Aussie faces death penalty in Bali on drug charges (merged) (Updated 12/26/08)

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Aussie faces death penalty in Bali

By Marian Carroll in Bali
11oct04

DOUBTS have been raised about allegations that a Gold Coast woman detained in Bali tried to smuggle in a huge amount of cannabis from Australia.

Schapelle Leigh Corby, 27, of Tugun, faces the death penalty under Indonesia's tough anti-drugs law after customs officers at Bali airport found 4.2kg of cannabis in her luggage on Friday.

Ms Corby is being held at police headquarters in Bali capital Denpasar.

Ms Corby was detained after an X-ray scan of her luggage at the airport revealed a package inside her bodyboard bag.

Customs officers opened the bag and found a plastic package containing cannabis leaf and heads, police said.

Legal sources described the case as bizarre, saying most drug offences are for smuggling drugs out of Indonesia, not in.

"It seems very strange. There was no real attempt to conceal the package, it was just thrown loosely inside the bodyboard bag, and what's also interesting is how she managed to pass through Australian airport security undetected," a source said.

Ms Corby, who was "extremely upset", told her lawyer she was as shocked as the customs officers who opened her bag, the source said.

"She said when they opened the bag, the smell of the marijuana hit her in the face. She couldn't believe it.

"She said, 'Why would I do that? I've never touched drugs in my life'," the source said.

Bali police anti-drugs squad director Bambang Sugiarto said police were investigating the possibility she was part of an organised drug network.

If the investigation found she was part of a network of drug smugglers, she could get the death penalty, he told AAP.

However, Ms Corby could also be charged with a lesser offence of importing and possessing the drug, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a one billion rupiah ($150,000) fine.

Ms Corby's travelling companions, a brother, two friends and a sister who is understood to live in Bali, were just as shocked, the source said.

Her brother was questioned by police before being released on Friday.

The group, travelling on an Australian Airlines flight from Brisbane via Sydney, were understood to have booked a two-week holiday in Bali, including accommodation at a resort in the main tourist strip, Kuta.

Ms Corby could remain in custody for up to 60 days without being charged.

Michael Corby, from the Gold Coast, said his daughter could not have packed drugs in her body board bag.

He said he saw Schapelle pack the bag and did not know how the package got into her luggage or how it was not picked up at Australian airports.

"She's innocent, she's not a dope head," he said.

Ms Corby is being held in Polda prison - home to the Bali bombers - and the charge carries the death penalty. She was stopped at the airport.

Narcotics agent Captain Made Wijana said Ms Corby had not been formally interviewed and had made no admissions to police about the drugs.

The Australian Consulate-General in Bali said Ms Corby was receiving consular assistance and had employed a local lawyer to represent her.

This is the second Bali drug case involving an Australian in the past month.

Darwin resident Christopher Currall, 37, was arrested in Kuta last month for trying to send pseudoephedrine, a key component in the manufacture of methamphetamine, to Darwin.

- with the Herald Sun

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This would be really sad if someone else has planted that on her. I can't imagine the motives behind someone doing that, but it could happen I guess. The drug laws over there are brutal... hoping for the best.
 
Aussie help bid in drug defence

Aussie help bid in drug defence

Cindy Wockner in Bali
01nov04

LAWYERS for the Australian woman facing the death penalty for allegedly smuggling drugs into Bali will this week request a meeting with consular officials in a bid to seek help from Australian authorities.

The move by Schapelle Leigh Corby's defence team comes as Bali drug squad police today plan to transfer a brief of evidence against her to prosecutors – indicating that her trial could start within months.

And yesterday Ms Corby's Bali-based sister, Mercedes, came to Denpasar's Polda police headquarters jail to visit her sibling, along with two small children and another female friend.

They brought food and drinks – but were unable to get nearer to Ms Corby than shouting to one another through the cell bars.

Earlier Ms Corby, who has been in the jail since her arrest three weeks ago, shouted from her cell to the media: "I can't say anything."

And her sister Mercedes, frustrated by press waiting at the jail, told Ms Corby: "You can't come out of the cell because of all these people here. Just stay in there."

Bali drug detectives have confirmed that they intend to recommend to prosecutors, as part of the dossier of evidence, that Ms Corby, 27, be tried under Indonesia's tough narcotics law No. 82, which carries the maximum death penalty for drug importing.

But deciding which laws to use is the job of prosecutors, who will today begin assessing the strength of the case contained in the dossier.

Meanwhile Ms Corby's lawyers are working hard to build a defence that the 4.1kg of marijuana found in her luggage did not belong to her and must have been planted.

They say they need assistance from Australian officials in Indonesia in order to have their own independent tests conducted on the drugs and that before the Australian Federal Police can get involved there must be a request from the Embassy.

But lawyer Lily Lubis said that so far they had not received any positive response to the request nor to requests for information from Australian Airlines on the weight of Ms Corby's luggage when she checked in at Brisbane airport.

"We did contact the AFP through the consulate but we are still waiting for their response," Ms Lubis said.

"Now we have to prove that it (the marijuana) does not belong to her. She does not know how it can be in that bag She doesn't accept that it is hers."

Advocating Ms Corbys innocence, Ms Lubis says that even she finds the case against the Gold Coast beauty therapy student unbelievable given that the drugs were in no way hidden inside her unlocked body board bag.

"Do you think somebody can be that stupid, can be crazy? I dont know what to say but for me it is unbelievable," Ms Lubis said.

The defence wants independent forensic tests on the THC content or strength of the marijuana in a bid to prove if it originated from Australia or Bali.

Bali's chief narcotics detective, Lt-Colonel Bambang Sugiarto, said the dossier contained statements from nine witnesses, including her two female friends and younger brother, who was with her on the flight to Bali.

There were also statements from the customs officials who discovered the drugs at Bali's international airport, together with those of forensic experts.

Lt-Col Sugiarto said no fingerprint tests had been conducted on the vacuum-sealed plastic bag containing the drugs because too many hands had touched the bag after its discovery.

After the dossier is handed over, prosecutors have two weeks to assess its contents. If they want further investigations made, they can return it to police for another 14 days.

The large bag of marijuana heads was found inside Ms Corby's bodyboard bag on October 8, after she arrived on an Australian Airlines flight from Brisbane to Sydney to Denpasar.

She had been planning a two-week stay in Bali, where Mercedes was celebrating her 38th birthday.


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Advocating Ms Corbys innocence, Ms Lubis says that even she finds the case against the Gold Coast beauty therapy student unbelievable given that the drugs were in no way hidden inside her unlocked body board bag.
Click to expand...

I find this story so strange.

I'm confused why this young girl would try to smuggle 4kg of weed in a bodyboard bag to Bali. If you saw pictures of the find, it looks so obvious theirs not just a bodyboard in the bag.

She's been set up hardcore or she's really fucking stupid.

She could be facing the death penalty.
 
Indonesia to seek death penalty for Australian

Indonesia to seek death penalty for Australian

By Matthew Moore
Indonesia Correspondent
Jakarta
November 2, 2004

Indonesian prosecutors say they are likely to push for the death penalty for a Queensland woman found with 4.1 kilograms of marijuana at Denpasar airport in Bali.

They said the amount of marijuana found in Schapelle Leigh Corby's body board bag meant they would "probably" charge her with an offence carrying the death penalty.

Ida Bagus Wiswantanu, of the Bali Prosecutor's Office, said after briefly examining the police allegations against Corby yesterday that it appeared there was a strong case to push for the maximum sentence.

Mr Wiswantanu said Indonesian law did not differentiate between heroin and marijuana.

"It's clear, the quantity will determine the impact on society, whether it's 4.1 kilograms or 0.1 grams," Mr Wismantanu said.

The head of Bali's drug squad, Lieutenant-Colonel Bambang Sugiarto, said: "It's a drug case and it must be the toughest so that it will intimidate others who try to copy her.

"There are warnings about the penalties at the airport in many areas, so we need to do this."

Mr Wismantanu said Corby was likely to be charged under three sections of Indonesia's drug laws, including the most serious, "which is death for trafficking or importing narcotics".

The 27-year-old Gold Coast beauty student was arrested at Denpasar airport on October 8 when she arrived in Bali to begin a holiday to celebrate the 38th birthday of her sister, Mercedes, who lives in Bali with her Balinese husband.

She has always insisted she is innocent and knows nothing about the large, vacuum-sealed, plastic bag of marijuana found in her unlocked body-board bag.

Her lawyer, Lily Sri Rahayu Lubis, complained yesterday that media reports had already "crucified" Corby by portraying her as guilty when she knew her to be innocent.

Ms Lubis said that before Corby could be convicted under the most serious section of the law, prosecutors would have to prove her guilty of a lesser charge, which prohibits possession of narcotics.

Before a death sentence could be obtained it would have to be proved that Corby had a network to distribute drugs.

She said police had been good to her client, and friends and relatives had been able to bring her food and drink and books.

Indonesian police yesterday delivered to the prosecutor's office their dossier that they said included the records of interview with Corby and nine witnesses.

Prosecutors can now study that document for 14 days before deciding if they want more information from the police.

Once they have the information they need, they will produce an indictment setting out the charges present it to the court, which must set a trial date.

Ms Lubis said Corby's case was unlikely to begin until next year.

Lieutenant-Colonel Sugiarto said police were still running tests on the cannabis to see whether it came from Australia or was grown in Indonesia.

- with AAP

LInk
 
the howard government would probably intervene due to public pressure if she is found guilty and the death penalty is to be used. i mean, she's attractive, i can see many australians who support such penalties doing a 180 if this were to be the case. as horrible as it may seem, her death would do wonders for the legalization argument in this country. i hope she is found not guilty, but i doubt she will. it seems very suspicious. i really find it bizarre that somebody of her background would try to smuggle a not very profitable drug, so poorly concealed, into a country where the drug is already aplenty, into a country with harsh penalties for all drugs. with the level of risk involved surely something along the lines of ecstasy or cocaine would be more logical ?
 
Father's Bali vigil with drug case daughter
The Advertiser (AU)
23dec04

THE father of a Gold Coast woman accused of smuggling drugs into Bali plans to spend time with his daughter in prison this Christmas.

Schapelle Corby is awaiting trial in Bali's Kerobokan Prison after more than 4kg of marijuana was found in a bodyboard bag as she arrived in Denpasar Airport in October.

The 27-year-old former Gold Coast beauty student claimed the drugs were planted in her luggage between Brisbane and Denpasar airports.

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has found the case so curious he offered the assistance of Australian Federal Police to test the cannabis to find out where it was grown.

Ms Corby's mother, Ros Leigh, yesterday said Michael Corby would fly to Bali to spend time with his daughter on Christmas day.

"I kind of just hope she still stays strong, that she doesn't break down because it'll be really hard for her to keep going if she starts to break," Ms Leigh told ABC radio. "We have to make sure she stays strong and we stay strong." Ms Leigh said the family would not be celebrating Christmas. One of Ms Corby's lawyers, Vasu Rasiah, has accused Australian authorities of "playing games" with his client by not revealing if or when the drug tests would be carried out.

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GOVT, AFP DENY IGNORING BALI DRUG ACCUSED
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia Web)
Tues, January 18, 2005

The Federal Government has rejected suggestions that Australian authorities have done little to help a Queensland woman facing drug charges in Bali.

Schapelle Corby was detained in Denpasar in October after she was allegedly found with more than four kilograms of marijuana. She says the drugs were planted.

Ms Corby's family have criticised the Government and Australian Federal Police for failing to test the drugs and trace their origin.

An AFP spokeswoman says they asked Indonesian police if it could provide any assistance to the investigation, but the offer was rejected.

Ms Corby's family also says she is living in squalor in her jail cell, and added she would not be in there if Australian authorities had acted more quickly.

But a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says Australian consular officals have already provided all possible assistance to Ms Corby, and will continue to do so.

He says Ms Corby is currently subject to Indonesian laws and processes.

Indonesian police have recommended Ms Corby be charged with trafficking. She is expected to face a trial within weeks.

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Well from reading all of the above articles and posts... all I can think is that she's innocent. I really doubt that there is anyone really stupid enough to do such an unconstructive thing.
 
Corby drug trial adjourned
By Rob Taylor in Denpasar, AAP
January 27, 2005

THE trial of an Australian woman accused of trying to smuggle a huge amount of cannabis into Bali has been adjourned for one week to let her defence team to assess the prosecution's indictment.
Earlier today Schapelle Corby, 27, a Gold Coast beauty therapy student, said she was delighted for the chance to defend herself against charges for which she faces the death penalty.

She arrived at Denpasar court in an armoured police bus and handcuffed to another female prisoner.

Ms Corby is accused of attempting to smuggle 4.1kg of cannabis into Bali last October in an unlocked body board bag.

Asked how she felt on her way into the trial, Ms Corby – dressed in a light blue shirt and black skirt – said she was happy to put her defence on the record.

"I'm so relieved," she said.

She also denied accusations contained in the prosecution indictment against her that she had admitted to owning the drugs to customs officers at Denpasar airport and obstructed them when they attempted to open the body bag.

"I say the translation was wrong," she said.

"I opened it myself. He didn't even ask me."

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PRISONER ARRIVES TO SAVE CORBY'S LIFE
By Cindy Wockner, The Advertiser (AU)
March 27, 2005

John Patrick Ford -- the man with the best chance of helping Schapelle Corby beat deadly drug smuggling charges -- arrived in Bali yesterday.

In handcuffs and under tight security, the 40-year-old was met by Bali's drug squad chief Lieutenant-Colonel Bam Bang Sugiarto and a team of six drug squad officers.

He was taken in a prison truck to the jail at Denpasar police headquarters, where he will be held until tomorrow before he takes the stand.

Ford -- on remand from a Victorian prison and facing charges of rape, aggravated burglary, threatening to kill, unlawful imprisonment and assault -- showed no emotion as he was escorted into prison.

He refused to answer questions as to why he felt compelled to give evidence.

Gold Coast mobile phone entrepreneur Ron Bakir, who is bankrolling Corby's defence, said he and the legal team were expecting to brief the prisoner.

"We will just tell him about the process of the court, about where to sit and what will happen on Tuesday," Mr Bakir said yesterday.

He added it was "magic news" that Ford had finally arrived in Bali and was ready to testify.

Mr Bakir and Ms Corby's lawyers described the evidence he will give to the court as critical to her defence and to her chances of acquittal.

They claim the man will testify about the true owners of the 4.1kg of marijuana found in her boogie board bag.

Ford has apparently signed an affidavit naming three people who allegedly traffic drugs through Australian airports. He is expected to claim he overheard a conversation between two drug traffickers who had said some drugs had been put in the wrong bag or on the wrong flight.

"His statements are pretty solid statements. He makes a lot of allegations and says a lot of things about a lot of people and they need to be heard," Mr Bakir said.

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock yesterday defended the Government's position in the case and criticised Corby's legal team for being tardy in its witness handling.

"Only one day before the proceedings, to be initiating a request ( for Ford's clearance to give evidence ), suggests to me some inactivity," he said.

Meanwhile, Ford's ex-wife Rita said yesterday she was proud of him for offering his testimony, adding there was no benefit for him in travelling to Bali to testify. "You worry about people who are close to you," she said. "Of course I am ( worried ) and I think everyone in Australia should be."

Ms Ford said her ex-husband wanted to try to help Corby. "He's hoping that he can help," she said. "It's the right thing to do."

The Corby's defence team suffered a set back when her Gold Coast lawyer Robin Tampoe suffered an electric shock on Friday night.

The cord of a microphone he was using to address his Kuta team and supporters fell in water, giving him a potentially deadly shock.

He was unconscious until Ms Corby's older sister Mercedes reportedly resuscitated him. Mr Tampoe was later taken to hospital.

"We almost lost him; it took about 15 seconds to bring him back to life," Mr Bakir said.

"I grabbed his hand and was saying 'Robin squeeze my hand if you are there' but he was not there."

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"His statements are pretty solid statements"

Yes the statements of a prisoner pending charges "on rape, aggravated burglary, threatening to kill, unlawful imprisonment and assault" must be taken to be absolute truth. Call me a sceptic but I can't see how anyone could consider a statement from someone who is quite possibly a rapist, burglar etc could be taken with anything more than a grain of salt. Sure he hasnt been convicted yet, but that doesnt add any sort of substance to his testemony. Hopefully he does know something and hopefully he can give evidence that will help acquit Corby but until something concrete is produced, I wouldnt be so optimistic as to say that his statements are solid.

I know it doesnt make sense that some random guy would make a false statement/claim in order to aid in the acquital of some Brisbane beauty student whom he's never met, but who knows what his agenda is. I just dont think that its right to get the family's hopes up that their daughter might be acquited based primarily on the testemony of a possible rapist. Eitherway, hopefully he's useful and helps the Corby trial.
 
He didn't really say much at the trial. Named 1 person said he can't name the other for fear of his life. He only over heard a conversation... not very solid evidence if you ask me. Not sure why they kept on about it on the news, I don't think he knew enough to get her off the charges.
 
so is this person off the hook or what? I read the update, but it didnt say. Im guessing the trial isnt over yet?

When will this injustice end? The War on Drugs is a war against humanity. There's nothing right about it.
 
Fuck those little gooks.. They hate australians. Howard should step in and bring her home. If she is killed, IM gonna do my best to fuck those muslim cunts up. I like how the US is testing its earthquake bomb on them..
 
Twisted hand of fate
CINDY WOCKNER JAKARTA CORRESPONDENT
02apr05

SCHAPELLE Corby really didn't want to catch the Australian Airlines flight to Bali last October. But timing conspired against her.

It was the second anniversary of the Bali terrorist bombings and all seats on Garuda, the airline she had flown with on previous trips to Bali, were booked for three months in advance, even in first class.

So keen was she to avoid the flight, she waited for three weeks before confirming her seat, waiting to see if a cancellation could get her on Garuda.

But no one cancelled and fate saw her on Qantas, then Australian Airlines, flying from Brisbane for a 3 1/2-hour stopover in Sydney before going to Bali.

Recounting this recently to the three solemn, robed men sitting in judgment of her, the 27-year-old's voice cracked with emotion as she recalled the series of events which put her on a plane she did not want to catch.

All she wanted to do was take a holiday from her job in the family's fish and chip shop and from caring for her sick father, Michael, for probably the last time before his cancer became so advanced that he would need her constantly.

Instead, she has found herself in a Bali jail cell, accused of a crime she steadfastly denies and which could result in a death sentence. She is charged with smuggling 4.1kg of high-quality marijuana into a nation which does not look kindly on drug traffickers.

This week, the case which has captivated the nation took yet another twist, with her lawyers succeeding in getting an Australian prisoner flown to Bali to testify in her defence – the first time an inter-government treaty has been used to bring a prisoner to Indonesia for such a purpose.

From the day Corby was arrested, the case has had more twists and turns than a game of snakes and ladders, and has all the hallmarks of a gripping crime fiction.

But this is not fiction. At worst, Corby's life is on the line, or she could spend years in a foreign prison cell.

Given the emotional stress which was so evident during her appearances in Denpasar District Court, it is hard to see how she would cope with a lengthy prison term.

The handling of the case has not shone a positive light on the Indonesian investigation or on Australian authorities, our airlines or our airport security.

The saga began on October 8 last year when Corby, her younger brother, James, and two girlfriends stepped off their flight for a two-week holiday in Bali.

They were going to celebrate Corby's sister Mercedes' 30th birthday and a large group of friends and family was expected, some arriving on the next flight.

Corby's boogie board bag had been singled out for inspection after a Customs officer noticed a suspicious package inside during a routine X-ray. Inside the bag was the marijuana.

From that moment, Corby proclaimed her innocence, claiming someone must have planted it after she checked in. That scenario seemed less far-fetched this week when a Melbourne prison inmate took his place in the court as the case's last witness.

It had been a monumental battle to get him there and one which saw politicians and lawyers trading blows in the media for days.

He could be one of Corby's saviours, along with Ron Bakir, or Mad Ron as he is known in the business world.

The young Gold Coast mobile phone entrepreneur put his money up to help a young woman he had never met.

Mr Bakir says he was motivated to bankroll her defence by what he believes is a massive injustice and a failure by Australia to help one of its own citizens caught in a perilous situation.

"The money doesn't matter," he said. "It's about saving this young woman's life and getting justice for her."

Mr Bakir enlisted his own lawyers in the battle.

But it seemed everywhere they turned in Australia, they hit a brick wall.

They had been unsuccessful in getting any video surveillance tapes from Brisbane or Sydney airports which might have showed Corby's bag during the luggage handling phase, and in their battle to have the drugs independently tested for their origin.

The hurdles included:

THE closed-circuit TV cameras at Brisbane Airport not working that day.

THE Sydney Airport tapes being erased.

THE boogie board bag not being individually weighed at check-in.

THE identity of the Qantas employee who received the bag being undetermined.

In Indonesia:

THE marijuana not being tested for its origin, with conflicting accounts from both police forces over this issue.

THE plastic bags containing the drugs were not fingerprinted, because police believed too many hands had touched them.

THE group's luggage not being weighed in Bali, so the weight could not be checked against the 65kg it weighed in Brisbane.

Corby's trial began on January 28 with a defence case that looked shaky.

Then Mr Bakir and lawyer Robin Tampoe, seizing on the revelation of a mystery informant who had first contacted the media in early February to tell of conversations he had overheard within prison walls, pressured the Australian Government to liaise with the Indonesians so he could testify.

John Patrick Ford was escorted from his Melbourne prison to Bali and told the court he had heard other prisoners say the marijuana had been planted by mistake.

Whether this had been enough to save Schapelle Corby will not be known until the court announces its verdict next month.

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chapelle had her blood tested for thc and was negative.
the lesson here is that if something goes wrong while you are in a country like indonesia, your chances of getting a fair trial are pretty low.
 
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