poledriver]

Leeza Ormsby freed from Bali’s Kerobokan prison a month early

AFTER nine months behind bars at Bali’s Kerobokan prison for possession of a half-smoked marijuana joint former Sydney woman Leeza Ormsby is on her way home.

Tasting freedom she left the jail with a message from the new Governor – “Don’t ever come back here.”

Ormsby promised there would be no return to inmate status, thanked the jail boss and revealed that she is “happy” to finally be out.

But freedom was not immediate. She was taken from the jail to the Immigration office and held there until her early morning deportation from Indonesia back to her native New Zealand.

She is due to arrive in Sydney on Thursday November 13 after flying overnight from Denpasar and will immediately transit to Auckland.

Ormsby, a New Zealand citizen who was living in Sydney, was arrested in Bali in February and sentenced to 10 months jail for possession of a half-smoked joint of marijuana, weighing just 0.3 grams, which was found in her handbag.

She received a one-month sentence remission making her eligible for release on November 12.

Cont -

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...on-a-month-early/story-fnii5v71-1227121034727

 

[cj]

She and DJ Marco Muzzacco are very lucky they didnt pin the MDMA and hash on them. I'm not quite sure why they didn't, walking into a room with those drugs and scales and having the key and being the person who was (now) residing there would seem like enough evidence the way they have done things in Bali before... Very very lucky and imo they would have known all about the drugs. I'm not sure if they were drug tested to see if they had used MDMA recently, but I'm betting it would have shown up in both of them.

I think the leniency if you want to call it that is politically motivated. Bali does good business from Australian tourists so I'm sure the constant negative headlines of australians getting draconian sentences for drugs has hurt there bottom line.

 

[poledriver]

Quite possible, and I wouldn't discount some bribes taking place, but I am not there or have any idea what went on really.

 

[ro4eva]

Approximately 270 days spent in a third world prison for the possession of a small portion of a plant. How uncivilized.

I get it: "If you aren't willing to do the time, don't do the crime." Or in other words, don't visit Bali, or any other part of Indonesia if I prefer to intoxicate myself with something other than ethyl alcohol and/or nicotine because if I'm caught, chances are I'll be treated like I committed an especially heinous, felonious crime, which, ironically happens to also be devoid of an actual victim who did not consent to being victimized. This part I understand.

What I don't get however - and what continues to frustrate my efforts to think logically about any given situation - is the rational, scientifically-backed explanation for such a punishment when considering the fact that there are at least two other potent, habit forming, carcinogenic, and especially toxic psychoactive substances available for recreational consumption without any risk of having ones freedom taken away for an exceedingly long duration (unless - in the case of consuming booze at least - I'm Muslim, and an Indonesian citizen).

Such primitive reasoning should have no place in the 21st Century, but I'll also spare myself any potential criminal issues and will avoid Indonesia like the plague until their twisted, double standards change for the better, if at all. And I recommend to anyone else who dabbles in controlled substances to skip Bali all together if they wish to consume their - irrationally illegal - drug of choice. Then again, I'm sure we'll read about another similar incident in the popular tourist destination soon enough.

My sympathies to the next foreigner(s) about to do serious time behind bars over there purely for simple possession.

 

[slimvictor]

^ Nice post, Ro!

 

[szuko000]

"She was investigated over another 132.2 grams of MDMA and 26.06 grams of hashish found inside a locked drawer in the wardrobe of the villa bedroom, along with a set of kitchen scales, an old microwave, plastic bags and tape."

Also lets us not forget the dangers of old microwaves, which are horribly inefficient and take forever to cook.