Nov. 1
INDONESIA:
Australian facing death penalty
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 2 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 2 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 2-week stay in Bali, where Mercedes was
celebrating her 38th birthday.
(source: The Daily Telegraph)
