Corby sentenced to 20 years jail

george · May 27, 2005

Australia awaits Corby drug fate

Accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby is confident of acquittal.

(CNN) -- Accused Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby will today learn her fate when a panel of three judges deliver their verdict in her Indonesian trial.

The 27-year old could face the death penalty if she is found guilty of smuggling 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into the holiday island of Bali from Australia.

Prosectors have demanded life in jail for Corby and have vowed to appeal anything less. The courts panel of judges, however, are free to impose whatever sentence they choose, including a possible death sentence for this crime.

Security has been stepped up around the Bali courthouse Friday morning with more than 100 officers guarding the building amid concerns of a terror threat as Australian and foreign media scramble to cover the verdict.

Already the case has triggered a series of threats against Indonesian diplomatic missions in Australia and Indonesia.

As she awaits judgment Corby, through a spokeswoman, has asked fellow Australians to pray for her and is reported to be anxious but confident about the outcome.

"Australia, today is my day. Please pray for me. I pray for justice every day," Corby said according to a report in Australian newspaper, The Daily Telegraph.

"I want to go home."

Corby's legal advisers have not told the former beauty student that the chief judge in the case, Linton Sirait has never aquitted a defendant in a narcotics case.

Corby, who has always maintained her innocence, was arrested at Bali's Denpasar Airport on October 8 last year after drugs were found in one of her bags upon her arrival.

During her trial Corby maintained that she was the victim of a drug trafficking operation involving baggage handlers at Australian airports.

She has also denied prosecution claims that she admitted the drugs were hers, arguing that the translation of her statement was wrong.

To back her case, Corby's defense team flew Australian prisoner John Ford to Bali to testify about a conversation he heard in jail.

However his evidence -- that Corby was an unwitting "drug mule" -- was dismissed as hearsay and having no legal standing by the prosecution.

Later, Corby's defense was bouyed by news that Australian Federal Police and Qantas Airways revealed they were investigating the role of Qantas baggage handlers in a cocaine smuggling operation.

The Australian government subsequently wrote a letter to the chief judge regarding the investigation, but it remains unclear if it would have any influence on the verdict.

Corby's defense also raised concerns in the court about the failure of police to fingerprint the plastic bag containing the drugs or videotape the search.

In addition a request to have the marijuana tested to reveal its source, was denied.

Her case also faced problems when her financial backer, Australian businessman, Ron Bakir, claimed the prosecution would ask for a lighter sentence if they were paid a bribe. He later withdrew the remarks and apologized in writing to the prosecution.

The case, which has sparked frenzied media interest in Australia and enormous public support for Corby, comes at a time of improving relations between Australia and Indonesia.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he would not interfere with the Indonesian justice system but hoped the court would deliver a "true and fair and just verdict."

The Australian Government this week said the two countries had discussed a possible prisoner swap plan for Corby should she be found guilty.

Under the plan Corby would spent her time incarcerated in an Australian jail.

--CNN 2005-05-27

dr_Pat_Pong · May 27, 2005

The outcome will be known around lunch time Thai time. That all of her sentence would be served in Australia is pure media speculation.

george · May 27, 2005

Corby calm in court

CHIEF Judge Linton Sirait has begun reading the judgment in the case of accused drug smuggler Australian Schapelle Corby.

In the Denpasar court Judge Sirait addressed her in Indonesian.

Ms Corby remained calm, watching the judges intently, as translator Eka Sulistyawati related the judgment to her.

According to Ms Corby's translator, whose voice was carried live on Sky TV, the judge then went over the events of the day last October when customs officers at Bali airport found marijuana in Corby's bodyboard bag.

Judge Sirait said the "suspect" Corby had admitted the drugs were hers, referring to testimony by Indonesian customs officers.

The judge said it was "true" Corby admitted the bag containing the marijuana was hers, according to the translation.

She also had admitted the "marijuana bag" was hers, he said.

At one stage Ms Corby, still looking composed, asked how long the judge would take to read the judgment.

Observers said the judges' early remarks were relating the testimony of witnesses, and did not necessarily reflect their own, eventual findings.

A fellow judge then took over to continue reading the judgment.

The judgment summarised witness testimony about the handling of Corby's bags at Brisbane and Denpasar airports.

The judges then read a summary of Ms Corby's personal testimony, including that she knew nothing about the drugs found in her bag and had never used drugs.

Her summary also contradicted customs' officials testimony that she had admitted the drugs found in the bag at Denpasar airport were hers.

Legal observers said the judgment could still take some time to read.

--Agencies 2005-05-27

snoophound · May 27, 2005

Guilty

20yrs

100m rupiah fine

Aussies Boycott Indonesia.

george · May 27, 2005

Corby sentenced to 20 years jail

INDONESIA: -- Schapelle Corby has been found guilty of importing a narcotic into Indonesia by a Bali court, sentenced to 20 years in jail and fined $13,875.

The 27-year-old beauty therapy student, from Queensland's Gold Coast, was accused of smuggling 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Bali last October.

She has been held in prison in Denpasar since her arrest.

Corby had repeatedly argued the drugs found by airport officials in her bag were not hers.

Her lawyers insisted many people could have put the drugs into their client's bodyboard bag along the way from Brisbane to Bali, especially because it was not locked.

Corby changed planes in Sydney and her defence team has said she was the victim of a drug ring running narcotics from Brisbane to Sydney.

It said for some reason, the drugs were not removed from her bag in Sydney.

Prosecutors had called for Schapelle Corby to receive a life sentence.

--abc.net.au

udon · May 27, 2005

Boycott Bali, hurt them in the wallet.

Fortunately she can appeal to a judiciary with more brains and experience.

sriracha john · May 27, 2005

a bit more detail:

Corby gets 20 years

By staff writers and AAP

May 27, 2005

From: News Interactive

SCHAPELLE Corby has been sentenced to 20 years in jail.

In a Bali court the judges said she was guilty of trying to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Indonesia.

The judges also fined Corby 100 million rupiah ($13,870).

Corby was standing as she heard the verdict and sentence.

"Twenty years?," she said.

She turned to her distressed mother Rosleigh Rose and appeared to shout: "Mum it's OK."

There was outcry in the court as the penalty was announced.

The judges ordered the court cleared.

Corby at first tried to compose herself, taking deep breaths, as the courtroom descended into chaos.

Distressed, she then hugged her interpreter and pushed through police to get to her mother Rosleigh Rose and father Michael Corby.

She kissed other members of her family and was then led away by police through a crush of media.

chuchok · May 27, 2005

Boycott Bali, hurt them in the wallet.
Fortunately she can appeal to a judiciary with more brains and experience.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Couldn't agree more!

sriracha john · May 27, 2005

Judge Linton Sirait said Corby had "legally and convincingly carried out a crime".

Family and friends of Corby reacted to the verdict with screams.

chuchok · May 27, 2005

I've just been listening to talkback in NZ.(Waiting for the rugby speak!) Christ, you should hear the outrage.From young people ringing up to say that they are canceling travel to one bloke saying that ( Imports from Indonesia and gives money to charity there) he will find other countries for supply.

udon · May 27, 2005

Kudos to Downer, he has offered 2 QCs with experience in Asian courts on a pro bono basis for her appeal .

Aus gov't has underwritten most of the trial costs.... what does that tell you!

Judge was quoted as saying as she could not prove who put the grass in her bag , she was guilty.......... Geeeezus,

Lock up your zippers with colored cable ties and cut them short if you are coming to SEA.

Try to watch a sat TV that carries the ABC for the best coverage today.

Pink Mist · May 27, 2005

The closest I'll ever get to indonesia is about 40,00 feet away

dr_Pat_Pong · May 27, 2005

Kudos to Downer, he has offered 2 QCs with experience in Asian courts on a pro bono basis for her appeal .
Aus gov't has underwritten most of the trial costs.... what does that tell you!

Judge was quoted as saying as she could not prove who put the grass in her bag , she was guilty.......... Geeeezus,

Lock up your zippers with colored cable ties and cut them short if you are coming to SEA.

Try to watch a sat TV that carries the ABC for the best coverage today.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They offered the QC's for this trial I'm told and the Corby side refused and went on with the Gold Coast man and the Indonesian lady. They need the best drug barrister that Jakarta has to offer.

udon · May 27, 2005

I hope she tells Bakir to piddle off back to Aus & gets a new team of lawyers, this lot were pathetic.

Bakir is now offering an undisclosed reward for more info........ yeah, right Ron, I'm sure your creditors are all listening back in Aus.

Joey Boy · May 27, 2005

Kudos to Downer, he has offered 2 QCs with experience in Asian courts on a pro bono basis for her appeal .
Aus gov't has underwritten most of the trial costs.... what does that tell you!

Judge was quoted as saying as she could not prove who put the grass in her bag , she was guilty.......... Geeeezus,

Lock up your zippers with colored cable ties and cut them short if you are coming to SEA.

Try to watch a sat TV that carries the ABC for the best coverage today.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They offered the QC's for this trial I'm told and the Corby side refused and went on with the Gold Coast man and the Indonesian lady. They need the best drug barrister that Jakarta has to offer.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

yip, they would have come up with a better story than using domestic flights to run 4kg of dope from brisbane to sydney

dr_Pat_Pong · May 27, 2005

I hope she tells Bakir to piddle off back to Aus & gets a new team of lawyers, this lot were pathetic.
Bakir is now offering an undisclosed reward for more info........ yeah, right Ron, I'm sure your creditors are all listening back in Aus.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He's a bloody auto erotic practitioner. Her lawyers were clearly inept and inexperienced. Their arguments were completely meritless at Indonesian law. Leave ole mum home for the appeal too. Abusing the prosecutors and judges in the court was not the wisest move either.

udon · May 27, 2005

joey boy

yip, they would have come up with a better story than using domestic flights to run 4kg of dope from brisbane to sydney

Why?

It's a quick way to deliver, been going on for ages, allegedly.

It could have been destined for another country, or SYD consuption. Who knows!

chuchok · May 27, 2005

How many years did the latest Bali bomber get...5?

rossiok · May 27, 2005

Quote Lock up your zippers with colored cable ties and cut them short if you are coming to SEA.

Great advice

chuchok · May 27, 2005

How many years did the latest Bali bomber get...5?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Bashir was guilty of taking part in a "sinister conspiracy" that led to the 2002 bombings and only got 2.5 years...######s.

jumbo · May 27, 2005

Are we all convinced that she is not guilty??

Why was she so cool after hearing 20 years and telling her mum it's OK???

Why didnot she scream haeven and ###### together or at least attemtp to faint after hearing this verdict and knowing herself she is not guilty??

But also;

why did she get only 20 years while before the judge as well as the prosecutors had an almost 100% score on deathpenalty in this sort of crime?

And she is convicted for only being a courier??

I though the stuff was cheaper in Bali than Australia??

snoophound · May 27, 2005

Clearly innocent

Jeez her sister lived there for christs sake so Schapelle would have been well aware of the risks involved in something so stupid.

Its widely known the baggage handlers in Aust have been doing this for years amongst those in the know.

Its fairly widely known the airport security in denpasar are not up to scratch.

Last time I was there I got caught with 4 undeclared bottles of aussie reds.

The customs guy said duty 50.00 usd.

I said only have 50 aud

He said give me......needless to say where that went....no reciept given.

Just walked past a electronics retailer in downtown sydney that had this on TV.

People were actualy crying for her.

Howards gutless foreign policy yet again.

How many years did the latest Bali bomber get...5?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Bashir was guilty of taking part in a "sinister conspiracy" that led to the 2002 bombings and only got 2.5 years...######s.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

kreon · May 27, 2005

even though i feel sorry for her, i think she got off lightly

i mean what a joke bringing a prisoner to testify on hearsay, try doing that bringing an indonesian prisoner to oz to testify, the judge would laugh in your face

and what about when she checked in, how many kg's did her board weight

from what i've read and saw today, she seems to be quite happy with 20 years, could have been a lot worse

don't forget she already pleaded for clemency even before she got convicted, is that not an admission of guilt, why not go to the appeals process first

and this is the same judged that sentenced one of the bali bombers to death, i think under the circumstances he did a great job, its the lawyers who failed, not him

Edited May 27, 2005 by kreon

stumonster · May 27, 2005

THE MEDIA - and if she was not a pretty white girl...????

Corby verdict – real reality TV
By Doug Conway

May 27, 2005

FOR more than two hours, a young Aussie's troubled life became morbid live theatre.

By the end, it was so harrowing it was difficult to watch.

Commercial TV coverage of Schapelle Corby's judgment day meant her fate unfolded surrealistically in between ads.

It was plagued by technical hitches – not unexpected in an airless, chaotic Asian courtroom.

But its very imperfections reflected reality better in many ways than the polished, packaged, professional grabs we are used to seeing on the nightly news.

Sound and vision came and went.

Off-air remarks went on-air, including a reporter's frustrated lament: "It's crazy, isn't it? Why is it always organised so badly?"

Until a judge ordered a microphone to be removed from Corby's interpreter, Australian viewers could hear exchanges between the two, as well as the translation Corby herself was hearing.

"There's a lot of people talking," Corby remarked of the constant hubbub.

At another point she asked: "Is he (the chief judge) just going to read the prosecution case?"

From that point on, the networks had to rely on their own paid interpreters.

But even then there were unforeseen difficulties.

One of the three judges delivered the findings with such intensity that he left one interpreter complaining: "It's so difficult to understand, he's so loud he's shouting; he's going so fast as to be inarticulate."

By then the writing was on the wall for Corby, and the tears were rolling down her cheeks.

By the time the chief judge was pronouncing a 20-year jail sentence, the din was so loud the interpreters had to give up.

Some applause in the courtroom would have jarred in many Australian living rooms, where Corby by all accounts had been found innocent.

Corby's plight has spawned a public fascination deeper than any since Lindy Chamberlain was wrongly convicted, an irony considering that sentiment originally ran against the woman who famously shouted: "A dingo's got my baby."

Is Corby a naive surfie chick or a calculating drug mule?

Either way, it was disturbing to watch her growing panic, to see tears spilling from those big blue eyes, to see her biting her lip, taking deep breaths, puffing out her cheeks, massaging her temples, whispering words of comfort to herself and bowing her head over the crucifix signifying her newfound religious faith.

No matter what some programs call themselves, this was reality TV.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...55E1702,00.html

oops ---- forgot the source

Edited May 27, 2005 by stumonster

chuchok · May 27, 2005

even though i feel sorry for her, i think she got off lightly
i mean what a joke bringing a prisoner to testify, try bringing a thai prisoner to oz to testify, the judgewould laugh in your face

and what about when she checked in, how many kg's were board

from what i've read and saw, she seems to be quite happy with 20 years, she already pleaded for clemency before she got convicted, is that not an admission of guilt, why not go to the appeals process first

and this is the same judged that sentenced one of the bali bombers to death, i think under the circumstances he did a great job, its the lawyers who failed not him

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You should read all of the news articles about this mate.The ones a couple of months ago.The indo cops cocked up.They also refused help for DNA testing etc to see where the weed came from and they never finger printed the bag. She pleaded for clemency because everybody knew what was going to happen from the outset.

It's probably the same judge that gave the cleric Bashir 2.5 years for giving the bombings his blessing and killing 100's of people.

Edited May 27, 2005 by chuchok

kreon · May 27, 2005

even though i feel sorry for her, i think she got off lightly
i mean what a joke bringing a prisoner to testify, try bringing a thai prisoner to oz to testify, the judgewould laugh in your face

and what about when she checked in, how many kg's were board

from what i've read and saw, she seems to be quite happy with 20 years, she already pleaded for clemency before she got convicted, is that not an admission of guilt, why not go to the appeals process first

and this is the same judged that sentenced one of the bali bombers to death, i think under the circumstances he did a great job, its the lawyers who failed not him

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You should read all of the news articles about this mate.The ones a couple of months ago.The indo cops cocked up.They also refused help for DNA testing etc to see where the weed came from and they never finger printed the bag. She pleaded for clemency because everybody knew what was going to happen from the outset.

It's probably the same judge that gave the cleric Bashir 2.5 years for giving the bombings his blessing and killing 100's of people.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

just to let you know i can read, in the age today

Prof Lindsey said Australians should remember that chief judge Linton Sirait also oversaw the case that resulted in a death sentence for Bali bomber Mukhlas.

"That court, those trials were considered to be very reasonably run, very meticulous, and a good result," Prof Lindsey said.

"Now we have the same judge here in this case and suddenly he's a bad judge and the case is being run very badly according to popular opinion.

about clemency

"Now if that is, in fact, an attempt at a pardon, it's quite extraordinary because what she's done is sought a reduction in sentence or some kind of relief before she's even been convicted.

"In Indonesian legal circles ... an attempt at a pardon is actually an implicit admission of guilt, because there's nothing to be pardoned for if you haven't been found guilty yet," he said.

about the weight of her board that was never brought-up, why??? forget the dna, proof the weight

Edited May 27, 2005 by kreon

chuchok · May 27, 2005

even though i feel sorry for her, i think she got off lightly
i mean what a joke bringing a prisoner to testify, try bringing a thai prisoner to oz to testify, the judgewould laugh in your face

and what about when she checked in, how many kg's were board

from what i've read and saw, she seems to be quite happy with 20 years, she already pleaded for clemency before she got convicted, is that not an admission of guilt, why not go to the appeals process first

and this is the same judged that sentenced one of the bali bombers to death, i think under the circumstances he did a great job, its the lawyers who failed not him

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You should read all of the news articles about this mate.The ones a couple of months ago.The indo cops cocked up.They also refused help for DNA testing etc to see where the weed came from and they never finger printed the bag. She pleaded for clemency because everybody knew what was going to happen from the outset.

It's probably the same judge that gave the cleric Bashir 2.5 years for giving the bombings his blessing and killing 100's of people.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

just to let you know i can read, in the age today

Prof Lindsey said Australians should remember that chief judge Linton Sirait also oversaw the case that resulted in a death sentence for Bali bomber Mukhlas.

"That court, those trials were considered to be very reasonably run, very meticulous, and a good result," Prof Lindsey said.

"Now we have the same judge here in this case and suddenly he's a bad judge and the case is being run very badly according to popular opinion.

about clemency

"Now if that is, in fact, an attempt at a pardon, it's quite extraordinary because what she's done is sought a reduction in sentence or some kind of relief before she's even been convicted.

"In Indonesian legal circles ... an attempt at a pardon is actually an implicit admission of guilt, because there's nothing to be pardoned for if you haven't been found guilty yet," he said.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The same Judge that has not found anybody on drugs charges innocent for the last 15 years.She was buggered from the start..guilty or not.

The drugs were found in her bag...she was always going to be found guilty.

Who the h*ll is Prof Lindsay when he's at home...just another academic spouting fourth IMO. The was not enough resonable doubt in my opinion, but their law is based on old French/Dutch law. Shame really.

udon · May 27, 2005

Kreon et al. may I suggest you do a fair bit of research before hitting your kboard with inane comments about this case.

kreon · May 27, 2005

Kreon et al. may I suggest you do a fair bit of research before hitting your kboard with inane comments about this case.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

typical aussies always one-sided, never look at the other side of the coin

udon · May 27, 2005

Just another inane comment, thanks, kreon.

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Corby sentenced to 20 years jail

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