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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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 Schapelle Corby Case
#3333096 - 11/08/04 10:37 AM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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Facing death, Corby proclaims her innocence
news.ninemsn.com.au
18:00 AEST Mon Nov 8 2004
A Gold Coast student detained in Bali for allegedly smuggling drugs from Australia over a month ago has now spoken out for the first time on claims she was set-up as a drug runner.
Schapelle Leigh Corby, 27, of Tugun, was arrested at Bali airport after Indonesian customs officers found 4.2 kilograms of cannabis leaf and heads in her unlocked bodyboard bag on October 8.
She is facing the death penalty if charged with drug trafficking, or up to 20 years in prison and a one billion rupiah (A$150,000) fine if charged with importing and possessing an illegal drug.
But in this exclusive interview with National Nine News, the tearful student says she was set up as she was looking forward to her first holiday in more than four years.
I'm not [a drug dealer], she says. They will know when I go to court that Im not.
As she passed signs warning of the death penalty near Indonesian immigration, Corby says she cheerfully opened her bags for waiting customs officers. One pointed to her bodyboard bag.
He said to my brother, Is that your boogie board? she recalls. And I went, no, its mine. He didnt ask me, I just opened it.
I knew Id be in trouble not this much trouble. It wasnt mine. I dont know how it got there.
But the Indonesian customs officer tells a different story. He says he asked Corby to open her bag and she unzipped an empty compartment. He says when he went to open the section containing the marijuana, Corby tried to stop him. Hes now the prosecutions star witness.
Corby says authorities here have done little to help her plight. X-ray images taken on her bag as it passed through Brisbane airport have been erased, and theres no record of the weight of her bodyboard bag as it left Australia.
Id like to think that they would help me a little bit more than they are because Im here and I shouldnt be here, Corby says. I need help from all the authorities, at the airports, to police, anyone who can help me with information I can give to my lawyers so I can go home.
Balinese police say this case is clear-cut: Corby was caught red-handed, so now its a matter of the sentence shes given.
Corby says she will maintain her innocence. You just cant put an innocent person away.
Edited by veggie (06/13/05 06:48 AM)
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MOTH
Wild Woman
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 22,962
Loc: In the jungle
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]  1
#3334301 - 11/08/04 06:04 PM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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Holy shit...next time I complain about the drug laws in the US I'll just be thankful that we don't give the death penalty for drug offenses over here. 
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dr_gonz
Registered: 08/18/03
Posts: 41,501
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 Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: MOTH]
#3334346 - 11/08/04 06:15 PM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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Damn, I don't think the death penalty is severe enough.... Marijuana is a vengeful demon. 
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twonewtz
lot lizzard
Registered: 07/13/04
Posts: 95
Loc: middle of the road
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: dr_gonz]
#3366398 - 11/15/04 07:58 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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yeah.. give the STUFF to the GIRL 
if she gets caught, she'll cry and everyone will feel sorry for her.
she should've watched MIDNIGHT EXPRESS before trying this one.
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absolutely statistically
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 Catalysis
EtherealEngineer
Registered: 04/23/02
Posts: 1,742
Last seen: 3 years, 7 months
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3366417 - 11/15/04 08:04 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Note to self...dont bring 4 kilos of mj through a country that murders drug offenders. Seriously, this is a sad story though.
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Dutch_Mushrooms
MushroomDistributor
Registered: 11/18/04
Posts: 70
Loc: The netherlands
Last seen: 7 years, 24 days
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Catalysis]
#3392605 - 11/21/04 08:25 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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That's nuts! That's why I moved to the Netherlands, so I would avoid eventually going to prison for cultivation/consumption of mushrooms/ weed. If you do anything illegal long enough, sooner or later you will get caught. So I had to relocate myself to somewhere, that my lifestyle wouldn't be deemed criminal.
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KyKid
Stranger
Registered: 10/22/04
Posts: 605
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Dutch_Mushrooms]
#3394815 - 11/21/04 08:18 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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hey dutch, ive been there many times back packing, but whats it like living over there, is the cost of living up alot compared to the us or is it just the tourist season and locations im looking at.
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MOTH
Wild Woman
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 22,962
Loc: In the jungle
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Dutch_Mushrooms]
#3395270 - 11/22/04 09:01 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Yeah, that's pretty awesome you moved there. It's a dream of mine. One day...
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Psilostylin
Captain Save Em'
Registered: 03/13/04
Posts: 678
Loc: New Orleans!
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: MOTH]
#3395467 - 11/22/04 07:06 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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hey dutch mushrooms, i remember you from cannabis culture. good to see ya around the shroomery  how's the employment rate over in the netherlands? i've always wanted to live there, not just because of the freedom they're allowed but the city itself is so remarkably beautiful. never been but have seen many photos and heard many lovely tales. i wish i could live there.
this story reminds me of a movie called "Returning to Paradise" or "Return to...", something like that. good flick. it's roughly the same deal...a couple americans go to indonesia and wreck a bike...anyway, 2 of the 3 leave back to the states...the bike owner comes back to their house and the one guy left gets caught with a massive chunk of hash...anyway, he's facing the death penatly for distribution unless the other guys come back and take some of the heat...i gotta stop rambling :p
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3545631 - 12/26/04 07:23 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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*update*
Jailed Aussies anxious
December 27, 2004
dailytelegraph.news.com.au
"Schapelle Corby, who was visited on Christmas Day by her lawyers and two of her siblings, still has no idea when the 4kg of marijuana found in her luggage will be tested by the Australian Federal Police.
Ms Corby and her lawyers fear that if tests to determine the origin of the drugs are not done soon, it will too late.
Ms Corby, 27, has been behind bars for 80 days. Under Indonesian law, her trial must begin within 120 days.
She has maintained her innocence and her lawyers have sought tests to determine if the drugs originated in Australia or elsewhere."
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motaman
old hand
Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 5,813
Last seen: 2 years, 18 days
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3545947 - 12/26/04 09:05 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
have sought tests to determine if the drugs originated in Australia or elsewhere."
they are using genetic tests?
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http://heffter.org
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: motaman]
#3546135 - 12/26/04 10:06 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
they are using genetic tests?
Yes, they must be using genetic tests. The Indonesian police claim she smuggled the pot in from Australia. If tests could prove the pot was grown in Bali, it could very well help her case.
Bali is not the place to be caught with drugs. Two Thai nationals and a 65 year old Indian have been executed for drug smuggling. An Italian is is serving two 2 years in jail for just 2gms of marijuana. Indonesian police have vowed to make an example of the Australian woman who could face a firing squad.
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Phluck
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 04/10/99
Posts: 11,383
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 1 year, 5 days
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3548401 - 12/27/04 01:25 PM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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If marijuana is so damaging that one should be a candidate for death for simply posessing it, shouldn't smoking some of this godawful demon weed be a harsh enough punishment?
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"I have no valid complaint against hustlers. No rational bitch. But the act of selling is repulsive to me. I harbor a secret urge to whack a salesman in the face, crack his teeth and put red bumps around his eyes." -Hunter S Thompson
http://phluck.is-after.us
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daba
Stranger
Registered: 12/30/02
Posts: 3,881
Last seen: 9 months, 15 days
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Phluck]
#3557072 - 12/29/04 10:28 AM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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My roommate last year was from Indonesia. He went to school in Singapore, which is similar to Indonesia with it's drug policy. There, you can be caned/beaten for spitting on the street. Hanging is also legal.
Different people, different views. Let them run their country like they want to.
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Legoulash
Stranger
Registered: 09/07/02
Posts: 4,347
Last seen: 7 months, 21 days
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: daba]
#3560201 - 12/30/04 12:23 AM (7 years, 1 month ago) |
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>Let them run their country like they want to.
Till bush nukes them.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3637211 - 01/16/05 10:02 PM (7 years, 29 days ago) |
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*latest update*
Queensland woman to face trafficking trial in Bali
Monday, 17 January 2005
abc.net.au
The trial of a Queensland woman arrested in Bali on drugs charges is expected to go ahead, with Indonesian police recommending she be charged with trafficking.
Schapelle Corby was detained at Denpasar airport in October with four kilograms of cannabis allegedly found in her luggage.
She maintains that the drugs were planted.
The 27-year-old from the Gold Coast could face the death penalty under Indonesia's tough anti-drugs laws.
A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Justin Lee, says Ms Corby's trial could start this month.
"The latest reports from our consular-general in Bali is that Indonesian police have recommended to the public prosecutor in Bali that Ms Corby be charged with trafficking," he said.
"Now that that case has been accepted by the prosecutor, this occurred on January 6, the trial could commence later this month or early next month."
Mr Lee says Australian Federal Police will not be able to assist in the case after an offer to test the marijuana was declined by Indonesian authorities.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3638365 - 01/17/05 09:29 AM (7 years, 29 days ago) |
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*update*
Corby's lawyers turn on Australia
January 18, 2005
news.com.au
LAWYERS for a Gold Coast beauty student facing death in Bali on drugs charges have accused the Australian Government of forsaking their client.
"We have lost all faith in the AFP (Australian Federal Police) and the Australian foreign ministry," Vasudeva Rasiah, a member of Schapelle Corby's legal team, said yesterday.
"They promised us they would help, but it was lip service all the way.
"They have done nothing – and now what do we have in her defence? Absolutely nothing."
Corby, 27, of Tugun, faces the death penalty under Indonesia's tough anti-drugs laws after customs officers found a plastic zip-lock bag containing 4.2kg of cannabis leaf and heads in her bodyboard bag when she arrived in Bali last October.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade yesterday said her trial was likely to begin later this month or early next month after Indonesian police recommended to prosecutors that the Australian be charged with trafficking.
Corby has maintained her innocence, saying someone must have planted the drug in her luggage between Brisbane and Denpasar airports.
After meeting her legal team in Australia in November, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer called the case very curious and offered Australian Federal Police help to test the origin of the cannabis – something that required Corby's consent.
She gave this last month and the AFP said yesterday it had offered to help determine where the cannabis was grown – a potentially key issue in determining Corby's guilt or innocence.
However Indonesian police had declined the offer of help, an AFP spokesman said.
Bali police said yesterday the AFP had not asked to test the drugs.
"The AFP never asked to test the drugs," Bali police anti-drugs squad director Bambang Sugiarto said.
"We never asked them to test the drugs. We have our own forensic lab and our tests are enough to prove that what Corby brought in to Bali is marijuana.
"What else would we need to check the marijuana for?"
Australian consular officials in Bali were monitoring the case and were continuing to visit Corby to provide her with assistance, a DFAT spokesman said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3675976 - 01/25/05 12:39 AM (7 years, 21 days ago) |
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*another update*
Corby to face trial on Thursday
January 25, 2005
seven.com.au
An Australian woman charged with attempting to smuggle drugs into Bali will face court this week in a trial which could result in the death penalty.
Gold Coast beauty school student Schapelle Corby will appear in court in Denpasar on Thursday, court officer I Made Sukarta told AAP.
Corby, 27, of Tugun, has been imprisoned since last October, when customs officers at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport found a plastic zip-lock bag containing 4.2kg of cannabis leaf and heads in her unlocked bodyboard bag.
Corby has consistently maintained her innocence, claiming somebody must have planted the pillow case-sized stash in her luggage between Brisbane and Denpasar airports.
Corby has been awaiting trial in the notorious Kerobokan prison, which houses several of the Bali bombers, including the so-called smiling assassin Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Mukhlas and mastermind Imam Samudra.
Police and prosecutors have warned they will ask for the maximum penalty of death by firing squad if she is convicted.
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"Marihuana produces a wide variety of symptoms in the user, including hilarity, swooning, and sexual excitement ... it often makes the smoker vicious, with a desire to fight and kill." - Scientific American, March 1936
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3765165 - 02/11/05 12:35 AM (7 years, 4 days ago) |
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Spare me, Corby begs Indonesian judges
February 11, 2005
seven.com.au
An Australian woman accused of smuggling drugs into Bali broke down and pleaded with judges in her trial to help her escape the death penalty.
Gold Coast beauty school student Schapelle Corby is on trial in Denpasar after customs officers at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport found a plastic bag containing 4.1kg of cannabis in her unlocked boogie-board bag.
Corby, 27, has consistently maintained her innocence, claiming somebody must have planted the pillow case-sized stash in her luggage between Brisbane and Denpasar airports before her arrest last October.
Prosecutors say Corby admitted owning the marijuana and refused to open the bag when customs officers at an X-ray machine identified a suspicious package inside.
Her lawyers have accused Indonesian customs officers of lying.
Distraught, Corby broke down in court, saying there must be evidence somewhere to show authorities she was innocent.
"Isn't there a camera to say that ... to help me prove my life?" she asked.
"If it's the death sentence, don't they have something to help me here?"
The chief judge promised to investigate whether there were security cameras at the airport when customs officers are called to give evidence on the next hearing on February 17.
"If there was a camera we can look at it together," he told Corby.
Police and prosecutors say they will seek the maximum penalty of death by firing squad if Corby is convicted.
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MOTH
Wild Woman
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 22,962
Loc: In the jungle
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie] 1
#3767731 - 02/11/05 04:40 PM (7 years, 4 days ago) |
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They are insane.
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dr_gonz
Registered: 08/18/03
Posts: 41,501
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: MOTH]
#3773582 - 02/13/05 07:46 AM (7 years, 2 days ago) |
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I really hope they give this woman a long drawn-out death experience, she's a filthy, drug pushing whore and deserves to die a painful death. 
The creator of the earth should get the death penalty for putting all these vile weeds/fungi on the planet. This planet is too much man, rules rules rules. LIVE AND LET LIVE.
"Oh by the way, keep drinking beer and getting fat and stupid, you fucking morons" - Bill Hicks
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Locus
Registered: 03/11/04
Posts: 6,013
Loc: ny/europe
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: dr_gonz]
#3777253 - 02/14/05 01:39 AM (7 years, 1 day ago) |
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serves her right! 
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"Fear is the great barrier to human growth." ~ Dr. Robert Monroe
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity. ~ Albert Einstein
~~~*Dosis sola facit venenum*~~~
*Check my profile to listen to my music*
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Starter
Stranger
Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 965
Loc: Australia
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3788251 - 02/16/05 05:08 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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And to think the Indo's won't even play fair in their farce of a justice system when they got 1 billion dollars off Australia for the tsunami. Corrupt filth.
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Convert Metric and Imperial.
Do not request for seeds, spores, cuttings ect - I will not reply PM's.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3791264 - 02/16/05 11:41 PM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Protesters demand Corby's execution
February 17, 2005
smh.com.au
Schapelle Corby's furious mother hurled water at protesters who stormed a Bali courtroom today, demanding her daughter's execution.
About 10 protesters from an Indonesian anti-narcotics group, GRANAT, invaded Bali's Denpasar District Court, demanding Corby be put to death for the alleged crime of drug smuggling.
The protest triggered a furious reaction from Corby's mother Rosleigh, who hurled water at the placard-waving group.
"You have already found my daughter guilty and she is innocent," she shouted.
The Gold Coast beauty school student has denied trying to smuggle 4.1kg of cannabis leaf and heads into Bali's Denpasar airport last year, in her unlocked boogie-board bag.
Corby, 27, claims someone must have planted the pillow case-sized stash in her luggage between Brisbane and Denpasar airports, leading to her arrest last October.
At today's hearing, one protester, Nur Azizah, shouted: "There is already one person executed in Bali for 2kg of marijuana. I don't want to see Corby go free for bringing 4.1kg."
Corby's mother shouted back: "Why can't you be saying try and find evidence? No-one seems to be trying to find who put the bloody stuff in the bag. They don't care."
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Pickey420
Stranger
Registered: 02/17/05
Posts: 2
Last seen: 6 years, 11 months
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 Her name is Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#3791729 - 02/17/05 02:13 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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I must say, the attitude in this forum in about as absurd is death for an herb! Do I detect some hyprocrites? I do not know Ms. Schapelle Corby.
Guilty or Not? Actually in my opinion that is not the issue, but from the facts I have read I am suspect of 3 potential scenarios of the story:
a) Airport baggage handlers between Brisbane and Bali have some operation in place to smuggle drugs after customs inspections in Brisbane and in Bali the baggage handlers remove prior to customs inspection there. Some how, this package did not get removed and the rightful owner, Ms. Schapelle Corby, of the baggage got stuck with "goods."
b) Other drug smugglers plant to divert from the real haul! Come on, 9lbs of pot isn't not very much! They claim a street value of $80,000 is likely over stated and even if, what is Schapelle going to sell over 4,000 $20 grams? That?s over $8,800 per pound or $550 per once. I doubt Schapelle was selling this especially as she has tested negative for drug use. This does not add up. In California USA, you can grow up to 25lbs or pot legally per person per year whom has a medical prescription.
c) Corby did it, which I highly doubt. If she did knowingly smuggle this product, then she would certainly know the penalty for doing such. Ok then, if you know these facts and you smuggle, you?re going to be professional. Anyone with $20,000 invested in drugs ($20,000 was the amount referred in this post) has a professional operation at some level and would not operate in this way.
As for the absurd, close minded people in this forum, WOW! What rock have you been under? Death of 9lbs of pot? Any pot at that matter ...... Ok I could somewhat understand if it was a real trafficking issue..... Like say a ship full! Employing dozens of people and producing millions of dollars in the black market per load. But this just isn?t the case; she has enough herbs to last 2.5 moderate smokers a year. About 150 ounces is not trafficking by any means. And DEATH, think about it. You a taking a human life, the most precious gift in this world and for an herb grown by God, that?s just dead wrong. Marijuana is not a drug; it is an herb in its natural state. It a medicinal herb that has been used for millions of years and special interests of the pharmaceutical companies and other competing industries has created hysteria over the past century for the economic gains of these select few.
Look at people making money from illegalization of marijuana!
Black Marketeers - Paying off government officials as these our big guys whom don't get caught.
Doctors - Treatment centers are big bucks
Lawyers & Judges - Legal fees, payoffs, kickbacks
Municipalities - Fines, probation fees and slave labor
Private Prisons - A new emerging industry that?s in the billions of dollars annually and growing.
Law Enforcement - Budget increased, more seizures and even more payoffs
Law makers - even more payoffs
Drug & Pharmaceutical companies -
Modern Day Slavery - in many places, prisoners do work no one is willing
Please sign this petition to save Schapelle's life:
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/corby
JOIN THE NETWORK TRYING TO HELP SACVE HER LIFE:
http://www.SchapelleCorby.net
HFS Incorporated<
P.O Box 2097
Bondi Junction, Sydney
NSW, Australia 2022
Help Free Schapelle
[HFS Inc.] Email: mail to:hfs_inc@hotmail.com
Australian Consulate-General in
Bali, Indonesia
<Australian Consulate-General
Jalan Hayam Wuruk No 88B
Tanjung Bungkak
Denpasar, Bali 80234.
Email (general enquiries):
mail to:bali.congen@dfat.gov.au
Office hours: 0800-1200 and 1245-1600 Monday-Friday.
Postal address - PO Box 3243, Denpasar Bali
Telephone - (+62 361) 283011 or 283241
I gave significantly to Indonesia after the Tsunami and if I was aware of this story then, I would not have. I can not support a nation whom has an attitude such as this. Furthermore, I am personally boycotting any and all business/travel/companies that have ANY ties with Indonesia. I can not accept this attitude and it is your countries choice to maintain as such, just as it?s my choice to spend my money and vacations with countries that are in the 21st century, are compassionate and expect human?s right to peruse happiness without interfering with anyone else.
Pickey
Edited by Pickey420 (02/17/05 02:23 AM)
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Pickey420
Stranger
Registered: 02/17/05
Posts: 2
Last seen: 6 years, 11 months
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: dr_gonz]
#3791743 - 02/17/05 02:19 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
drgonz said:
I really hope they give this woman a long drawn-out death experience, she's a filthy, drug pushing whore and deserves to die a painful death.
The creator of the earth should get the death penalty for putting all these vile weeds/fungi on the planet. This planet is too much man, rules rules rules. LIVE AND LET LIVE.
"Oh by the way, keep drinking beer and getting fat and stupid, you fucking morons" - Bill Hicks
You totally contradict yourself in this post, are you a moron? [image]http://img
Edited by Pickey420 (02/17/05 02:22 AM)
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dr_gonz
Registered: 08/18/03
Posts: 41,501
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Pickey420]
#3792116 - 02/17/05 06:02 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Hahaha. How the fuck do you figure that. Can you not sense sarcasm? You have 2 fuckin posts man, so your opinion doesn't matter much to me.
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Otter
Stranger
Registered: 02/14/05
Posts: 8
Loc: UK
Last seen: 6 years, 11 months
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: dr_gonz]
#3792374 - 02/17/05 07:26 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Nobody has the right to take a life.
Cannabis is a plant that gives benefits to the user without them getting addicted or harmed in any way. The only person who ever died from it was someone in Los Angeles when it fell on their head from a plane.
I read a study of rats who had been fed cannabis until their stomachs burst with no other detrimental effects.
However, alcohol kills many people, more than heroin, causes cancer and other awful diseases and is encouraged by pubs being built on every street corner. There's no health warnings on bottles of alcohol even though it causes more cancer than tobacco.
Carrots are deadly. you can die from carotene poisoning after you turn orange.
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The three first parts of all understanding:
An eye to see what is
A heart to feel what is
And a boldness that dares follow them.
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Starter
Stranger
Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 965
Loc: Australia
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Pickey420] 1
#3840688 - 02/27/05 09:07 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Pickey420, I too can only shake my head at some of the people in this thread who think execution is ok when it comes to Cannabis. But this is an American dominated site and Americans (generally) are poorly educated, ignorant and intolerant of others. This thread is no exception.
Btw, the whole trial is a stitch up, right down to the pot being local, known in Bali as 'lemon grass'.
All I can say is I will never travel to Indonesia, and unlike Schapelle Corby who is innocent of pot, well my life has for years been in association to fine herb. Some pics to brighten the mood, even though the Indo scum would love to shoot me. 
  
 
Last but not least, I would have thought with the 1 billion AUD aid to the Indo's on account of the recent tsunami, along with a huge out pouring of Australian charity, that some slack be cut and Corby tried in Australia. After all, the Americans released Mamdouh Habib. Clearly Howard couldn't care less. Thanks on the petition site.
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Convert Metric and Imperial.
Do not request for seeds, spores, cuttings ect - I will not reply PM's.
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theocean06
Yeah, I've donefour already...
Registered: 07/10/04
Posts: 1,458
Last seen: 6 months, 24 days
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Starter]
#3840943 - 02/27/05 10:42 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Starter said:
Pickey420, I too can only shake my head at some of the people in this thread who think execution is ok when it comes to Cannabis. But this is an American dominated site and Americans (generally) are poorly educated, ignorant and intolerant of others. This thread is no exception
So both of you can't sense the sarcasm in his posts? I mean, it REEKS of sarcasm. Since when were Australian's perfect? What you said was both rude and completely unnecessary.
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The story of life is quicker then the blink of an eye, the story of love is hello, goodbye. - Hendrix 
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looner2
ABBA fan
Registered: 06/20/04
Posts: 3,824
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: theocean06]
#3841142 - 02/27/05 11:35 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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I hope she gets death, it might get media coverage and show people how crazy drug laws are.
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I am in love with Acidic_Sloth
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dblaney
Human Being
Registered: 10/03/04
Posts: 7,894
Loc: Here & Now
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: looner2]
#3841691 - 02/27/05 01:42 PM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Yeah but it will also mean she dies.
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"What is in us that turns a deaf ear to the cries of human suffering?"
"Belief is a beautiful armor
But makes for the heaviest sword"
- John Mayer
Making the noise "penicillin" is no substitute for actually taking penicillin.
"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it." -Abraham Lincoln
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theocean06
Yeah, I've donefour already...
Registered: 07/10/04
Posts: 1,458
Last seen: 6 months, 24 days
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: dblaney]
#3841734 - 02/27/05 01:53 PM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Exactly, no one should have to die for people to realize that the drug laws are ridiculous. I find it funny (and sad) that Pickard got two consecutive life sentences, where a murderer or rapist can be free in less than 10 years.
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The story of life is quicker then the blink of an eye, the story of love is hello, goodbye. - Hendrix
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Starter
Stranger
Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 965
Loc: Australia
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: theocean06]
#3841797 - 02/27/05 02:10 PM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
So both of you can't sense the sarcasm in his posts? I mean, it REEKS of sarcasm.
theocean06, it was a worthless post much like your prattle which added nothing to this thread topic, i.e. no comment on Indo police corruption. No comment on the recent good-will milage from the tsumani aid that's gone untapped. No comment on police evidence bungling, be it the strain of the pot originating locally in Bali and not from Brisbane, nor (and unmentioned in this thread so far) the lack of rubber gloves in handling the "boogie bag" that contained the 4+kg of Cannabis, so key evidence prints on the bag were lost. No comment on shameless protestors bursting into the court room demanding death on the defendant. Instead, you've make this about you since that's the only reason for why you chimed in.
Quote:
Since when were Australian's perfect?
No one is perfect nor did I suggest/say so. I simply pointed out a blunt truth that hurt your thin skin.
Quote:
What you said was both rude and completely unnecessary.
It was the truth and I could care less if it offended.
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theocean06
Yeah, I've donefour already...
Registered: 07/10/04
Posts: 1,458
Last seen: 6 months, 24 days
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Starter]
#3841898 - 02/27/05 02:31 PM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Starter said:it was a worthless post much like your prattle which added nothing to this thread topic
No, I was pointing out that the person was merely mocking the system over there. He was being sarcastic, but some people have a problem sensing sarcasm, and I was making sure they knew that.
Quote:
Starter said:Instead, you've make this about you since that's the only reason for why you chimed in
No where did I try this make this thread about me. Again, I was just pointing out that the man was being sarcastic, since it obviously upset the one member.
Quote:
Starter said:No one is perfect nor did I suggest/say so. I simply pointed out a blunt truth that hurt your thin skin
No, I am just sick of other people thinking they are above Americans because of what they see on "cops" or what they read in the paper.
Quote:
Starter said:It was the truth and I could care less if it offended
It isn't the truth. Every nation has assholes, including Australia. It just seems that the American government is screwing things up lately, not the citizens. Yes, we did elect them, but I can guarantee the majority of the Americans on this website (wasn't it 49% didn't want bush in office) did not vote for him. Please, next time, don't try to group me in with "them." I wasn't offended by your comment, and that last statement truly shows your lack of character.
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The story of life is quicker then the blink of an eye, the story of love is hello, goodbye. - Hendrix
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3842283 - 02/27/05 03:27 PM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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*another update*
Millionaire sends team to help Corby
24feb05
news.com.au
A TEAM of lawyers from the Gold Coast has been engaged by a high-profile mobile telephone entrepreneur in a bid to ensure beauty therapy student and alleged drug smuggler Schapelle Corby gets a fair trial in Bali.
Ron Bakir ? better known by his business name Mad Ron ? has thrown the legal lifeline to Corby, who has steadfastly maintained her innocence.
Corby, 27, is facing the death penalty or life in jail if she is convicted. She was arrested after Customs officers found 4.1kg of marijuana in her unlocked bodyboard bag at Bali international airport last October.
Mr Bakir and Gold Coast lawyer Robin Tampoe will travel to Bali today to meet with Corby and her Indonesian legal team.
A spokeswoman for Mr Bakir yesterday said he had pledged an "open chequebook" to a team of three Gold Coast lawyers to work on the case.
She said Mr Bakir contacted Corby's family this week, concerned she was not getting a fair trial after reading newspaper reports about her case.
"He just thinks it's an outrageous situation," she said. "He just can't believe that there is somebody sitting in a jail over there that nobody from the Australian Government is willing to assist."
In December, Corby's defence lawyers in Indonesia accused Australian authorities of "playing games" with Corby's life by failing to provide them with information that could prove vital to her case.
"Ron is the first to say that if she's guilty she deserves to face all the penalties Indonesia puts on her," the spokeswoman said.
"However, everybody deserves a fair trial and he's convinced she's not getting one.
"He basically wants to give her the opportunity that we all deserve and that's a fair trial."
Mr Tampoe said he would be working with Corby's defence team to extract information from Australian authorities that had not been forthcoming.
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"Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself" - President Jimmy Carter
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Starter
Stranger
Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 965
Loc: Australia
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: theocean06]
#3845622 - 02/28/05 05:54 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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theocean06,
Quote:
No, I am just sick of other people thinking they are above Americans because of what they see on "cops" or what they read in the paper.
Listen up, it's your country, not mine. But nah, you'd rather whine and excuse yourself from self-accountability. Typical of yank liberals. Wha, wha, wha, the world is pickin' on us! Typical of yank cons.
Quote:
It isn't the truth. Every nation has assholes, including Australia.
It's indeed true, and yes I enjoy being an "asshole" to seppo's, be it liberals or cons though you won't find Australia out to wage a war that won't end in our life times (as said by Cheney). Nor polarise all nations with a "you're with us or you're against us" ultimatum. Nor seek to control the greatest reserves of crude in the world (even though history has shown the Americans fail asymetrical warfare, aside from when they fought the Brits in their Independence War). All that while the US blows smoke up everyone's arses that it's to stop the terrorists (who are no more than CIA assets). And to boot, a futile hold to a dying reserve currency as it goes south under a compounding interest spend-fest of the neo-cons. So why has all of this come to pass, because too many Americans want it that way by their vote and/or apathy.
Quote:
It just seems that the American government is screwing things up lately, not the citizens.
Too many of your people are ignorant, apathetic and too fucking indolent to register to vote and are therefore responsible. Of the federal 2000 election, only half the potential eligible mass voted. In the recent 2004 federal, only 60% attended and apparantly that's been the best turn out since 1968. Pathetic. In Australia, the attendance is a routine 93% to 96% and has been since the 1920's when the vote was made compulsory. Your citizens, your fellow Americans, have chosen the direction of America. Don't try and spin it and invert it. The folks who had no say on the direction of America are the 95% non-American population of this world.
Quote:
Yes, we did elect them, but I can guarantee the majority of the Americans on this website (wasn't it 49% didn't want bush in office) did not vote for him. Please, next time, don't try to group me in with "them." I wasn't offended by your comment, and that last statement truly shows your lack of character.
You Americans voted for the neo-cons, as Bush won by 51%. No doubt due to Diebold, but without a paper trail the fraud will never be known and at the end of the day, it's the Americans who are responsible as it's their country. But hey, Jennifer Lopez and NAZCAR is just so much more important.
Yet the irony isn't lost on me, given endless Americans love to wank on about how they're bringing freedom, liberty and democracy to the world, as they wail on about the Ukraine, Afghanistan and Iraq, when ha, this is fucking funny, they have NONE back home.
I can only hope your Fuehrer kicks off the draft so loads of American punks on sites like this are sent off to glow from DU. I'm all heart. After all, it's all about retaining the American way of life, the highly wasteful SUV and McMansion McCulture. It's not like they'll die for a true cause other than "in gasoline we trust". So maybe after Americans feels a lot more pain they'll wake the fuck up? Who knows? It appears that's the only way your people will learn. But be fucked if any Aussies will be drafted for that choad because sure as shit the yank empire trip will be a shitcart like Nam.
Just remember, the world has little sympathy, nor should they, when 5% of the planet are Americans who use over one quarter of the world's oil. From that the US has created the world's greastest debt bubble for which they expect the world to endlessly prop up. True, the world has made a grave mistake allowing the clusterfuck US, the world's greatest credit junky, the blank cheque of a reserve currency, but equilibrium will be restored when the now proven Euro takes the USD's role. And if you don't know what that means, well too bad.
veggie, I saw that businessman on the Today show, several days back. He's upfront and sincere and I'm hoping that he's not only successful in swinging some honest justice to Corby (which will be a battle as they're corrupt), but that it brings positive PR to his investments.
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looner2
ABBA fan
Registered: 06/20/04
Posts: 3,824
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Starter]
#3846206 - 02/28/05 09:48 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Starter, why feel the need to spew your ignorant hate in this thread?
Care to elaborate on Australia's drug policy?
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I am in love with Acidic_Sloth
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero
Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 22,990
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 1 hour, 55 minutes
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Starter]
#3846399 - 02/28/05 10:48 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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> Starter, why feel the need to spew your ignorant hate in this thread?
I hate to jump on the bandwagon, but I gotta agree with looner2 on this. Regardless of ones ignorance (mine or others), or the idiots in charge of ones country (be it the US, Australia, etc), this thread is about some chick, smuggling drugs, and a death sentence hanging over her head because of it. Let us all try to stay focused and on topic, please. Starter, if you wanna bash America and Herr Bush, please start a new thread.
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Just another spore in the wind.
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Boom
Supervisor
Registered: 06/16/04
Posts: 11,240
Loc: Cypress Creek
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Starter]
#3846415 - 02/28/05 10:51 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Wow, Australia is far superior to the US
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4bin
Sofa Gazer
Registered: 02/23/05
Posts: 122
Loc: 46 & 2
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: looner2]
#3846466 - 02/28/05 11:00 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Wow Starter, looks like you can clearly see one side of any issue. Congratulations. You are now in the stage of life that Burke described as late adolescence. Let me guess, you're 18-25?
The good news is that you'll start seeing the gray areas within the next decade or so. Until then, you have the same kind of unsophisticated, single track mind that allowed the NASCAR folks to vote him in.
Again, congratulations. I honestly didn't think that there were ignorant hillbillies outside the US. You have proven me wrong. I am truly and deeply humbled.
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I grow legal edibles only. Fresh Shiitake are the bee's knees - like, straight from the fridge.
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Starter
Stranger
Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 965
Loc: Australia
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: looner2]
#3846845 - 02/28/05 12:16 PM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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looner2...
>>>Starter, why feel the need to spew your ignorant hate in this thread?
For some phun, though there's a lot of truth in what I said as it got the attention, and an admin too. Though the admin appears to have missed the innocent till proven guilty. For the time being Corby is an alledged drug smuggler.
>>>Care to elaborate on Australia's drug policy?
Lighter than the US when it comes to Cannabis, as decriminalisation is in most states and both territories. Not to mention there's no felon 5 to 40 years mandatory on 100 plants as there is in the US. Which is why busted Aussies at Overgrow with 100+ plants get hit with fines and behaviour bonds, where as busted yanks do the grey bar hotel and of course, if they can't afford a good brief they'll slide the full 40. Nice eh. Hey, check this link on the err, land of the free. http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm
Sure glad I ain't there.
Booooom...
>>>Wow, Australia is far superior to the US
Well, I haven't put it in terms of inferior or superior, but Australia is # 3 on the best to live in nations, where as the US ranks # 8. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0778562.html
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motaman
old hand
Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 5,813
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Seuss]
#3847192 - 02/28/05 01:40 PM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Let us all try to stay focused and on topic, please
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http://heffter.org
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MOTH
Wild Woman
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 22,962
Loc: In the jungle
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: motaman]
#3847632 - 02/28/05 03:09 PM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
motaman said:
Quote:
Let us all try to stay focused and on topic, please
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faslimy
Dead Man
Registered: 04/03/04
Posts: 3,435
Last seen: 3 months, 25 days
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: MOTH]
#3848133 - 02/28/05 04:37 PM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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This makes me fucking sick. Protesters demanding her execution? It is murder plain and simple. The idiots of this world never cease to amaze me.
Starter, the Euro is not a great thing... it is a step towards a one world government and total control.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3860951 - 03/03/05 12:13 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Accused drug smuggler grasps for day in court
March 3, 2005
smh.com.au
For Schapelle Corby anything is better than being in her cell, writes Philip Cornford.
She calls it the cage, and it is. Schapelle Corby's brief glimpses of freedom are through prison bars and they are traumatic. Yet they are precious.
In the sweltering heat of the cage, she strips off her sweat-soaked shirt, beneath which she wears a sleeveless halter, also wet with perspiration, baring her shoulders and arms. To cool her neck, she pulls her damp hair into a bun.
Behind her, the eyes of 22 men glimmer in the shadow of the overcrowded cell, staring. Among them are violent criminals, on trial, as she is. Corby, 27, is the only woman, they are fascinated, and worse. They cannot look away.
She does her best to ignore them and they give her space. To avoid the media people who press against the bars, calling questions, she moves to a corner where she is out of sight. But they poke cameras through the bars. Bright flashes tear into the darkness. She is photographed, anyway.
The cage is the holding cell at Denpasar District Court, where Corby is on trial, accused of smuggling 4.1 kilograms of marijuana, an offence that carries the death penalty.
It is cooler than Krobokan prison, a vermin-infested hellhole. And the van that brought her on the 20-minute ride to court, crowded with the men. There is no room for segregation. Handcuffed hands clutch the bars of the tiny windows, a prisoner trying to catch a breeze.
Corby emerges last, handcuffed to a woman warder. Once it was to another woman prisoner, who was terrified by what followed, and when she found sanctuary in the cell, sat weeping into a ragged and filthy towel, her humiliation complete.
Corby has learnt to be stoic. She has remarkably blue eyes, which she keeps downcast. During the 25-metre walk to the holding cell the media press against her, blocking her path, cameras and microphones thrust into her face, questions shouted: a wild, uncontrolled melee.
Once Corby stumbles and the woman warder almost goes down with her. It is only the media press that stops them falling. Her sister, Mercedes, 30, who takes her food every day, is aghast: "It's disgusting. Disgusting. Disgusting."
A few minutes later, it starts all over again, when Corby is taken to the court. This has to be seen to be believed. Photographers crowd behind the three judges, poking lenses past their ears to get front-on snaps of Corby facing the court.
Each time witnesses approach the bench to examine evidence, reporters and their interpreters crowd them, poking tape recorders into their faces. Cameras flash at will. It is more like a railway station than a court.
Then Corby has to brave the melee again, on her way back to the cells. But there follows a time of rare quiet while she waits until the other prisoners are finished in court.
She can talk to her family, her lawyers. It is spacious and clean compared with the cell she shares with eight women at grim Krobokan. They are never released for exercise. They see only walls and bars.
To snatch a few moments of privacy, Corby goes to church three times a week. There, "if I need to cry, then I can without any interruptions", she told Woman's Day.
Corby has run the gauntlet five times. After two weeks of confinement in Krobokan, she cannot wait to run it again when her lawyers open her defence today.
It will be an ordeal; it will be traumatic and humiliating. But she can look out through the bars and see the sky, and to everyone, the sky symbolises freedom.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3860964 - 03/03/05 12:15 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Bakir insists Corby could die in jail
Mar 3 2005
ninemsn.com.au
Accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby was being railroaded through court without a fair trial while the Australian government did nothing to stop it, a Gold Coast businessman said.
Ron Bakir, who heads mobile phone empire Crazy Ron's, said Corby was an innocent woman who would die in a Bali jail if the current miscarriage of justice was allowed to continue.
Corby denies allegations she smuggled 4.1 kg of cannabis leaf and heads into Bali's Denpasar Airport in her boogie board bag last October.
Mr Bakir, who arrived back from visiting Corby in a Bali jail, had flown to the Indonesian island with criminal lawyer Robin Tampoe on a mercy mission to protect the 27-year-old's rights.
"There's a girl on death row here, she might be killed - I don't think they (the government) understand the importance of it," Mr Bakir said.
He said he believed Corby was innocent and he urged the Australian public to reserve their judgment until they heard all the facts.
"You need to see the facts, you need to hear the evidence, because once you do you will never believe this girl is guilty," said Mr Bakir, who is helping to fund Corby's defence.
He said although Corby's case hinged on determining the origin of the cannabis found in her boogie board bag, the Australian government had failed to order a DNA test on the drugs.
A spokesman for foreign minister Alexander Downer denied the accusations, saying the Australian Federal Police had offered assistance to the Indonesian police with testing but the offer had been declined.
The spokesman said the matter was before the Indonesian court and needed to be dealt with by the defence under the legal processes in Indonesia.
"We are providing intense consular assistance in this case as we do to all manner of Australians who get in trouble overseas," he said.
Mr Bakir said Corby was holding up well and was trying to remain positive.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3861940 - 03/03/05 09:50 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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* Trial Update *
Corby's bag had no drugs: witness
March 4, 2005
thecouriermail.news.com.au
A GIRLFRIEND of Schapelle Corby says she saw inside the accused drug smuggler's body board bag shortly before Corby and her friends left on their ill-fated holiday to Bali – and there were no drugs in the bag at that time.
Alyth McComb, who travelled to Bali with Corby, was testifying yesterday for the defence at Corby's drug-smuggling trial.
McComb also told the court that in the four years she and Corby had been friends she had never known Corby to use drugs.
"If anything, she is against drugs," 25-year-old McComb told the judges, saying that she had also never known her friend to sell drugs.
On day one of the defence case, the court heard for the first time of the events leading up to Corby and her group leaving Brisbane, bound for Bali.
Corby faces the maximum death penalty if convicted of importing 4.1kg of marijuana.
McComb, a bar attendant, said that on the morning before they left for Bali she had returned a pair of flippers to Corby at her mother's home.
Demonstrating for the court using the body board bag and drugs placed on the judges' bench, she showed how Corby had opened her body board bag to slip in the flippers and at this time "we (the group) could all see clearly inside the bag".
Asked by defence lawyers if at this time she saw the plastic bag, McComb said: "No."
Question: "Are you sure?" Answer: "I am positive."
Question: "How are you sure?" Answer: "Because I think I would have seen it if it was there."
The judges hearing the case later refused defence requests to issue a subpoena compelling three Australian witnesses to testify.
Corby's lawyers late yesterday asked the court to subpoena the witnesses – from Brisbane airport authority, a representative from the baggage handlers union in Sydney and a Melbourne body language expert – to ensure their appearance.
But Judge Linton Sirait, chief of the three-judge panel, refused, saying the Denpasar District Court had no authority to investigate incidents outside of Indonesian territorial law.
The judge's pronouncement caused Corby to become visibly upset.
In the end the judge agreed that if the witnesses attended on the next occasion he would hear their testimony but would not summons them.
After court Vasu Rasiah, an adviser to Corby's legal team which has long sought information and assistance from Australian authorities in the case, said it was expected the Brisbane airport authority would not turn up without a summons but the other two would.
Mr Rasiah said one was an official from the baggage handlers union, to testify about a lack of security in Sydney and the other was body language expert and psychologist who has viewed footage of Corby and believes she is exhibiting the signs of innocence.
The trial was adjourned until March 17.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3867423 - 03/04/05 10:21 AM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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Indonesians refuse test on Corby drugs
March 5, 2005
The Advertiser
THE Federal Government expressed concern yesterday at the Indonesian trial of alleged Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby.
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said the Indonesians refused requests by the Australian Federal Police to test the cannabis Ms Corby allegedly tried to smuggle.
The AFP wanted to test the drug to ascertain its source because Ms Corby claims it was not in her luggage when she left Australia last October and must have been planted there.
"The defence lawyers wanted it done, we asked, and yes, it's true the Indonesian police didn't agree to hand over any of the cannabis for testing," Mr Downer said.
Mr Downer said the Indonesians said they "were perfectly capable of doing that sort of testing themselves".
Ms Corby was arrested at Denpasar Airport with 4.1kg of high-quality cannabis in her boogie board bag and now faces the death penalty if convicted.
Mr Downer said yesterday he was "not an expert on this topic" but it would be unusual for someone to smuggle cannabis into Bali, where it was relatively cheap and plentiful.
"Why would they do that?" Mr Downer asked.
He said Australia was helping Ms Corby with lawyers and other support but could not interfere in the court process.
He said Indonesia was run differently today compared to the reign of former President Suharto. "You could go to President Suharto or his ministers and you could say `mate, could you do us a bit of a deal with the courts', and the ministers or President Suharto would pick up the phone and instruct the judge," he said.
"You can't do that anymore.
"(But) we are concerned about this case and we are following it very closely."
He said it would not be proper to use Australia's generous tsunami aid to the victims in Aceh province as leverage.
"We wouldn't want to suggest that their suffering should be increased or the relief should be reduced because of something else that is unrelated to them occurring," he said.
Prime Minister John Howard said he also remained concerned about certain aspects of the case.
"I choose my words very carefully because I have to respect the legal system of another country," he said.
Mr Howard said he felt for Ms Corby and that the strain, physical stress and mental trauma would be "immense".
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3885577 - 03/07/05 11:41 PM (6 years, 11 months ago) |
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* One more story til the trial resumes March 17 *
Bag handler theory over Corby case
March 7, 2005
theage.com.au
Baggage handlers could have put marijuana into the luggage of an Australian woman on trial for importing marijuana into Indonesia, it has been suggested.
Callers to ABC youth network Triple J's Hack program, who included drug traffickers, drug users and baggage handlers, said they believed Gold Coast woman Schapelle Corby, 27, was innocent.
One person who emailed the show initially raised the theory, which then received a flood of talkback calls backing up the suggestion.
Several people who worked as baggage handlers told the program that trafficking drugs between states was widespread among their colleagues.
They said it was likely that the intended recipient of the drugs in Australia had been unable to remove them from Corby's boogie board bag before the luggage went on to Indonesia.
Corby denies smuggling 4.1 kg of cannabis into Bali's Denpasar Airport in her unlocked boogie board bag in October last year.
She had flown from Brisbane to Sydney before boarding a connecting flight to Indonesia. When she arrived at Sydney, her bags were taken to the international airport, to join Australian Airlines flight AO7829 to Bali.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has expressed concern at the way her case has been handled and has pledged to provide her with consular assistance.
A man who claimed to be a drug trafficker told Hack that "no-one in their right mind would import drugs from Australia to Indonesia.
"Why? Because there's no incentive. Why would you pay $10,000 for something in Australia and then try and sell it in Indonesia for a couple of hundred bucks.
"You would have to be an A-grade moron to think it's a good idea."
A man who said he had worked as a baggage handler said he knew of colleagues who would write on the back of passengers' bags and put marijuana in there to ship between states.
"It doesn't actually go through to any of the custom areas," the caller said.
"It's put on board by a particular baggage handler and then obviously coordinated for a shift worker who is on when that plane arrives . . . and then taken off.
"They can do a pre-alert at the receiving port and have that particular person actually aware of the particular location of the bag, of what is on the plane.
"It ships basially in the areas where it isn't as accesible, hence the value being higher. The incentives are there, sent it to the parts where it isn't acessible and you can demand a higher price for it."
Several inconsistencies have been raised during the Corby case, with claims Indonesian police had either lost or bungled key evidence.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3924238 - 03/16/05 12:53 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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* Schapelle Corby's hearing was due to resume March 17, but an Indonesian court has given her lawyers an extra week to gather more information. *
New evidence to clear Corby
March 16, 2005
smh.com.au
Lawyers acting on behalf of accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby said today they had evidence to clear her of the charges.
The Gold Coast beauty therapy student is fighting allegations she smuggled 4.1 kilograms of cannabis into Bali's Denpasar Airport in her boogie board bag last October.
Corby, 27, faces the death penalty if found guilty of the charges.
Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir, who heads mobile phone empire Crazy Ron's and has come to the aid of Corby, said he had sent a sworn statement from an unnamed source which clears her of all charges.
The statement was sent to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer today, he said.
Mr Bakir and criminal lawyer Robin Tampoe flew to Bali last month to meet Corby after complaining the Federal Government had not done enough to help the young Australian woman.
Speaking on behalf of Corby's legal team, Mr Bakir said he had obtained a statement that cleared her of all charges.
"We have got a statement from a gentleman who has told us that Schapelle is not involved in this transaction whatsoever, and that Schapelle is a victim of Australian drug trafficking, and that Schapelle Corby doesn't know anything about this," Mr Bakir said.
"He has told us who the people responsible for this are, where they are, how they came into this, where the drugs were going to, how the drugs had got into her bag, they have named all these people."
Mr Bakir said over the past two or three months, the source and associates had been trying to make contact with the AFP, to no avail, and had telephone recordings to prove their attempts.
"The Federal Police have done nothing about it for the last three months," he said.
Mr Bakir said he had still not received any response from the AFP, despite sending the statement to them early today.
Mr Downer's office had, however, been in constant contact over the matter.
"The problem is I don't think the AFP think this is an important matter because they have done nothing about it," Mr Bakir said.
"This girl has got five days before she goes to trial and will be executed [if found guilty]. This information is crucial to her case."
Mr Bakir declined to provide further details of the statement, including the number of people alleged to have been involved in the planting of the drugs, but said they had all been named in the statement.
Mr Bakir said Corby was not yet aware of today's developments, although one of her family members had been informed.
The statement will be lodged in the Bali court on March 24, when Corby's case is due to be heard again after an adjournment was requested from tomorrow's scheduled hearing.
Mr Bakir and Corby's Indonesian lawyer - who arrived in Australia today ahead of the developments - will return to Bali next Tuesday.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3928882 - 03/17/05 12:31 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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AFP chief crushes Corby hopes
March 17, 2005
news.com.au
AUSTRALIAN Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty has described fresh evidence, which lawyers claim may clear Schapelle Corby of drug smuggling charges in Bali, as "hearsay" with no direct link to her case.
Evidence emerged yesterday that the 27-year-old Gold Coast beauty therapy student was unknowingly used as a courier by organised interstate drug smugglers, after a man came forward and signed an affidavit naming three baggage handlers as those who had planted the drugs.
Ms Corby faces the death penalty under Indonesian law after authorities found 4.1kg of cannabis in her boogieboard bag at Bali's Denpasar Airport last October.
Today, Ms Corby clutched her sister's hand and said "Oh my God" when told of the evidence.
She was told only this morning about a crucial affidavit, obtained by her Australian lawyers and unveiled yesterday, implicating others in her case.
She learned of the statement as she waited in a holding cell at the Denpasar District Court ahead of her next trial appearance.
Ms Corby looked delighted but said little as her sister Mercedes reached through the bars and, amid tears, broke the news.
Her lawyers revealed yesterday that an unidentified man had come forward and signed a statement naming three baggage handlers whom he said had planted the drugs in Ms Corby's unlocked boogieboard bag.
Chief lawyer Lely Sri Rahaya Lubis said the baggage handlers had since been jailed in Australia, while the man who made the statement was also in prison.
She said she would request a one-week adjournment today and would present the affidavit to the court's three judges next week.
"I told her that the people who put the marijuana in her bag are already arrested in Australia (for other crimes)," Ms Lely said.
"Now the police are still doing their investigations to bring the necessary things to help her get out of jail.
"She is happy with that and hopes it will come through."
But Ms Lely admitted it would be difficult to transport the man to Bali to testify, as he was a prisoner in Australia.
"That now depends on the Australian authorities," she said.
Mr Keelty said the AFP was interviewing the man, whom he said was a prisoner, but his statement had contained no direct evidence to Ms Corby's case.
"It does mention Ms Corby, but only in the sense that the prisoner made the conclusion that it was connected to the Corby case and overheard other prisoners talking about the Corby case," Mr Keelty said.
"It's at best hearsay evidence."
Mr Keelty also hit out at the decision by supporters of Ms Corby to publicise what he said were "spurious allegations", saying the decision could be counter productive.
The less said, the better, he said, adding: "To actually parade all these spurious allegations ... in the Australian media can be doing Schapelle Corby no good whatsoever."
Lawyers for Ms Corby have claimed the drugs were planted on the student as a part of a smuggling operation between Brisbane and Sydney airports.
The union representing airport baggage handlers, the Transport Workers Union, has called for an urgent investigation into the claims.
Mr Keelty said it was highly unusual that drugs which were meant to be transported interstate would end up overseas.
But Corby supporters, Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir, who is financing her legal team, and Indonesian lawyer Vasu Rasiah rejected Mr Keelty's comments.
Mr Bakir said the Australian Government had a duty to investigate the claims.
"Mr Keelty can say say whatever he likes, the fact of the matter is there is a girl in jail who could be executed," he said at a news conference in Brisbane.
"They need to take this matter very, very seriously. At this stage, the Australian Government has done nothing to ensure her safety.
"It is important for the Australian Government and the AFP to investigate this matter."
Mr Rasiah said the AFP had ignored repeated requests to investigate aspects of the case that occurred inside Australia, despite the Bali court bending over backwards to allow such evidence to be heard.
"The judges ... have gone an extra mile to open doors so that they can release the girl, but Australia has gone 10 miles behind to avoid doing that," Mr Rasiah said.
"I can't understand that."
Mr Rasiah further appealed for Australians to put pressure on Prime Minister John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to act on the matter.
Mr Keelty said it was not the role of the AFP to provide support to lawyers defending jailed Australians across the world.
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True_Blue
Stranger
Registered: 03/17/05
Posts: 1
Last seen: 6 years, 10 months
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3933027 - 03/17/05 08:48 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Now isn't that bloody marvellous. Information is brought forward that has the potential at the very least to introduce some doubt about Corby's guilt and our AFP Commissioner can't wait to get up there and start publicly disparaging the information. What an unprofessional jerk. Probably gets his rocks off imagining himself on the firing squad. Asshole!
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3939593 - 03/19/05 10:10 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Schapelle could not have done it
DARYL PASSMORE
March 20, 2005
Sunday Mail
A BRISBANE airport security senior source says accused drug-runner Schapelle Corby could not possibly have smuggled 4.1kg of marijuana through the airport.
The well-placed source said there was no way Corby's bag could have passed through an array of checks without the drugs being detected.
"The chances of that happening are zero. I would bet my life on it," the source said.
"It would be laughable if it wasn't so tragic."
The source said it turned his stomach that an innocent woman could face a firing squad.
"I don't want to think about it. I just hope she bloody well doesn't - she's not guilty."
Corby, 27, a Gold Coast beauty therapy student, is on trial in Bali, facing the threat of the death sentence, after Indonesian authorities found 4.1kg of marijuana in her bodyboard bag when she arrived at Denpasar in Bali.
"It just doesn't add up," the security source said. "It would have had to get past sniffer dogs, X-ray machines and electronic screening.
"We pay special attention to oversized or unusual baggage. The package of drugs would have been bulky in the boogie board bag . . . someone would have taken a good look.
"Somebody else has put them in after it's left Brisbane."
Airline officials have also labelled "ridiculous" the suggestion that such an amateurish smuggling attempt could have beaten the airport security systems at both Brisbane and Sydney, where Corby transferred to an international flight on October 8 last year.
An airline executive, who did not want to be named, went further: "It's very, very strange," he said.
Since September 11 and the Bali bombing, security checks had been heightened specifically on flights to the United States and Indonesia.
Denpasar airport Customs officers found the drugs in a plastic bag just inside the bodyboard bag, which had no lock on the zipper.
The Brisbane airport source said it was unbelievable that anyone would be so cavalier in a drug-smuggling bid at a time when security arrangements at airports have never been tighter.
Another mystery is why Corby, who had travelled to Bali several times before to visit her sister Mercedes, who lives there, would risk the death penalty - spelt out in graphic billboards around airports - to take marijuana into Indonesia.
This was the first seizure of incoming marijuana by Bali Customs officers - hardly surprising when it would be worth just a fraction of the $65,000 street value in Australia.
Corby's defence team believes she may have been used as a "mule" by someone working at Brisbane airport, who slipped the drugs into her bag once it cleared security checks, to be collected by a worker at Sydney airport.
They have a statement from a prisoner claiming to have evidence from two fellow inmates jailed for drug offences that they used baggage handlers to move drugs between Australian airports.
According to the statement, which includes the first names of two baggage handlers, Corby was the victim of a mix-up with the drugs being put in the wrong bag at Brisbane and being missed in Sydney.
Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock yesterday told Corby's defence team he had no objection to the prisoner being taken to Bali as a defence witness but it would need the approval of the Attorney-General in the state where the inmate is being held. The Sunday Mail believes he is in Victoria but mobile phone dealer "Mad Ron" Bakir, who is funding Corby's defence, would not confirm that.
Mr Bakir said he was confident the prisoner's testimony would create enough doubt in the minds of Indonesian judges to free Corby.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3953199 - 03/22/05 10:36 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Mystery witness free to fly to Bali
March 23, 2005
news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby's legal team are confident authorities will help clear the way for a Victorian prisoner to fly to Bali this week to testify at her trial that drugs were planted in the young woman's bag.
Late yesterday, millionaire mobile phone dealer Ron Bakir, who is paying for Corby's legal defence, revealed that plans were well advanced for the man to be escorted to Indonesia by Australian police to testify tomorrow.
He said Indonesia's Ambassador to Australia had contacted the Foreign Ministry in Jakarta to get clearance for a prisoner to be allowed into the country.
Also, the defence intends to call three other witnesses in their case - a security officer from Brisbane airport, a criminologist and a detective of 13 years' experience.
Mr Bakir said Professor Paul Wilson, a criminologist from Bond University, would testify that in his opinion the 27-year-old does not fit the description nor have the attributes of a drug trafficker - the crime for which she is on trial and facing the maximum death penalty.
Corby is accused of smuggling 4.1kg of high quality marijuana into Bali in her unlocked boogie board bag - a crime which she has consistently denied. She is on trial before three judges in the Denpasar District Court.
Mr Bakir also said a security officer from Brisbane airport, where Ms Corby and her companions boarded the flight to Bali last October, would give evidence about what the defence says are poor security arrangements at the airport and that a detective would testify about the domestic drug problem within Australia.
But it is the mystery prison informant, currently on remand in a Victorian prison, where he has been housed for the past 14 months, whose potential evidence, according to the defence lawyers, gives Corby her best hope yet of beating the charges.
The man has given a sworn statement to Mr Bakir and the lawyers that he overheard a conversation between two other prisoners and that the men told how the 4.1kg of marijuana was mistakenly put in Corby's bag as part of an interstate drug trafficking scam at airports.
The man has since been interviewed by Australian Federal Police. However, Commissioner Mick Keelty, who read the man's statement, has cast doubt on the man's evidence and credibility, describing it as hearsay upon hearsay and questioned whether the overheard jail conversation even related to the Corby case.
Mr Keelty angrily denied claims the man had been trying to contact the AFP for two months to pass on the information, without success.
Days of diplomatic talks and meetings between the lawyers and Australian Government ministers and officials have preceded the decision to allow the man to come to Indonesia.
After the witnesses give their evidence, Corby will be the last witness in her case, either tomorrow or the following week.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3958520 - 03/23/05 08:40 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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'I didn't plant dope on Corby'
March 24, 2005
news.com.au
A MELBOURNE man has denied he planted marijuana in a surfboard bag that landed Schapelle Corby in a Bali jail fighting for her life.
The man, who wanted to be known only as John, was interviewed by Australian Federal Police agents this week after they received information from Ms Corby's lawyers.
John claimed AFP officers told him: "Without your help she's gone."
They are believed to have been acting on an affadavit supplied by a Victorian prisoner who has contacted Ms Corby's legal team purporting to have information that could save her.
But John, a former prisoner, told police he was not involved. "I told the AFP I had nothing to do with the drugs that the girl in Bali was arrested with," he said.
"I would love to be in a position to be able to get the girl in Bali out of prison."
The Howard Government last night said it would help clear the way for John to be flown to Bali to give evidence at the trial today. But it could act only on request from the Indonesian Government.
Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir said time was running out for the Gold Coast beauty therapy student.
"We need the prisoner here tomorrow," he said.
In Canberra, a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said the Government was doing everything it could to help Ms Corby. "Because the witness is a prisoner in Victoria this requires a request by Indonesia to Australia under a bilateral agreement on mutual assistance in criminal matters," he said.
"The government stands ready to agree to a request and we are doing all we can to work with the Indonesian Government to facilitate this."
A spokeswoman for Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said no request had been received from Indonesia.
"If a request was received . . . the Attorney-General has indicated that we would work expeditiously to act upon it," she said.
Earlier, John told the Herald Sun that AFP agents believed he financed a smuggling operation between Brisbane and Sydney airports or had handled the drugs at some point. "They said information had been received that I was the man," he said.
"They said it came from three different sources. They were telling me that her life was in my hands. I'm supposed to be the financier.
"I didn't even have the money to take the bus home after they interviewed me. I had to borrow it."
John, a convicted burglar, said he had never been involved in drug trafficking, no had he ever met Ms Corby.
"The sad part is you see on the news she's all happy that this information has come out but there's nothing there," he said. "For them to come to me with all these allegations, there's obviously nothing there."
John, 38, said he was at a friend's house in Reservoir on Tuesday when they noticed they were being watched.
He had received a phone call from an agent requesting an interview and later spent four hours at AFP headquarters in the city.
John, who has spent eight years in Queensland and Victorian jails, believes the prisoner might be spreading the rumour in return for special treatment on the inside. "Criminals will give information for anything to get themselves out of trouble," he said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3959937 - 03/23/05 01:01 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby lawyers fail to present 'key' witness
March 24, 2005
abc.net.au
Lawyers defending Australian woman Schapelle Corby on drug trafficking charges in Bali say they may ask for more time to present their case, after attempts to present a man they say is a key witness failed.
Last week, defence lawyers for Corby told the court in Denpasar they hoped to have a man who allegedly planted drugs in her bag face the court at today's session.
But neither he, nor another man, an Australian prisoner the defence says could give crucial evidence about the crime if allowed to travel to Indonesia, have arrived in Bali.
Instead, the defence case will proceed with expert witnesses giving evidence that Corby does not fit the criminal profile of a drug trafficker and that Australian domestic drug trafficking gone wrong could have resulted in the drugs mistakenly ending up in her bag.
Last night, her lawyers said they might seek a further extension of time from the court, to continue attempts to bring the other witnesses to Bali.
Meanwhile, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says Indonesian authorities did not appear to know anything about the witness until they were informed by the Australian Government last night.
"At this point in time we have made a direct approach to the Indonesian Minister, who is not aware of the details of the matter and has agreed to examine it, and we will see further what response we receive from him," Mr Ruddock told the ABC's AM program.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3962585 - 03/23/05 10:00 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby's lawyers to seek adjournment
March 24, 2005
afr.com
Lawyers for accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby are expected to seek another adjournment on Thursday after failing to bring a crucial witness before the Bali court hearing her case.
The Gold Coast beauty therapist could face death penalty if found guilty of smuggling 4.1 kilograms of cannabis into Bali's Denpasar airport in her boogie board bag last October.
Corby's lawyers last week won an adjournment until Thursday after a Melbourne prison inmate came forward and backed her claim that she was unknowingly used as part of a drug smuggling operation between Brisbane and Sydney airports.
The witness has been unable to travel to Bali, with the Australian government saying it has not received a request for the prisoner to be allowed to testify in the case - the first necessary step in the process.
Thursday is the last day defence evidence can be presented in the trial, and her legal team fears the absence of the witness may impact on Corby's fate.
However, the defence would also present a group of other witnesses, including criminologist Paul Wilson and former policeman Bruce Griffin. Neither has met Corby.
Mr Wilson will tell the court the 27-year-old does not fit the profile of a drug courier.
Justice Minister Chris Ellison contacted his Indonesian counterpart about the issue on Wednesday night and was hopeful it would be resolved swiftly.
"Certainly the discussion was a very constructive one," Senator Ellison told Sky News on Thursday. "I can't preempt the outcome of any application for adjournment, what I can say is that we indicated the level of concern that is held in relation to this matter in Australia.
"The Indonesian government has undertaken to look at this matter very closely to give it careful consideration and of course those are, no doubt, aspects that the defence can put to the court for an adjournment today."
Prime Minister John Howard said the federal government was doing all it could to enable relevant evidence to be presented in Corby's case.
"Discussions are going on about effectively a formal request coming from the Indonesia government for the prisoner in Victoria to be taken to give evidence," he told radio 3AW. "It's up to the Indonesian government under the relevant treaty to make that request."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3963191 - 03/24/05 12:10 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Expert says Corby innocent
March 24, 2005
news.com.au
AN Indonesian court burst into applause today after an Australian criminologist said he had no doubt Gold Coast woman Schapelle Corby was an unwitting drug mule.
As Ms Corby prepared to take the witness stand this afternoon, Bond University professor and criminologist Paul Wilson – who has studied similar cases in Thailand – said she did not fit the profile of a typical drug trafficker.
"Is this the face of a drug criminal?" the judge asked Professor Wilson, instructing Ms Corby to stand up.
Professor Wilson responded: "Your honour, I can not look at her face alone.
"I can listen to her talk to my questions, which I have done. I can look at her face and I can speak to people who know her well.
"Using all of that information, I can honestly say that she did not know there were drugs in her bag."
The packed gallery at the Denpasar District Court immediately burst into applause.
Ms Corby, 27, may face the death penalty if she is found guilty of smuggling 4.1kg of cannabis into Bali's Denpasar airport in her boogieboard bag last October.
Her legal team is seeking to have a Victorian prisoner flown to Bali to testify about a statement he gave that may clear Ms Corby of the drug charges.
They will seek an adjournment later this afternoon.
Earlier, a senior Qantas baggage handler from Brisbane airport testified that it was highly possible that anyone from engineers to catering staff could have gained access to Ms Corby's luggage as it waited to be loaded onto the plane.
"It's possible for someone to put something in," Scott Stephens said as Ms Corby quietly wiped away tears.
If the pillowcase-sized bag of cannabis been in Ms Corby's boogieboard bag when she checked it in, baggage handlers would have noticed the extra weight and should have investigated further.
Australia's consul in Bali, Brent Hall, said he had written to Indonesian authorities in support of Ms Corby's bid for an adjournment.
If the Melbourne prisoner was unable to attend in person, authorities could also consider arranging a video conference to allow him to testify, Mr Hall said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3963293 - 03/24/05 12:40 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby takes stand in Bali trial, states innocence
March 24, 2005
abc.net.au
THE court hearing drug charges against Schapelle Corby has given her defence team until April 7 to fly a Victorian prisoner to Bali to give testimony the Queenslander hopes will clear her name.
Taking the witness stand today, she told the Denpasar District Court in Bali that she had no idea of the origin of the marijuana found inside her luggage.
"Because everyone else in other counters were having their luggage searched, and I thought it was no big deal because of the height of the terrorist attacks, that I'll open my bag," she said.
"I opened it and had a surprise and I closed it again.
"I informed the Customs officer that it was my bag but the Customs officer ordered my brother to carry it to a small room when he knew that it was mine."
"I don't like drugs," she said, pleading with judges to make the "right decision" and let her go home.
"It's not my drugs. I wouldn't even know where to get the drugs from." Ms Corby said she had hated drugs even before her arrest last year,and she had never been involved with illegal drugs.
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Kalix
'Head
Registered: 03/20/05
Posts: 1,504
Last seen: 6 years, 2 months
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3966092 - 03/24/05 05:17 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Man... I am praying for that poor Aussie chick 
--------------------
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: The Shotgun of Sweet Reason
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3967935 - 03/25/05 07:51 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Aussie jailbird flies in for Corby
March 26, 2005
news.com.au
A VICTORIAN prisoner whose evidence may be crucial to Schapelle Corby's defence will be flown under tight security to Bali to testify at the alleged drug smuggler's trial on Tuesday.
Justice Minister Chris Ellison said yesterday the federal Government would transport prisoner John Ford to Bali following a formal request from the Indonesian Government late on Thursday night.
The Australian Government would cover all the costs of transporting Ford.
Senator Ellison also said he would visit Indonesia in two weeks to negotiate an international prisoner transfer program, which would apply to Corby should she be found guilty.
"When these treaties are signed they apply to all those prisoners who are in custody at that time, no matter when they were imprisoned and all future prisoners."
Senator Ellison said Ford, who has been on remand in Melbourne's Port Phillip Prison for 13 months, would travel on a commercial flight in the custody of Victorian and federal police.
"I can confirm that last night we received an official request from the Indonesian Government under the mutual assistance treaty, a request that a Victorian prisoner be transported from Victoria to the Bali court to give evidence," he said in Perth.
"We'll treat it as matter of utmost urgency and even as we speak arrangements are being put in place for this prisoner's travel to Indonesia."
Ms Corby, 27, a Gold Coast beauty therapist, could face the death penalty if found guilty of smuggling 4.1kg of cannabis into Bali's Denpasar airport in her boogie board bag last October. Her legal team says Ford has made a statement explaining how Ms Corby carried the drugs into Indonesia without her knowledge.
Ford is alleged to have claimed that Ms Corby was an unknowing pawn in an operation to smuggle drugs between Brisbane and Sydney airports.
Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hulls said the Victorian Government would do what it could to assist Ms Corby.
"The federal Government has taken steps to ensure all the appropriate evidence can be presented in this particular trial and the Victorian Government will do what it can to support any moves by the federal Government to enable that evidence to be given in court," Mr Hulls said yesterday. Senator Ellison said he could not disclose why Ford was in custody or exactly when he would travel.
"It is open to use commercial flights in this case," he said. "We use them normally in relation to instances of this kind, and I think we can put in place appropriate security arrangements which will meet the requirements of the Victorian authorities and the Indonesian authorities."
He would not discuss flight details because of security reasons but said that Ford would be escorted by Victorian police with Australian Federal Police officers at either end.
"I would envisage that visit being a short one, and the turnaround to be a short period of time. Obviously once that evidence is given by that person we want him back in custody in Australia as soon as possible."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3972102 - 03/26/05 09:58 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Prisoner risks life to save Corby
March 27, 2005
news.com.au
A VICTORIAN prisoner is risking his life to save accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby, his former wife revealed yesterday.
John Patrick Ford is now a target of some of Australia's toughest prisoners after informing on his fellow inmates.
Mr Ford, 40, has claimed he overheard prisoners saying Ms Corby, 27, who was arrested in Bali, was an unwitting victim of a bungled drug smuggling operation between the Brisbane and Sydney airports.
His former wife, Rita, said: "He's putting his life on the line, the lives of his child and his ex-wife on the line, for a girl in Bali he does not know."
Justice Minister Senator Chris Ellison has approved a request from the Indonesian Government for Mr Ford to give evidence at Ms Corby's trial.
It is understood Mr Ford will be escorted by Victoria Police officers on a commercial flight today. He is expected to give evidence on Tuesday.
His ex-wife said he wanted to try to save Ms Corby.
"He is not doing this (giving evidence) to gain any favours," she said. "He's doing the right thing. I have never known him to hurt anyone. But he has been threatened that he'll be killed for revealing the drug gang's methods.
"I don't know Schapelle Corby, but if she were my daughter, I would just want her home. John is trying to get her home and save her from the executioners.
"He is doing the only thing he can, given the man he is."
Mr Ford has spent 13 months in Port Phillip Prison, some of it in protective custody after informing on the drug gang. He is on remand facing 18 charges, including rape, aggravated burglary, threat to kill, unlawful imprisonment and assault.
His lawyer, Paul Vale, said the charges related to a domestic incident and Mr Ford would plead not guilty at a hearing in May. Mr Ford has no prior convictions, Mr Vale said.
His former wife said she was not involved in the incident.
She said Mr Ford had never been in trouble before and had worked for the Commonwealth Government for 18 years.
"He's an honourable man," she said.
Ms Corby's Indonesian lawyer, Vasu Rasiah, claimed Australian Federal Police agents had intimidated Mr Ford in jail.
"They paraded him in front of other prisoners to show he was a 'dog' (an informer)," Mr Rasiah said. "But even then, he stood his ground."
Mr Rasiah said representatives for Ms Corby's defence team spoke to Mr Ford after the incident, which happened during his second interview with police in early March.
"He is terrified and we wrote to the Attorney-General, saying if that anything happened to him, they (Australian authorities) were directly responsible," Mr Rasiah said. "His courage is unquestionable."
If Ms Corby is found guilty of trying to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali inside her boogie board bag last October, she could face the death penalty.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has said the Government would do whatever it could to win clemency for Ms Corby if the death penalty was imposed.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3972117 - 03/26/05 10:02 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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New evidence may backfire
March 27, 2005
smh.com.au
The Indonesian judge presiding over the Schapelle Corby case has warned that fresh evidence from an Australian prisoner could backfire on her bid for freedom.
Chief Judge Linton Sirait said he was keeping an open mind before deciding whether the 27-year-old Gold Coast former beauty student was guilty of drug trafficking in Bali.
Victorian prisoner John Ford, who claims to have evidence that would clear Corby of the charges, is expected to be flown to Bali in the next few days.
Judge Sirait told The Sun-Herald that Ford's evidence could "work in her [Corby's] favour or against her".
"If there's any relationship between the testimony and the case, then we will hear it," he said.
The Queenslander is accused of bringing 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Bali after customs officers found the narcotic stashed in her bodyboard bag on October 8 last year.
Police at the time said it was the biggest haul of marijuana ever taken by authorities on Bali.
Corby, 27, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison or the death sentence under Indonesia's tough anti-drugs laws.
On Thursday, she made a desperate plea to the panel of three judges to let her go home to Australia after her legal team failed to produce Ford.
But at the 11th hour, Indonesia agreed to allow the Australian inmate into the country to testify, the Australian Government announced on Friday.
An official request from Jakarta came to Canberra late on Thursday to hear the evidence that will come from Ford.
The request gave officers the go-ahead to escort Ford to the Balinese capital of Denpasar.
Corby's legal team hopes that Ford's evidence will convince the court that she was a victim of drug trafficking, reportedly based on information from two other prisoners.
"We hope that he tells the court that he knows who owned the marijuana. I hope that John will tell the court that the marijuana belongs to a drug gang," Corby's lawyer, Lily Lubis, told The Sun-Herald.
The quality of Ford's expected evidence remained under a cloud.
A spokesman for Justice Minister Chris Ellison said the Government was not aware of any deals made with the prisoner. "Not between Ford and the Commonwealth and there's no agreement that we are aware of," he said.
But officials close to the case have been sceptical. Australian Federal Police chief Mick Keelty has described it as "hearsay on hearsay" and earlier last week, the Indonesian Government issued a strongly worded statement through its embassy in Canberra.
It said Jakarta would not respond to calls to intervene in the case.
"Trial by the press and insisting on hearsay evidence will only weaken Ms Corby's case," the embassy said.
Another lawyer familiar with criminal justice in Bali cast doubt on the likelihood of the evidence being accepted.
Bali bombing defence lawyer Adnan Wirawan said it appeared as though the testimony would be weak. Under Indonesia's legal system, hearsay evidence was often rejected by courts, he told The Sun-Herald.
"It has to be supported by other strong evidence," Mr Wirawan said.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for Mr Ellison said Ford would be in custody for the entire journey and would appear in court on either Tuesday or Thursday.
"We are making arrangements so that he can be available there for Tuesday."
Ford's expected arrival in Bali comes as the panel of three judges was preparing to hear sentencing proposals from the prosecution and a response from Corby's defence team.
A verdict has been expected in mid-May.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3975008 - 03/27/05 12:36 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby prisoner arrives in Bali
March 27, 2005
theadvertiser.news.com.au
A VICTORIAN prisoner who will give testimony at the trial of accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has arrived in Bali.
John Patrick Ford, a remand prisoner, was escorted by Corrections Victoria staff on the flight, which arrived between 4 and 5pm AEST, a Corrections Victoria spokeswoman said today.
He was being taken to the Denpasar lockup, she said.
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xmercury
Stranger
Registered: 04/22/04
Posts: 164
Last seen: 1 year, 6 months
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3978443 - 03/27/05 10:31 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
Corby, 27, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison or the death sentence under Indonesia's tough anti-drugs laws.
I think this may be a typo, but if not WTF. That is a pretty big leap either 20 years max or death.
Lets hope they allow the evidence.
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-merc
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: xmercury]
#3978882 - 03/27/05 11:53 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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No typo. It depends on which crime she may be convicted of. She could get up to 20 years for importing and possessing an illegal drug. She could get the death sentence for drug trafficking. Lets hope they allow the evidence, for sure.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3979020 - 03/28/05 12:32 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby team fear drug gang hit on star witness
March 28, 2005
smh.com.au
An Australian prisoner will tomorrow become accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby's best chance of escaping a death sentence when he takes the stand in a Bali court.
Corby's legal team will ignore court warnings that the appearance of Victorian remand inmate John Ford could backfire.
They will ask him to testify that Corby was an unwitting courier used by a ring of Australian drug traffickers.
In order to avoid possible reprisals including a gangland hit on their star witness, Corby's lawyers said they would also seek a court order for Ford's evidence to be heard in secret.
Ford was flown into Bali yesterday amid tight security and fears he could risk his life by recounting what Australian police have said is at best "hearsay" evidence Corby is innocent.
He signed a statement for her lawyers and later told Australian Federal Police that he overheard a conversation among other prisoners in jail that the 27-year-old Gold Coast beauty student was the victim of a domestic drug smuggling operation gone wrong.
That suspicion was later confirmed in a second conversation he took part in, he said.
Ford told Corby's lawyers he could not live with himself if he failed to testify in the case.
Corby was arrested last October after Indonesian customs and police found 4.1 kilograms of marijuana in her unlocked boogie board bag as she passed through Denpasar airport.
She has maintained her innocence and said the pillow case-sized stash must have been placed there during the domestic transit leg of her trip between Brisbane and Sydney.
Granting an adjournment last week to give Corby's legal team more time, judges at the Denpasar District Court warned Ford's evidence could backfire on Corby.
But her main financial backer, Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir said Ford could be Corby's last chance to beat a possible firing squad.
"We've got to take every opportunity and use it and explore every possible door and he's a key witness right now and you know he could be the possible lifeline of Schapelle Corby," he said.
Corby's lawyer Lely Sri Rahaya Lubis today failed to secure a meeting with Ford and would try again tomorrow before the trial.
She would file an application requesting the court be closed to media personnel because of fears for Ford's life, she said.
"The problem is our witness is a prisoner and it's a big risk for him to come here," she said.
"We don't want totally closed doors, but we have to be concerned for his safety."
The trial comes ahead of a visit to Australia on Wednesday by Indonesia's new president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and amid the heavy press coverage in Australia may cloud a trip billed as a fence-building exercise between Australia and Indonesia.
Keen to avoid any legal finger-pointing or blame, both countries have warned against trial by media.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock rebuked Corby's legal team for using the press to build public support for Corby in Australia, saying evidence should be left to the courtroom.
Australian Federal Police chief Mick Keelty has described Ford's evidence as hearsay on hearsay and said the Indonesian judicial process should be left to run its own course.
Ford is on remand on charges of rape, aggravated burglary, threat to kill, unlawful imprisonment and assault. His lawyer Paul Vale said Ford was pleading not guilty and would contest all the charges in his May trial.
Bakir said Ford told lawyers he could never live with himself if he did not give evidence on Corby's behalf.
"(Ford) said to us very clearly that he knows, by giving this evidence, he might be killed or he might die," Bakir told ABC radio.
"He said that he could never live with himself if he does not come forward. His conscience would not allow it."
Bakir said Ford had taken a big step coming forward when he knew the risk of reprisals.
"He's courageous. I've got to give him that much," he said.
"Not many people in his situation would come forward and testify in relation to a known drug trafficker."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3979787 - 03/28/05 09:23 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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I'll name who put drugs in Corby's bag
March 29, 2005
dailytelegraph.news.com.au
PRISONER John Patrick Ford last night said he knew who was responsible for putting drugs in Schapelle Corby's luggage.
Ford promised to name those responsible in a Bali court today – a statement which her lawyers say is Corby's best chance of freedom.
"Stay strong, I can understand what you are going through. I will be there for you," he said.
Ford declared he was ready to take the stand and testify today to every allegation he has made.
Corby's legal team and backers visited Ford for about 15 minutes in his sparse police jail cell yesterday at Denpasar police headquarters.
Ron Bakir, who is bankrolling Corby's defence, said Ford was scared about what fate could befall him.
In a statement through Mr Bakir, Ford said: 'I am staking my life on it. I know she is innocent because I know who did it and if anything happens to her, if she gets one day in jail longer, that's a crime."
Ford told the legal team: "Everything I said in that statement is 110 per cent true and no one can tell me to say anything differently because that's the truth."
Mr Bakir said Ford told him he had come to Bali to testify "because it is the right thing to do and my conscience will never be clear".
He said Ford was fearful of the consequences of his actions given that he today intends to name names.
"He is scared. You could see it in his face. He is scared to go back to Australia because he knows what he has done," Mr Bakir said.
The lawyers will today ask for Ford's evidence to be heard in a closed court, fearing that his life will be in grave danger if his evidence is aired publicly in Australia.
But prosecutor IB Wiswantanu told The Daily Telegraph there was "no way" the evidence would be heard behind closed doors, and he would object strongly to any application.
Judge Linton Sirait, chief of the three-judge bench, told The Daily Telegraph last night he would not agree to any applications for the court to be closed.
"If there is a request for the trial to be closed I will reject it. The trial will be open for the public," Judge Sirait said.
Having spent a day and night in a Bali jail cell, Ford told the legal team he had an appreciation of what Corby, 27, of the Gold Coast, had endured for the past five months since her arrest at Bali airport with 4.1kg of marijuana in her boogie board bag.
The maximum penalty for the offence is death.
Vasu Rasiah, a consultant to the legal team, said after meeting Ford: "His courage is unmatched."
The team had waited throughout the day to see Ford after an early morning bid for a meeting was delayed by bureaucracy.
Instead, they held meetings for several hours with the Denpasar intelligence director Antonius Sitanggang.
Finally, at 2.30pm, they were granted access to Ford, who has been kept in a cell at the police jail since his arrival in Bali on Sunday afternoon.
Mr Bakir said Corby was "heartbroken" as her case neared its end and she found herself still imprisoned at Kerobokan jail.
"She is losing hope, completely losing hope. I told her the prisoner is coming and she said, 'I will believe it when I see it,' " Mr Bakir said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3981664 - 03/28/05 06:45 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby witness arrives in court
March 29, 2005
theage.com.au
Lawyers for accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby today denied any deal had been done with an Australian prisoner who claims to have evidence she is innocent.
Victorian remand inmate John Ford arrived this morning to give testimony to a Bali court that he overheard a conversation among other prisoners in jail that Corby - a former Gold Coast beauty student - was the victim of a domestic drug smuggling operation gone wrong.
Handcuffed, he was accompanied by two Indonesian police officers and was dressed neatly in a white shirt and black trousers.
He said nothing as he was led to a holding cell at the back of the court.
Ford may be 27-year-old Corby's best chance of escaping a possible firing squad for allegedly smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali's Denpasar airport last October.
An adviser to Corby's legal team, Vasu Rasiah, said Ford would not (not) receive any special treatment during his own trial in Australia next month in return for his testimony in Bali.
Ford is facing charges of rape, aggravated burglary, threat to kill, unlawful imprisonment and assault.
"There is no deal. The only deal he gets is being bashed up when he gets home," Vasu told AAP.
He said Ford faced great danger of reprisal from the drug gang he will claim placed the cannabis in Corby's unlocked boogie board bag.
Corby's sister Mercedes said she was unsure how compelling Ford's evidence would be.
"The only reason he came over is because of political pressure," she said.
"But if he didn't have information that could really help, why would they go to all this trouble to send him over here?" she said.
Mercedes Corby said her sister was under an increasing amount of pressure as the trial progressed, with a verdict expected around mid-May.
"She is starting to lose a bit of weight and is looking drawn. She is a bit more teary."
Corby's lawyers were expected to request Ford's evidence be heard in secret when her trial resumes later this morning to minimise the risk of revenge attack.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3982016 - 03/28/05 08:01 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby arrives at court
March 29, 2005
thecouriermail.news.com.au
A TEARFUL Schapelle Corby has arrived at a Bali court for what may be the crucial day in her fight to avoid a possible death sentence for drug smuggling.
"Please help me, please help me," she told a crush of journalists as police helped her push through the surging crowd outside the Denpasar District Court. She was led from a caged police bus, aided by her sister Mercedes Corby, and was placed in the same holding cell as her key defence witness Victorian remand prisoner John Ford.
Ford is today expected to tell the court that he overheard a conversation among other prisoners in jail that Corby - a former Gold Coast beauty student - was the victim of an Australian drug smuggling operation gone wrong.
A small band of supporters carrying placards were at the court to greet an obviously emotional Corby, who was dressed in a white shirt and a black skirt.
Ford is crucial to the 27-year-old's defence against charges that she smuggled 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali's Denpasar airport last October.
Edited by veggie (03/28/05 08:25 PM)
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sacred_mushroom
♠¦Growing-Now¦♠
Registered: 03/10/05
Posts: 352
Loc: NearYurFeet ^.;.^
Last seen: 21 days, 19 hours
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3982660 - 03/28/05 09:35 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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The thought of putting somebody to death for ANY ammount of pot is inconceivable to me. Indonesia is fucked up, i'm NOT going there any time soon!
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Wild mushrooms have the power to increase ones awareness of reality, promote critical thought on the ways of mankind, and encourage people to THINK!! THINK OUT OF THE BOX!! ..These are gifts given directly to you and me from the living soils of our planet, a road map provided by the Earth which may - or may not make possible for one to break the chains from evil powers in our world that have successfully immobilized the souls of masses, given the illusion of freedom, and repressed revolution of the human spirit - The tools provided by the Earth tell us to "WAKE UP! REMOVE YOUR MIND FROM THE DELUSIONAL BOX OF CONSUMERIST PROPAGANDA BULLSHIT, LIVE FREE, DEFY AUTHORITY! AND NEVER ABANDON THE QUEST FOR ULTIMATE TRUTH!"
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3983115 - 03/28/05 10:45 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Prisoner testifies at Corby trial
March 29, 2005
theage.com.au
Two Victorian prison inmates had laughed when they told how accused drug trafficker Schapelle Corby had been an unwitting courier or "mule" used by a jailed drug kingpin, a Bali Court heard today.
Victorian remand prisoner John Patrick Ford told the Denpasar District Court how he overheard a jail cell conversation between two fellow jail inmates - named Terry and Paul - over how a shipment of marijuana had gone missing between Brisbane and Sydney.
The conversation - in which he said today he "sort of took part" - took place in mid-November last year after Corby's arrest.
The stash had belonged to another small-time drug lord and former convict named Ronny Verganza, Ford said the pair told him.
"They found it very funny that Ronny's drugs had gone missing," he told the three court judges in front of a packed gallery as Corby listened intently beside defence lawyers.
"They were very specific about the amount of drugs and they were very specific about how they were taken.
"They were quite clear about it was expected to go from Brisbane to Sydney."
Ford's testimony to a packed court may be Corby's best hope of escaping a possible firing squad for allegedly smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali's Denpasar airport last October.
The 27-year-old one-time beauty student has maintained her innocence and claims she was the unintended victim of an Australian drug smuggling gang.
Ford, a former child support agency employee before his marriage breakup and subsequent arrest, told how he met Ronny several times since his detention on changes including aggravated burglary, threat to kill, unlawful imprisonment and assault.
Dressed neatly in a shirt and tie and black slacks, he said Ronny had a "significant financial investment" in the drug stash which mistakenly ended up in Corby's bodyboard bag.
But he declined to name the airline baggage worker he believed had planted the drugs in the unlocked bag as he was "100 per cent certain" he or Corby could be killed in reprisal.
"If I mentioned his name he would kill me and he would probably kill Schapelle Corby," he said.
"Schapelle Corby is a victim of domestic drug trafficking by what I regard as petty criminal and cowards."
Pressed by judges how he could be so sure of the plot details given he had heard it second hand, Ford, 40, denied he had volunteered the information to get out of jail and "have a holiday" in Bali.
"In fact, I take great personal risk at this time of my identity being known and my face being recognised," he said.
"This is no fun. This puts me at so much risk I can't describe it."
Ford was flown to Bali by Australian prison authorities at the request of Indonesia's government after he signed a sworn statement about the conversation he had at first dismissed as ordinary prison bragging.
He said he changed his mind after hearing details of Corby's case on television.
Chief prosecution lawyer Wiswantanu said Ford's testimony had "no legal value", because it was based on hearsay.
A tearful Corby had to be escorted through the media crush as she arrived for the final day of her defence.
"Help me, please help she," she cried as her sister Mercedes and police helped drag her to a holding cell with Ford, where the pair were kept separated by court authorities.
* note: The court was adjourned until April 7 when prosecutors will submit their request for a sentence.
Edited by veggie (03/29/05 01:12 AM)
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3986093 - 03/29/05 03:13 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Melbourne man denies Corby drugs link
March 30, 2005
seven.com.au
Melbourne man Ronnie Verganza has been left shattered after a Bali court was told he was linked to a drug stash allegedly planted on Schapelle Corby.
Mr Verganza, 38, whom prisoner John Patrick Ford claimed owned the 4.1 kg of marijuana found in Corby's bodyboard bag, said he had nothing to do with any drug ring, Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper reported.
He said he was just trying to get his life back together after getting out of jail six weeks ago, the newspaper said.
When interviewed on Tuesday night, Mr Verganza's wallet contained $4.55 in change, a Medicare card, a pension card and a video store card.
"Have a look around - do I look like a drug lord?" the Herald Sun quoted him as asking.
"I don't know what I could have done to this fella (Mr Ford). He's named me as the man who financed the whole deal, and I don't even have a bank account."
Mr Verganza said he was in jail when Corby, a Queensland beauty school student, was arrested at Denpasar airport in Bali.
He said he had no involvement with Corby or anyone associated with her.
The newspaper reported that Mr Verganza recognised Mr Ford from Port Phillip Prison where he used to serve the food, but said he had never spoken to him.
Corby faces a possible death sentence if found guilty by an Indonesian court of smuggling drugs into the country. Pleading innocent, she says someone planted the drugs in her unlocked bodyboard bag.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3989456 - 03/30/05 08:09 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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"Keep believing in me"
March 31, 2005
dailytelegraph.news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby sent a heartfelt message to her fellow Australians from her Bali prison cell yesterday.
"I want the Australian public to keep believing in me because I have done nothing wrong and I want to thank the Australian public for their support because, without their support, I would be dead already," she said.
Following her most traumatic day yet in court, the 27-year-old was visited in jail yesterday by family, friends and her legal team, who are concerned for her emotional wellbeing as the case draws to a close.
Still emotional, Corby asked Gold Coast mobile phone entrepreneur Ron Bakir, who is now bankrolling her defence, to deliver the message to Australians for her.
Mr Bakir said he feared Corby was losing hope but she was buoyed by the belief Australians were behind her in her bid to be declared innocent of drug smuggling charges, which carry the death penalty.
"She says she can't handle it in here [jail] any more," Mr Bakir said after his visit.
And in what could be seen as a boost for Corby and her legal team, the Chief Judge in charge of her case revealed yesterday that some parts of prisoner John Patrick Ford's testimony would be used in considering their decision.
Judge Linton Sirait told The Daily Telegraph he could not comment publicly on the judges' current thinking about Corby's guilt or innocence but the prisoner's evidence would form part of their decision.
Ford, 40, a remand prisoner at Melbourne's Port Phillip prison, said he had heard two fellow prisoners talking about the drugs having been mistakenly planted in Corby's luggage by a drug ring.
"From his testimony there are some parts of his evidence that will be used in the judges' consideration of their decision," Judge Sirait said.
But he was not prepared to comment on exactly which parts of the evidence the judges would use in determining their verdict.
The comments are a welcome boost for Corby and the team, who had pinned their hopes on Ford's testimony being their last-ditch effort to show the court there was an another explanation for the 4.1kg of marijuana found in her boogie-board bag when she arrived at Bali airport last October.
Judge Sirait's comments were echoed by Judge Wayan Suasatrawan who said: "I cannot tell you whether we think he was credible or not but of course we will consider what he talked about."
Under law, the judges could decide that because Ford was testifying about events outside of Indonesia and outside of the jurisdiction in which the case is heard, his evidence was inadmissible or irrelevant to Corby's trial and thus discard it.
Corby's mother Rosleigh said yesterday after visiting her daughter that Schapelle and the entire family were grateful Ford had come to Bali despite the risks.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#3989472 - 03/30/05 08:15 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Schapelle Corby awaits sentence
March 30, 2005
abc.net.au
Her defence team has rested its case, and now Schapelle Corby waits in a Bali prison to hear what her sentence might be if she's found guilty of drug smuggling.
It's not yet known whether Ms Corby's defence team has persuaded the Indonesian judges that she's simply a victim of a domestic Australian drug smuggling ring.
Professor Paul Wilson, the head of Criminology at Queensland's Bond University, has just returned from Bali where he testified in the case, and he's speaking here to ABC radio's Brisbane 612 presenter, Steve Austin.
PAUL WILSON: Basically I compared her characteristics, personal characteristics, background characteristics, with those of drug couriers. And I also analysed the crime as I saw it. I came to the conclusion, based on many, many facts, that she had no intent to put drugs in the bag, she had no knowledge of it, and that she was innocent. And I said that.
It was a fairly bizarre setting to be saying these things, in an Indonesian court with the media running around, a cameraman and woman rushing behind the judges, sound recorders sticking mikes in front of you all the time, but the experience was highly emotional, not only actually giving evidence, but also just being there and being involved in the case.
STEVE AUSTIN: It's getting the atmosphere of being a show trial, almost, at the moment, isn't it, in Indonesia?
PAUL WILSON: Well, yes, they have lots of show trials in Indonesia, partly because their system is very different from ours. It's essentially an inquisitorial system. And the judges control proceedings and ask most of the questions, and they can at times ask questions in a fairly direct way.
One experience that sticks in my mind was when one of the judges said to me: well, you're a criminologist, you should be able to read faces and know whether Schapelle Corby is innocent or not.
And then he asked Schapelle Corby to stand up and for me to stand up and for me to look in her eyes and say whether I thought she was innocent or not. And I said to the judge, and to the court, I said well, I cannot just come to a conclusion based on looking at her eyes.
But I have interviewed her, I have analysed her case in some detail, and I have looked at the records regarding her prior behaviour before her arrest and during her arrest, and I'd come to the conclusion that she had no intent.
And I was put on the spot a bit, because you're not asked those sort of very direct questions in courts in Australia, at which stage the crowd in the court clapped me. I was taken aback by this. I didn't really think clapping was appropriate in courts, but it happened.
But this question came right out of the blue, and that's how proceedings happen in Indonesian courts. The judges can ask anything they want to, anything at all they want to.
One point I will make, though, is that the leading Indonesian barrister in the case, who's done something like 350 drug trials in Indonesia, and mainly in Bali but not entirely in Bali, told me that he's only had three or four acquittals.
And what that means is that under Indonesian law, you virtually have to reverse the onus of proof, and you have to prove that there is another scenario, another way that the drugs could have gotten in the bag. It's not really for the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt. The onus is on you the defence to…
STEVE AUSTIN: Prove innocence?
PAUL WILSON: to prove innocence, and to give another way in which the drugs could have got in the bag. So I think that's the reason why Robin Tampoe and Ron Bakir and the Indonesian team have brought this informer over, despite the risks of doing so.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana *POLL ADDED* [Re: veggie]
#3999355 - 04/01/05 08:13 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Schapelle Corby's lawyers have presented their defense. On April 7 court will resume and we will hear the verdict and sentence.
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Ms. Corby will be found guilty of trafficking and sentenced to death.
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Ms. Corby will be found guilty of importing and possession and sentenced to 20 years or less.
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Ms. Corby will be found guilty and released through diplomatic means.
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Ms. Corby will be found not guilty and released.
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Votes accepted from (04/01/05 08:11 AM) to (04/17/05 10:30 PM)
You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana *POLL ADDED* [Re: veggie]
#4004277 - 04/02/05 08:13 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby suicide fears force sick father to dash to Bali
April 3, 2005
smh.com.au
Schapelle Corby's cancer-stricken father will fly to Bali in the next 48 hours after receiving fresh family reports that his daughter is suicidal.
Michael Corby is clinging to the hope his unannounced arrival in Indonesia might give his daughter the vital lift she needs to cope with prison life until May when her court verdict is expected.
In his first full interview, he told The Sun-Herald from his home on the Gold Coast: "My daughter's health is deteriorating and the rest of the family out there need a break. They are struggling badly."
Mr Corby, who is battling prostate cancer, plans to raise his daughter's spirits by handing her a special photograph from her childhood days.
The picture shows Corby excited at meeting Father Christmas for the first time with her two young cousins. "I found it while I was packing and the moment she sees it, I know it's going to light up her face. She has such a beautiful smile, and this will bring it back."
Mr Corby, a retired coalminer, remains adamant his 27-year-old daughter is the innocent victim of a domestic drug trafficking ring.
In October last year, he kissed her goodbye as she left for a flight bound for Bali. The journey was supposed to lead to a tropical vacation with friends and family. But six months on, her life hangs in the balance after 4.1 kilograms of marijuana was found by Denpasar airport officials stashed inside her bodyboard bag. If she is found guilty, prosecutors are expected to push for the death penalty.
Breaking his six-month silence, Mr Corby, 55, relived the moment his world was turned upside down.
He said: "I was asleep at home when my ex-wife phoned and told me Schapelle had been arrested in Bali, that they'd found this bag of marijuana in her bag. My medication was knocking me around a bit back then. Anyway, I must have dozed off again because when I awoke, my first thought was, what a strange bloody dream.
"A short time later the phone rang. It was a television journalist. That's when it hit me it was true."
He said he was distressed when he later saw news footage of his daughter begging for her freedom so she could return home and see her dying father.
"I could have five days, six weeks, two years left, who knows. But the sad thing is, Schapelle has already lost her gran in the time she's been stuck in jail. She missed the funeral, which was very hard on her because there was no chance to say goodbye."
Mr Corby insisted his daughter had never been involved with recreational drugs.
"She hates drugs of any sort."
He told how his daughter, as a teenager, had dragged him back to reality after he became semi-dependent on prescription pills.
Mr Corby recalled the day when everything came to a head. "Schapelle was playing with her mates. I was on the couch as usual when suddenly she burst in and stared straight at me. She yelled, 'You're not my dad any more . . . just look at you . . . these drugs have turned you into a completely different person.' She grabbed the pills and raced to the toilet. Before I could stop her she had managed to flush the whole lot away.
"I was so mad at the time but weeks, months later I realised what these things had been doing to me."
Struggling to contain his tears, he said: "The young girl who did that for me that day is the same girl now locked up over there."
Mr Corby also revealed his daughter should have been on a different plane but that plans had been changed at the last minute.
"If she had been on an earlier flight we wouldn't be here now. You just have to hope these things balance themselves out."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4006698 - 04/02/05 08:19 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby could be transferred home if found guilty
April 3, 2005
smh.com.au
Australia may seek to repatriate alleged drug trafficker Schapelle Corby if she was convicted by an Indonesian court, Justice Minister Chris Ellison said today.
Senator Ellison said Australia and Indonesia were already involved in transfer of prisoner agreements and this might apply to Corby who is accused of smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali's Denpasar airport last October.
And he said Australia would vigorously fight to save Corby's life if she is convicted and faced the death penalty.
Corby, a former Gold Coast beauty school student, has denied having anything to do with the drugs found in her unlocked boogie bag when she arrived in Bali.
A Victorian prisoner, John Ford, has told a Bali court that Melbourne man Ron Vigenser owned the marijuana found in Corby' boogie board bag.
Ford, the key defence witness in Corby's trial, told the Denpasar District Court last week that Corby was caught up in a drug smuggling operation at Australian airports.
Senator Ellison defended the handling of the case by Indonesian authorities, saying they had worked closely with Australian authorities on many aspects of the case.
He said that close working arrangements would also extend to a possible return of Corby to Australia if she was eventually convicted.
"If there is a finding of guilt, then of course we'll be looking at a transfer of prisoner agreement with Indonesia which we're doing anyway," he told the Ten Network.
Senator Ellison said Australia would make strong representations if Corby faced the death penalty.
"If a death penalty was imposed, then of course the government makes very strong representations in that regard," he said.
"We go into overdrive in making representations to avoid (the death penalty) being carried out."
Senator Ellison defended the Australian Federal Police (AFP) over accusations it had failed to properly investigate the claims made by Ford.
He said that investigation was ongoing.
"The AFP take those allegations ver seriously and that investigation is ongoing," he said.
"The AFP is continuing to work with the Queensland police in regard to this.
"Mr Ford made an allegation during the course of his evidence in Bali that there was involvement of a baggage handler in relation to the drug trafficking concern.
"The AFP take that seriously."
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jamsandwich
Registered: 03/21/05
Posts: 322
Loc: 
Last seen: 1 year, 4 months
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4007161 - 04/02/05 10:32 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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this is the most fucked up thing i have read about in my entire life. I am so glad you posted this. The world really needs to change, i hope my generation will do this. Spread your karma to this poor girl.
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still growin after all these years.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4012226 - 04/04/05 09:20 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby lawyer pessimistic
April 4, 2005
news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby's Indonesian lawyer is pessimistic about her client's chances of being acquitted on drug-smuggling charges, saying the evidence heard at her trial might not be hard enough to clear the Gold Coast woman.
"She has big hopes (of being released) but I believe all of the evidence we have brought to the court could only get a slighter punishment for her," Lely Sri Rahayu Lubis said.
"In the prosecutor's mind the drugs were in her bag. She admitted it (the bag) was hers and the claim tag was under her name, so it is clear (for the prosecutors that) she committed the crime.
"Everything now depends on the judges: If they believe from our evidence that she did not do it, they can release her."
Ms Lubis issued the warning just days before Ms Corby's trial before a Bali court enters its final phase.
Meanwhile, Ms Corby's cancer-stricken father arrived in Bali today and visited her in the island's notorious Kerobokan prison.
He fears the health of his 27-year-old daughter is deteriorating rapidly from the stress of being behind bars and facing the prospect of either execution by firing squad or a long prison sentence.
This is a crucial time for Ms Corby, Ms Lubis said.
According to Indonesian law, the defence needed to identify "somebody who owns the marijuana and who has no connection with Schapelle", she said..
"That's the only strong evidence that could release Schapelle," she said.
The case resumes on Thursday, when prosecutors are scheduled to tell the court's three-judge panel what punishment they think should be imposed if Ms Corby is convicted.
The judges ultimately decide Ms Corby's guilt or innocence, and what penalty should be handed down, if any.
That decision is not expected until early to mid-May.
Indonesian courts do not have juries.
Ms Corby has denied having anything to do with the drugs found in her luggage.
The former beauty student's father, Michael Corby, 55, plans to be in court on Thursday.
"Dad's really worried about Schapelle," his eldest daughter Mercedes said.
"He's reading in the news that she's going downhill and he wants to be here to support her."
Mr Corby, whose prostate cancer has spread to his bones, was given six months to live at the end of 2003.
Schapelle Corby had been caring for him on the Gold Coast before she travelled to Bali last October, when she was arrested at Denpasar airport after 4.1kg of high-grade cannabis was found in her unlocked bodyboard bag.
Mercedes Corby said her sister has been constantly worrying about what would happen to their ill father if she did not return home soon.
"She's gone downhill," Mercedes said. "Her body is probably shutting down from the anxiety."
The defence team last week wrapped up their case with testimony from Victorian prisoner John Ford.
He told the court that, based on conversations he had overheard in prison, he believed Ms Corby was used as an unwitting mule by the real owner of the stash, whom he identified as Melbourne man, Ron Vigenser.
However, he would not name another man whom he believed planted the drugs in Ms Corby's luggage, citing fears of violent revenge.
Earlier in the trial, Australian expert witnesses testified that Ms Corby did not fit the profile of a drug courier and that mules were commonly used by trafficking syndicates operating at Australian airports.
Her travelling partners testified they clearly saw inside her boogieboard bag before embarking on their planned holiday to Bali, and it contained only the board and a pair of flippers.
Justice Minister Chris Ellison said the Federal Government would fight to spare Ms Corby's life if she was convicted, and could seek to repatriate her to Australia under existing transfer-of-prisoner agreements if she was sentenced to prison.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4019430 - 04/05/05 09:03 PM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby forced to adapt to life in jail
6 April 2005
Canberra Times
The food is bad and the cells crowded and grubby. But accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has had to adapt to the routine of life inside the walls of Bali's decrepit Kerobokan prison.
The 27-year-old beauty student from the Gold Coast shares a cell with seven Indonesian prisoners in the female block.
It's cramped and it smells. A grimy squat-toilet is in one corner. Her cellmates also use it to bathe the traditional way, using a small bucket to throw cold water over themselves.
There is no ventilation, no running water, no privacy and no mattresses. A fluorescent light burns 24 hours a day.
Just 4km from the bustle and neon lights of the Kuta tourist strip, Kerobokan prison has been Corby's home since her arrest last October, when she was arrested at Bali airport with 4.1kg of cannabis in her unlocked boogie-board bag.
She has grown used to the routine.
However, her family have raised fears about her health. As her trial enters its final phase, they say she's feeling the stress of knowing that if found guilty she could face a firing squad or a long prison stretch.
Her cell is unlocked early in the morning and visiting time begins at 9am, breaking at noon for an hour's lunch and finally ending at 3pm. Prisoners are locked up again from 4.30pm.
When she is not attending court hearings or receiving visitors, Corby plays tennis, joins yoga and weaving classes, goes to church and reads the bible. But, unlike the men, female prisoners are not allowed to visit the prison library.
The meals are unhygienic and diarrhoea is a common result, relatives say. "She gets rice, sometimes with bits of chicken in it, but it's inedible," Corby's sister Mercedes says. "I feel like vomiting when I see the cart it's cooked on."
Corby instead eats fast food or meals brought in by her family, friends and lawyers. They also bring toilet paper and other luxuries like chocolate, toiletries, cleaning agents to scrub the cell and a mattress to sleep on.
Even Australians who have never met Corby before take time out of holidays in Bali to visit her and bring care packages.
This outside support is the key to survival in the prison, where maintenance is so neglected that a prisoner escaped last year after parts of the perimeter wall fell down.
It could be Corby's home for some time yet.
"She has big hopes [of being released], but I believe all of the evidence we have brought to the court could only get a slighter punishment for her," lawyer Lely Sri Rahayu Lubis said.
Prosecutors are scheduled to submit this week their sentencing request, in which they will recommend what punishment should be imposed if Corby is found guilty of narcotics trafficking.
In the meantime, she faces an anxious wait for the court's verdict, expected within four to five weeks.
Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday that her plight had been raised indirectly with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. He said it would have been inappropriate to raise the case directly during talks in Parliament House yesterday. But Attorney- General Philip Ruddock had raised issues surrounding trial during the meeting.
Kerobokan holds many foreigners serving sentences for drug offences, as well as hardened criminals on death row.
It is well known that a relative or friend on the outside can often pay a bribe of roughly $100 to secure a day- pass for a convicted criminal whom the authorities consider no threat to public safety.
But nevertheless it is a long way from the university degrees and modern comforts available at Australian prisons.
If she is convicted, Justice Minister Chris Ellison has vowed to fight to save her life and possibly to repatriate her to Australia.
Legal adviser Vasu Rasiah said: "What really gets her down is staying in a confined place waiting for help that never comes."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4021224 - 04/06/05 09:55 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby in tears as trial is extended
April 7, 2005
news.com.au
UNDER intense emotional stress, Schapelle Corby broke down in tears yesterday when she learned her drug-smuggling trial was to be extended by another week.
Prosecutors were today due to present their "demand" and summation of the case, in which they were expected to tell the judges what sentence they believe Corby should receive.
But the demand, which has been sent to the prosecution chief's office in Jakarta to be checked, has not yet been returned.
It is expected prosecutor IB Wiswantanu will today ask for a one-week adjournment.
The news came as a blow to Corby, who had been steeling herself for today's demand and the fresh emotions and uncertainty it would bring.
Her older sister Mercedes visited the jail yesterday morning to tell Corby of the delay.
"She just broke down. She has been so worried about it. It is just another week to wait. Another minute is long enough," Mercedes said.
"I felt like crying. I was crying on the inside but if I cry it makes it worse.
"The waiting and not knowing is getting to her. It takes a lot out of her."
She said her sister was suffering emotionally and that she had not been herself in recent weeks as the case reached its critical stage.
The women's father, Michael Corby, who has terminal prostate cancer, arrived in Bali at the weekend to see his daughter for the first time in three months.
He has twice visited Kerobokan Jail since arriving and said both he and his daughter had tried hard to "keep it together".
Corby denies she tried to smuggle the 4.1kg of marijuana found inside her unlocked body board bag when she arrived at Bali's international airport last October.
She faces the maximum death sentence or life in prison and legal analysts expect prosecutor Mr Wiswantanu to demand the death penalty.
Prosecutors have demanded the death sentence for three other men recently accused in drugs cases in Bali.
However, under Indonesian law the judges can disregard prosecution demands and impose their own sentence.
The three judges hearing Corby's case have said they will not be affected by any outside intervention when it comes to reaching a verdict in the case.
Judge Lanang Dauh yesterday refused to comment on statements made by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Australia on Tuesday that he would watch Corby's case to ensure justice was done.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4025547 - 04/07/05 08:42 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby too sick to continue
April 7, 2005
theage.com.au
Accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby today clutched her stomach and winced as she told an Indonesian court that she was too sick to continue her trial.
"I'm really sick," a tearful and pale-looking Corby told Bali's Denpasar District Court.
Corby was brought to court today as her plight was discussed at a meeting in Jakarta between her lawyers and Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison.
She vomited after being led stumbling through the throng of journalists to a holding cell.
Corby was then led to the court room, pausing outside to finger a cross hanging from a chain around her neck.
Adjourning the trial until April 14, head judge Linton Sirait advised Corby to take better care of herself.
"Take care of your health, don't be stressed. If you're stressed you might get diarrhoea," he told her.
Relatives said Corby's health was noticeably weakening as the trial entered its final phase, with a verdict expected by mid-May.
Prosecutor IB Wiswantanu said he had been ready today to reveal what sentence would be sought for Corby, but would not disclose what punishment she faces if convicted of narcotics trafficking.
The 27-year-old former beauty student from the Gold Coast faces a maximum penalty of death by firing squad after being caught with 4.1kg of high-grade cannabis in her unlocked bodyboard bag at Bali airport last October.
Her sister Mercedes Corby said a doctor would visit Schapelle in prison to assess her condition, which had deteriorated significantly over the last two weeks.
"(It's) just everything. Stressed, sore stomach, diarrhoea, vomiting," Mercedes Corby said.
Her father Michael Corby, who suffers from terminal prostate cancer, said it was difficult to see his daughter looking so ill on his first visit to the court since she went on trial.
"She's trying hard, but it's right to the nitty-gritty now," he said.
"The stress and the whole thing and the stomach cramps and the nerves. It's getting on top of her."
Amid signs that the Australian public is throwing its support behind Corby, Ellison met today with Corby's senior lawyers in Jakarta and promised to take up several issues with the Indonesian Attorney-General later today.
Ellison has pledged to fight to spare Corby's life if she is convicted, and to seek to repatriate her under existing transfer-of-prisoner agreements if she is sentenced to a jail term.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said he would monitor the case to ensure the court handed down a just and fair verdict.
Sirait said he was not surprised by his president's comments and did not feel under any pressure to treat Corby differently to any other person on trial.
"It's normal that the Prime Minister of Australia is concerned and giving attention to his citizens," he said.
"The trial has already been fair."
Michael Corby expressed doubts that high-level talks between Australia and Indonesia would aid her defence.
He said the Australian government had been slow to respond to calls for help and the Indonesian investigation into the case had contained "muck-ups".
"(It) depends on what they call justice here, love.
"(It) looks a bit fairyland to me.
"Everything's reversed here. You're guilty until you're proven innocent."
His visit came as an anonymous email petition was distributed around Australia and overseas, calling on the Australian government to ensure that, innocent or guilty, Corby was returned to Australia and did not face the firing Squad.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4030195 - 04/08/05 08:40 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby on medication after trial delay
April 9, 2005
smh.com.au
The accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby was taking medication yesterday to help settle her stomach and calm her nerves after becoming too ill on Thursday to continue her trial.
The 27-year-old from the Gold Coast yesterday told Bali's Denpasar District Court that she was suffering from diarrhoea and stomach cramps and was too sick to sit through the prosecution's scheduled request for sentencing. The court adjourned the case until April 14.
Immediately afterwards, Corby returned to Kerobokan prison and visited the prison clinic's doctor, who prescribed some medication to treat what her sister Mercedes Corby said was believed to be a stress-induced stomach upset.
Visitors who saw Corby yesterday said she was still pale and suffering from stomach cramps.
"She is still in pain and very stressed," her brother-in-law, Wayan Widiartha, said after visiting her with a friend. "She had to run to the toilet when we were talking to her."
Her parents and the Australian consul-general, Brent Hall, also visited Corby yesterday. Mr Hall said he had offered to help the family arrange for another doctor to conduct a full check-up.
Corby's lawyers were still in Jakarta after meeting the Justice Minister, Chris Ellison, to discuss the case, but told her by phone that another doctor may be called in to assess her on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Victorian prisoner who gave evidence at Corby's trial has been refused bail in the County Court. John Patrick Ford, 40, is facing charges including rape, threat to kill, stalking and intentionally causing serious injury. In refusing the application, Judge Roy Punshon said Ford's alleged offences were serious.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4037101 - 04/10/05 11:32 AM (6 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby judge ignores luggage tampering
April 10, 2005
theage.com.au
A recent case of luggage tampering at Sydney Airport won't be considered at Schapelle Corby's drug smuggling trial in Bali, the chief judge says.
Judge Linton Sirait, the head of the three-judge panel hearing Corby's trial in the Denpasar District Court, says the court does not have to consider details of the tampering.
However, he believed defence lawyers might still try to use the incident to back up Corby's claim that Brisbane baggage handlers planted 4.1 kg of cannabis inside her unlocked bag for pick up in Sydney.
A Qantas baggage handler at Sydney Airport was sacked on Friday for removing the head of a camel costume from a passenger's luggage and wearing it on the tarmac.
Sirait said the court did not have to consider information from Australia in relation to Corby's case.
"The lawyers might use that in their arguments, but this raises the question of whether we must consider every occurrence in Australia in relation to Corby's case," he said.
"I don't think that we need to do so."
Corby, a 27-year-old former beauty student from the Gold Coast, faces possible death sentence if she is found guilty of trying to smuggle drugs into Bali airport in her unlocked bag last October.
Corby's defence team said the tampering would be brought before the court, but would only be used in summing up her claim that she was unwittingly used as a drug courier.
"It's too late to bring witnesses, but we can mention this in our closing arguments to bring it to the judges' attention," said Vasu Rasiah, an adviser to Corby's Indonesian lawyer.
He said the Sydney incident was a warning to the Australian government to improve security and prevent luggage tampering.
"It is time the Australian government opens their eyes. This (tampering) has been happening for a long time," he said.
Rasiah said he understood the Australian consulate had organised for a doctor to visit Corby in Kerobokan jail, near Denpasar, after she fell ill.
Corby's trial was last week adjourned until this Thursday to give her time to recover from diarrhoea and stomach cramps.
Rasiah said Corby had been unwell but other factors had contributed to the adjournment.
"Our information was that the prosecution was not ready," he said.
"It was true that Schapelle was feeling a little under the weather, but the prosecution wasn't ready."
Last week's hearing had been expected to hear the prosecution's recommendations on what sentence Corby should be handed if she was found guilty of drug smuggling.
Those submissions are now expected to be heard on Thursday, when the case resumes.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer confirmed the Australian government had asked Indonesia not to impose the death penalty.
"In this particular case we've said to the Indonesians that we don't want the prosecution to press for the death sentence because we don't support capital punishment," he told the Ten network.
"In this case it's very debatable what may have happened.
"We've said this to the Indonesians all along, we don't want any Australians to face the death penalty in Indonesia, no matter what their crime."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4043797 - 04/12/05 12:10 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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More baggage tampering claims emerge
April 12, 2005
tvnz.co.nz
Public letters claiming tampering with luggage at Australian airports will be used to help defend Schapelle Corby against drug smuggling charges in Bali.
Relatives of the Gold Coast woman said they had obtained letters from the Australian public revealing that a recent case of luggage tampering at Sydney Airport was not an isolated incident.
"The letters we've received proves this is happening," Mercedes Corby told AAP outside Bali's Kerobokan prison after visiting her sister with mother Rosleigh Rose and father Michael Corby.
"People have had cameras, video recorders, handphones and jewellery stolen."
She said the letters had been passed on to the family from other sources, including journalists in Australia.
Corby's mother, Rosleigh Rose, said people who had used padlocks to secure their luggage on Australian flights claimed the locks had been picked and their belongings tampered with.
The letters were expected to be shown to the media at a news conference organised by Corby's lawyers.
Corby, a 27-year-old former beauty student, faces a maximum punishment of death after being caught with 4.1 kg of cannabis inside her unlocked bodyboard bag at Bali airport last October.
Her lawyers claim Brisbane baggage handlers planted the stash for pick up in Sydney in a botched domestic trafficking operation.
Vasu Rasiah, an adviser to Corby's legal team, said hundreds of Australians had reported incidents of luggage tampering since a baggage handler at Sydney Airport was sacked for removing the head of a camel costume from a passenger's luggage and wearing it on the tarmac.
Rasiah said although it was too late to submit new evidence to the court, the defence would draw on the tampering reports to strengthen their closing argument, expected in a fortnight.
Corby's relatives were encouraged by the development.
"Everything's got to help a bit," Rose said. "This shows how common it is."
But Judge Linton Sirait, the head of the three-judge panel hearing Corby's case in Denpasar District Court, has said the court does not have to consider details of the tampering in relation to her trial on drug smuggling charges.
The trial was last week adjourned until this Thursday after Corby complained of what her relatives and lawyers said was stress-induced diarrhoea, vomiting, headache and stomach cramps.
She had seen two doctors and was taking medication to settle her stomach, but remained so weak that she could not fetch water from the prison well to enable her to bathe and flush the toilet in the cell, Rose said.
Her Indonesian cell-mates were carrying the pails of water for her.
"She's got a little colour back in her cheeks, but she is still very weak," Rose said.
Last week's hearing had been expected to hear the prosecution's recommendations on what sentence Corby should be handed if she was found guilty of drug smuggling.
Those submissions are now expected on Thursday, when the case resumes.
The Australian government has asked Indonesia not to impose the death penalty and is also looking into the possibility of repatriating her to serve any prison term in Australia.
A verdict is expected by mid-May.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4045680 - 04/12/05 11:22 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Indonesian consulate-general death threat
April 13, 2005
news.com.au
A LETTER and two bullets has been sent to the Indonesian consulate-general in Perth threatening to kill staff if Australian Schapelle Corby is not freed from a Bali jail.
"If Schapelle Corby is not released immediately you will all receive one of these bullets through the brain," the Australian newspaper reported the letter as saying.
"All Indonesians out now - go home you animals," the letter, which was sent a few days ago, said.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) had been informed of the threat, Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Yuri Thamrin told the paper.
"It's a very serious threat," he said.
On Thursday this week Bali prosecutors are expected to present their sentencing submission on Corby who is facing the death sentence after being caught with 4.1kg of marijuana in her body board bag at Denpasar airport in October last year.
West Australian police said the incident was being investigated but would not say if the consulate-general was being guarded.
"We don't discuss security matters," Sergeant Graham Clifford said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4050468 - 04/13/05 12:11 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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No deals in Corby case
April 14, 2005
theaustralian.news.com.au
THE Howard Government's intervention in the Schapelle Corby drugs case appears to have had no effect, with the chief prosecutor declaring he had received no "overriding instructions" from Jakarta about the penalty he will seek in court today.
Ida Bagus Wiswantanu said he had heard nothing about Justice Minister Chris Ellison's meeting in Jakarta last week with Indonesia's Attorney-General, Abdurrahman Saleh, during which Senator Ellison raised the prospect that Mr Saleh could intercede in the Corby trial to ask for a lighter sentence should she be found guilty of drug trafficking.
"My advice is that under Indonesian law, the Attorney-General can make representations to the prosecution during the course of the case and that can relate to sentence," Senator Ellison said.
However, Mr Wiswantanu said he knew nothing about the Ellison meeting nor anything about an Australian request regarding the prosecution's submission.
Mr Wiswantanu said the prosecution's sentencing recommendations -- which could demand the death penalty -- remained entirely his own work.
"I know nothing about that (Ellison) meeting and I haven't received any orders from my superiors," he added. "So I don't know about any intervention. But for me, there's been no intervention."
The chief prosecutor in the Bali office, Muhammad Yusni, also said he had not been contacted by the Attorney-General's office in connection with the case.
His comments come a week after Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told The Australian he was watching the Corby case closely and was determined justice would be done.
The prosecution team will today take turns reading the sentencing submission, which runs to more than 20 pages.
Some observers expect the prosecutors to recommend a heavy penalty, taking into account recent drug cases in Bali in which the prosecutors have recommended the death sentence.
At least two of the members of the Corby defence team were in Jakarta yesterday, yet one source said last-minute lobbying would prove fruitless since the prosecution's recommendation had already been approved.
Arrested at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport last October, when a customs official found 4.1kg of marijuana in her unlocked body-board bag, the 27-year-old Gold Coast beauty school student has steadfastly maintained her innocence.
The prosecution was originally scheduled to read its sentencing demands to the court last Thursday, but Ms Corby told the judges she was too ill to continue with the trial.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Ms Corby's Indonesian legal team said yesterday a death threat against the Indonesian consulate in Perth demanding the immediate release of Ms Corby was damaging to her case.
Mr Downer has condemned those behind the threat, sent in a letter to the consulate containing two bullets.
The letter said: "If Schapelle Corby is not released immediately you will all receive one of these bullets through the brain."
Vasu Rasiah, an adviser to Ms Corby's legal team, said: "It is very negative, it is unwanted and we oppose this completely."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4050486 - 04/13/05 12:13 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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$1 million reward for truth
April 14, 2005
smh.com.au
Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir hopes to up the ante on the Schapelle Corby case by raising a $1 million reward for the truth.
And, to show his commitment, he committed $100,000 of his own money yesterday to get the ball rolling.
"I will be calling on businesses throughout Australia to donate $1000 towards the cause until we reach the $1 million target," Mr Bakir told AAP.
"Whoever comes forward with conclusive evidence will win the reward."
Corby, 27, is being held in a Bali jail awaiting the outcome of her trial on charges that she smuggled 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Denpasar airport last October.
She denies the charges, which could attract the death penalty, and claims the drugs were planted in her unlocked boogie board bag, probably by a baggage handler involved in an Australian drug ring.
Mr Bakir, who is bankrolling Corby's defence, got the reward idea from fellow businessman, Hervey Bay real-estate agent Ray Edward.
Mr Edward said if the baggage handling claims were true, someone had to know something.
He said he believed everyone had their price and he hoped a $1 million reward might be enough to push an informer forward - promising to donate $1000 from his own pocket towards the cause.
The idea of a reward comes as Corby's camp awaits the prosecution's final summation today.
They also have to deal with a rogue supporter who has threatened to kill staff at Perth's Indonesian consulate if Corby was not set free.
Mr Bakir said although the threat proved the frustration of the Australian people towards Corby's plight, they did not condone this kind of behaviour.
"It's definitely not going to help our case and we don't call upon these sorts of things and we don't agree with the method used," he said.
Mr Bakir said although the time for presenting evidence had passed, it was still not too late for someone to come forward with evidence to prove Corby's innocence.
Meanwhile, he said the defence was hopeful prosecutors would not seek the death penalty for Corby if she was found guilty.
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LiveByFreedom
Catalyst
Registered: 03/21/05
Posts: 652
Loc: Mountains
Last seen: 5 years, 6 months
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4051812 - 04/13/05 05:29 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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I've been following this plite since i joined the boards, whole heartedly. It's too bad somebody had to send that threat to the indonesian government with 2 bullets, really stupid idea. Although i wish i could do away with those people, i think it hurt her case a little bit. I'm pretty confident that Schapelle Corby isn't going to get a firing squad, but may spend life in prison, which is SO sad. I'm hoping somebody confesses to knowing information about the ordeal, for a million bucks.
Veggie or anyone else, would you happen to know how i can write Schapelle Corby, or her family a letter?
--------------------
"Everything is not as it seems." Eye
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: LiveByFreedom]
#4051834 - 04/13/05 05:38 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Veggie or anyone else, would you happen to know how i can write Schapelle Corby, or her family a letter?
You can email Schapelle and her family here corby@schapellecorby.net
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4052215 - 04/13/05 07:38 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Will they seek death?
April 14, 2005
theage.com.au
In just hours, Schapelle Corby is expected to find out if she will face the death penalty if found guilty on drug charges.
Prosecutors will tell the Denpasar District Court what punishment the former Gold Coast beauty student should receive if convicted for smuggling 4.1 kilograms of marijuana in her bodyboard bag.
They were due to make their sentencing request last week but the hearing was adjourned after Corby complained she was ill. A member of her defence team, Vasu Rasiah, said her health remained poor.
A spokesman for Indonesian Attorney-General Abdurrahman Saleh yesterday declined to say whether his office had agreed with a request from Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison to ask prosecutors not to request the death penalty. The spokesman said Attorney-General had told prosecutors they should seek a sentence that was "proportional" to Corby's alleged offence.
Corby's supporters are trying to raise a $1 million reward for anyone with information that would clear the 27-year-old.
Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir said he had posted a $100,000 reward and challenged other businessmen to donate $1000 to the fund.
"We have a case to complete and we are asking any Australian who might have any information that will clear Schapelle Corby's name to come forward," he told the Nine network.
"I've come and I've donated $100,000 and I ask for any businessman to come forward and assist in the donation of $1000 so we can make the reward $1 million.
"It's a very important case, there's a girl's life at stake and we look to help her.
"I ask anybody who has any information to please come forward."
Mr Bakir admitted time was running out, but Corby's defence team hoped to present as much information as possible to back its case during closing arguments next week.
"Since the last couple of weeks a lot of people have been coming out of the woodwork and giving us certain information," he said.
"It's unfortunate that our evidence has closed but we'll be trying to submit as much as we can next Thursday in our closing argument."
Mr Bakir said Corby's health was deteriorating daily.
"She's just stressed out, she's losing hope and as each day goes by she's just losing complete hope," he said.
Mr Bakir said a letter containing bullets sent to the Indonesian consulate in Perth and threatening to kill staff unless Corby was released from jail did not help Corby's case.
"The Australian public is outraged about what's been going on but generally this sort of stuff does not help us at all," he said.
"And we urge the people responsible to please reconsider their position, because it's not good."
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer also warned that the threat could harm Corby's case.
Security at the consulate has been stepped up.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4052590 - 04/13/05 09:28 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby carried into court by police
April 14, 2005
theage.com.au
Police had to carry Schapelle Corby through a throng of journalists outside a Bali court today, where she will hear if prosecutors want her put to death for alleged drug tafficking.
The 27-year-old former beauty student from the Gold Coast arrived handcuffed to an Indonesian female prisoner, who collapsed shortly after they were let out of the police van and mobbed by dozens of reporters.
Corby's sister Mercedes rushed in to help, yelling angrily at journalists to "Leave her alone!" before hitting an Indonesian reporter over the head with her handbag.
Police were forced to carry the two prisoners, still handcuffed, to a holding cell at Denpasar District Court where Corby's case again be heard today.
Corby appeared distressed as she arrived on one of the most important days of her trial.
She will learn today if prosecutors will seek the death penalty if she is convicted of smuggling 4.1kg of cannabis into Bali in her unlocked bodyboard bag last October. She has denied the charges.
Ultimately the decision lies with the panel of three judges hearing her case.
However, the general rule of thumb in Indonesia is that they will not go below one third of what the prosecution demands, and they rarely hand down a harsher punishment, observers said.
The Australian government has appealed to Indonesia for clemency.
In a similar case in Bali recently, prosecutors demanded the death penalty for a taxi driver who admitted possessing 3.9kg of marijuana.
Earlier today, a Gold Coast businessman supporting Corby's case, Ron Bakir, said he hoped she would make it to today's proceedings.
A hearing that had been scheduled for last week had to be put off after Corby fell ill, and Bakir today said she remained unwell.
Stress has been blamed for her deteriorating health over the course of the trial.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4052954 - 04/13/05 11:25 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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'Hysterical' Corby collapses, trial postponed for a week
April 14, 2005
smh.com.au
The trial of accused drug trafficker Schapelle Corby has been adjourned for another week amid hysterical scenes after Corby collapsed in the witness chair.
Corby appeared to faint as she sat for the opening of a trial day in which Indonesian prosecutors had been expected to reveal if they want her put to death.
She collapsed as scores of journalists and photographers crushed in around her in the Denpasar District Court, which was also packed with onlookers and Corby's family.
A doctor was immediately called by Australia's consul in Bali, Brent Hall.
Corby was laid on a witness bench when the female medic arrived for a hurried examination during a five minute court adjournment.
The three judges then postponed the trial for a week amid hysterical scenes and shouting, ordering Corby be returned to prison for examination by a doctor there and possibly taken to hospital.
Corby's sister Mercedes vaulted the public barrier in the court to comfort her sister, who she said had been "hysterical" ahead of the trial.
Her father Michael stood screaming at journalists and court officials amid the chaos, demanding they clear a space around his daughter.
The judges ordered a full medical report on Corby be filed by next Wednesday, a day ahead of the next trial day.
The 27-year-old former beauty student from the Gold Coast arrived at court handcuffed to an Indonesian female prisoner, who fainted shortly after they were let out of the police van and into a media crush, dragging the screaming Corby down as well.
Mercedes rushed in to help, yelling angrily at journalists to "Leave her alone, all of you!" before striking an Indonesian reporter over the head with her handbag.
Police were forced to carry the two prisoners, still handcuffed, to a holding cell.
Mercedes said her sister was "hysterical" and still suffering from stress and diarrhoea which forced the postponement of her trial appearance last week.
"Did you see her, getting carried like a baby, screaming and then being taken to the cell screaming?" she asked AAP.
Corby was to learn if prosecutors will seek the death penalty if she is convicted of smuggling 4.1 kg of cannabis into Bali in her unlocked bodyboard bag last October. She has denied the charges.
The Australian government has appealed to Indonesia for clemency.
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MrMaddHatter
Dementia praecox
Registered: 06/07/02
Posts: 1,418
Loc: Nowhere
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4053037 - 04/13/05 11:51 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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--------------------
I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.
Hunter S. Thompson
It's always tea-time, and we've no time to wash the things between whiles.
Don't be a fool, this is a war on drugs. Act like. The government sure does!
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4054155 - 04/14/05 09:25 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Bribery claimed in Corby case
April 15, 2005
thecouriermail.news.com.au
ACCUSED drug smuggler Schapelle Corby was taken to hospital in Bali last night as damaging suggestions of attempted bribery were aired.
Earlier yesterday, the Gold Coast beautician collapsed amid scenes of hysteria and chaos in court as she waited to hear if Indonesia wants to put her to death.
The dramatic collapse came as new claims were aired by her financial backer that Indonesian prosecutors had demanded cash in return for Corby's life.
Mobile phone mogul Ron Bakir, who is funding Corby's defence, yesterday said a group acting on behalf of the Indonesian prosecutors asked him to put up a bribe in return for a guarantee she would not face the firing squad.
"To be honest with you, it's an absolute disgrace, but anyhow, that's how it works," he said.
Mr Bakir said he was "100 per cent" certain the prosecution raised the possibility of a bribe, but the Indonesians claim it was the Corby side which suggested that money change hands.
The Courier-Mail understands a meeting between Corby's lawyers and members of the prosecution took place in Denpasar last week. The meeting was supposed to secure a guarantee that Corby, 27, would be spared the firing squad and instead serve a jail term in Australia in the event of her conviction.
Corby is awaiting the outcome of her trial on charges she smuggled 4.1kg of marijuana into Denpasar airport last October.
Mr Bakir's extraordinary claim provoked an angry reaction from Corby's Australian lawyer, who denied any knowledge of a bribe.
"It's news to me and absolute news to the Indonesian legal team," Robin Tampoe said.
"I will make this comment, I will make this clear. Ron is one of the nicest people in the world you will ever meet. He's funding the defence but he certainly isn't part of the defence team," she said.
Corby made her way from a holding cell to court amid chaotic scenes yesterday. An Indonesian woman handcuffed to her passed out and Corby fell with her.
Corby's sister Mercedes charged at the media throng, screaming at reporters to "leave her alone."
After being carried into court by guards, Corby briefly sat in the witness chair but again collapsed before the prosecution could reveal whether it would seek the death penalty or prison for her.
A doctor who treated Corby in court found she was suffering from high blood pressure. She was taken to hospital and her case was adjourned for another week.
The Australian Government claims it has done everything possible to help Corby avoid the death penalty, short of interfering in Indonesian affairs.
"I feel for anybody who is under the sort of stress she is under," Prime Minister John Howard said. "I just hope justice is done and she's treated fairly and decently and we have to have faith in the Indonesian justice system."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4058560 - 04/15/05 10:25 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Bribery claims may have condemned Corby
April 16, 2005
theadvertiser.news.com.au
THE man funding the defence of accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby was yesterday fending off claims he may have doomed her to death.
Mobile phone mogul Ron Bakir made the extraordinary claim that Indonesian prosecutors in Corby's trial had asked him for a bribe in return for a guarantee that she would escape the death penalty.
But prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu yesterday furiously denied the corruption allegations, which threaten to undermine the 27-year-old woman's claims of innocence.
"That's a lie. That is a big lie,' Mr Wiswantanu said. "I am very angry about that."
Corby was yesterday due to be taken from Bali's Kerobokan Jail to hospital for a full medical check-up, which had been authorised by the court after she fainted on Thursday. By late afternoon she still had not left the jail.
Her sisters, Mercedes and Meleane, and mother, Rosleigh, visited her in prison for several hours.
Mercedes said her sister was "in a better state today but she is still not very good".
Head judge Linton Sirait vowed to protect the trial against corruption, saying the judges would "distance ourselves from people like that so that they have no chance to attempt any bribery". Corby faces a maximum penalty of death by firing squad if convicted of smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali last year.
Mr Bakir originally said he was approached by the prosecution during a private meeting and was asked for payment.
"To be honest with you, it's an absolute disgrace, but anyhow, that's the way it works," he said.
But the Gold Coast businessman later backed away from the statement. He said his words had been taken the wrong way but declined to explain what he really meant.
Defence lawyers said Mr Bakir's outburst could have damaged Corby's chances of receiving a jail term instead of death if she is convicted.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4062008 - 04/16/05 08:44 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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The secret note that may save Corby
April 17, 2005
dailytelegraph.news.com.au
A NOTE by a security official who died mysteriously after alleging drug-running at Sydney Airport has been delivered to lawyers for accused marijuana smuggler Schapelle Corby.
They claim the note is evidence supporting Corby's plea that she is an innocent victim of criminal networks using airports for drug trafficking.
Its author, former Australian Protective Services officer Gary Lee-Rogers, was found dead in his Queanbeyan flat in October, 2002.
An autopsy was unable to ascertain the cause of death, but Mr Lee-Rogers' family and whistle-blowers believe he was murdered after allegedly uncovering corruption in the APS's operations at the airport.
Lawyers for Gold Coast beautician Schapelle Corby told The Sunday Telegraph yesterday they intended to use this latest information in final submissions to the Indonesian court where Corby is facing a possible death sentence.
Her legal team has received hundreds of letters and e-mails alleging interference with luggage at airports since the claims were raised by Victorian prisoner John Ford.
A coronial finding into his death is due to be handed down at Queanbeyan on Wednesday.
In e-mails to friends, Mr Lee-Rogers predicted he would be killed because of what he had allegedly discovered and said his death would be covered up as a suicide.
One e-mail said he had received an anonymous phone call warning that "I had tripped over evidence of drug importation though Sydney Airport involving the old Commonwealth Police network."
He alleged the caller had gone on to name two APS officers. The APS was responsible for security at airports and Commonwealth buildings until 2002, when it was folded into the Australian Federal Police.
The e-mail was passed on to Corby's legal team by Whistleblowers Australia president Dr Jean Lennane, who said it might be a clue to his death.
"What we have here is a man who has died in mysterious circumstances after raising concerns about airport security," Dr Lennane said.
A member of Corby's defence team, Gold Coast lawyer Matthew Gibson, said the Lee-Rogers document backed up claims something was awry at the airport.
Corby was arrested after 4.1kg of marijuana was discovered in her boogie board bag at Bali airport.
Mr Lee-Rogers was in charge of security training at Sydney airport before the 2000 Olympics.
But his career collapsed when he warned his superiors about security problems within the APS, including racketeering, the promotion of badly trained officers and misappropriation of government funding.
Evidence at his inquest revealed an APS audit had found 47 revolvers, two rifles, six shotguns, 30 sets of handcuffs and 18 batons had disappeared, along with computers and cameras.
In the week before his death, the 47-year-old was badly bashed and claimed an AFP officer had put a gun to his mouth.
Mr Lee-Rogers' former de facto, Kathleen Mills, said she hoped the inquest's findings would bring some relief after three years of torment.
Businessman Ron Bakir, who is bankrolling Corby's defence, said the note was important evidence.
"It'll help prove that the girl has been set up. There's been a drug-trafficking problem at the airport, but she's a victim," he said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4064347 - 04/17/05 12:05 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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AFP accused of Corby cover-up
April 17, 2005
theage.com.au
Lawyers for Schapelle Corby have accused Australian police of a cover-up and warned their "bewildering" lack of cooperation may have condemned the former beauty student to 27 years in a Bali jail.
Revelations a former airport security officer tipped authorities off to a domestic drug-running operation at Sydney Airport, before he mysteriously died in 2002, proved the Australian Federal Police knew more than they were admitting, said an adviser to Corby's team, Vasu Rasiah.
Former Australian Protective Services (APS) officer Gary Lee-Rogers was found dead in his Queanbeyan flat in October 2002 after alerting authorities to the racket in a letter.
His family and whistle-blowers believe he was the victim of a revenge murder.
"This letter is just bewildering. This AFP is startling us from the beginning," Vasu said.
Corby's legal team had only recently asked the AFP and Justice Minister Chris Ellison to confirm to Indonesia's attorney general that they were investigating an airport drug racket in Australia, possibly accounting for how 4.1kg of marijuana ended up in her travel luggage.
Indonesian authorities required official notification of the investigation before they could take Corby's defence that the drugs were planted in her bag into account, Vasu said.
"The AFP woman with him just shrugged," he said.
"The minister never asked (for the Indonesians) to take all things into consideration.
"The AFP all the way along has been the biggest obstruction in this case. Why are they lying so much?"
Vasu said Corby's lawyers would present the letter to judges and prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu this week.
Wiswantanu, who last week lashed out at hints he tried to bribe defence lawyers, is set to outline his sentence request after a two-week delay caused by an illness Corby contracted.
But Vasu said the evidence may have come too late to reinforce Corby's plea to being a unwitting drug courier used by criminal gangs, as a verdict is now due in weeks.
"It's a little late, but we won't give up," Vasu said, warning the prosecutor was set on demanding a 27-year life sentence for Corby and one billion rupiah (A$133,000) fine.
He said the AFP should explain to the Australian public why they had refused to assist Indonesian authorities with finger-printing the plastic bag containing the marijuana.
AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty should also explain why he had so readily dismissed evidence from a Victorian prisoner alleging an airport drug-running ring when he had then gone straight out and launched an investigation into the supposedly "hearsay" claims.
"Are they going to allow this cover-up forever?" he said.
"Why do they bullshit the people all the time?"
Vasu said lawyers had asked for Corby to be given police protection at her appearance this week after she was caught in a media crush on her way into court last Thursday. The hearing was abandoned in chaos after Corby collapsed.
The Sunday Telegraph said that in emails to friends, Gary Lee-Rogers predicted he would be killed because of what he had allegedly discovered.
He said his death would be covered up as a suicide.
The APS was responsible for security at airports and Commonwealth buildings until 2002, when it became part of the AFP.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4070046 - 04/18/05 06:27 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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9 more Australians face death on smuggling charges
Schapelle Corby's case unlikely to be affected
April 19, 2005
canberra.yourguide.com.au
Nine Australians arrested in a dramatic Bali heroin bust will face a firing squad if convicted of trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia and into Australia.
Australian consular officials said it was "by far" the largest number of drug- related detentions of Australians ever in Indonesia. Indonesian investigators said a total of 11.25kg of the drug was seized.
The nine eight men and one woman were nabbed by Indonesian authorities on Sunday night following an Australian Federal Police operation dating back to February.
Five were arrested at Bali airport while waiting for a flight to Sydney. Four were held at the departure lounge allegedly with bags of heroin strapped to their bodies, the head of the island's police anti-drugs squad, Colonel Bambang Sugiarto, said.
A fifth man the alleged 21-year-old Sydney drug ring boss nicknamed the "Godfather" was pulled off the Australian Airlines plane with no drugs and later protested his innocence when paraded before reporters.
"What ever happened to Schapelle Corby happened to me. They are convicting me of something I didn't do," the suspect told reporters.
Colonel Sugiarto said the case mirrored Corby's marijuana trafficking case, but was potentially more serious.
"It involves exporting or importing drugs. If found guilty, death penalty," he said.
The colonel said 10.9kg of heroin was seized at the airport and 350g was found at a hotel. No charges have yet been laid.
Colonel Sugiarto said the police surveillance operation which led to the arrests had centred on three hotels, the beachfront Hard Rock resort and Ahdi Dharma in Kuta as well as the Melasti Hotel in Tuban.
The four detained at the airport were allegedly found with plastic-wrapped packages of heroin weighing between 2.4kg and 3.3kg strapped to their legs and stomachs with brown masking tape.
The AFP said the four allegedly carrying the drugs included two men from Brisbane, both aged 19, a 29-year-old man from Sydney and a 27-year-old woman from Sydney.
Indonesian police said the woman had a drug package strapped under a dress.
Soon after, four other men were taken into custody at a Bali hotel a 27-year-old Brisbane man, and three men from Sydney aged 18, 20 and 24, the AFP said.
Australian Federal Police border and international network national manager Mike Phelan said investigations were also under way in Australia.
"We have executed a number of search warrants today in both Sydney and Brisbane and we will certainly be looking through that information of the search warrants to see how the picture unfolds."
In Canberra, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the arrests were made in Indonesia and not in Australia where there is no death penalty because that was where the alleged offences occurred.
Colonel Sugiarto said that before the search one man claimed to have had a broken leg, which accounted for a bulge in his clothing.
But after questioning all allegedly confessed they had been carrying the drugs for their "boss". Police then raided the Melasti Hotel and arrested another four people found with sandwich-sized blocks of heroin. Traces of the drug were also found in two suitcases, police said, displaying a fake designer bag filled with rubber gloves and packaging.
Colonel Sugiarto said the drugs had come from the notorious "Golden Triangle" area in northern Thailand and Burma, and was being couriered through Bali to Australia by the nine.
The gang had been acting "mysteriously and suspiciously" all week, staying in their hotel rooms and instructing hotel staff not to reveal their identities to anyone.
Schapelle Corby's case would not be affected by the arrest of nine young Australians accused of drug smuggling, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has said.
Mr Downer answered the question on people's lips when he said the arrests were unlikely to have a bearing on Corby's trial.
"I don't think one case should have any bearing on other cases," Mr Downer said.
"In that context, certainly in terms of the facts of the case, the facts of every case are obviously going to be different.
"There's no relationship between the alleged facts in this case and the alleged facts in the Schapelle Corby's case."
As the drama of the nine arrests unfolded yesterday, the 27-year-old Gold Coast beauty student was praying that "the strength of a nation" would help bring her home and she said the overwhelming public support had helped keep her strong.
The alleged drug smuggler thanked her fellow Australians from behind bars at the Denpasar Prosecutor's office.
Looking calm, but pale, Corby was yesterday taken to the prosecution office en route to a planned hospital medical examination which was later cancelled. That check-up is now expected to happen today.
Her heart was touched when one of her lawyers, Erwin Siregar, brought a cuddly toy koala which had been sent by an Australian woman called Elizabeth, who said she had experienced a similar situation to Miss Corby's.
"Oh My God," Miss Corby exclaimed.
"Well, Elizabeth ... thank you. I can't wait to give it a big hug," she said, touching the koala through the bars.
Miss Corby said the support from so many people she had never met had been "phenomenal".
The support was "everything" to her during her five months in jail and the darkest days of her trial.
"I mean, the strength of a nation, which hopefully should overcome anything, any problem," Miss Corby said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4071921 - 04/19/05 08:14 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Police reject Corby cover-up claims
April 19, 2005
theage.com.au
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have hit back at claims they were involved in a cover-up over the Schapelle Corby drugs case.
An adviser to Corby's team, Vasu Rasiah, said at the weekend that Australian police had not been cooperative in the Gold Coast beauty student's Bali court case and were involved in a cover-up.
Mr Rasiah said revelations a former airport security officer tipped authorities off to a domestic drug-running operation at Sydney Airport, before he mysteriously died in 2002, proved the AFP knew more than they were admitting.
Former Australian Protective Services (APS) officer Gary Lee-Rogers was found dead in his Queanbeyan flat in October 2002 after alerting authorities to the racket in a letter.
His family and whistleblowers believe he was the victim of a revenge murder.
Corby's legal team has asked the AFP and Justice Minister Chris Ellison to confirm to Indonesia's attorney general that they were investigating an airport drug racket in Australia, possibly accounting for how 4.1kg of marijuana ended up in her luggage.
An AFP spokesman said in a statement the claims about a cover-up were not true.
The spokesman said the commonwealth ombudsman had investigated a number of allegations made by Mr Lee-Rogers and found them to lack substance.
The death of Mr Lee-Rogers was currently before the coroner and no detailed comment could be made, the spokesman said.
"Claims of poor cooperation are also demonstrably untrue," the spokesman said.
"At every stage where the AFP has been asked for help, and had the capacity to assist, we have done so."
The AFP offered its expertise in fingerprinting and other forensic investigation to the Indonesian police in December last year, but the head of Bali police had said the assistance was not needed, the spokesman said.
Australian police also investigated details raised in an affidavit, which recorded conversations between the Corby defence team and a Melbourne prisoner, but found no evidence to substantiate the claims, the AFP spokesman said.
"The AFP finds it curious that Ms Corby's defence team continues to raise issues in the Australian media rather than putting their case before the Indonesian court, which is the most appropriate forum for her defence," the statement said.
"The AFP will continue to respect the sovereignty of the Indonesian court."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4071925 - 04/19/05 08:17 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Five days later, Corby taken for check-up
April 20, 2005
smh.com.au
The accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby was finally taken to hospital yesterday, five days after an Indonesian judge ordered that she be given a check-up following her collapse during her trial last week.
Corby's lawyer, Lily Lubis, said Corby had returned to prison in Denpasar after the medical examination.
She said she expected Corby would be well enough to face court tomorrow, when prosecutors will again try to deliver their sentence request.
"Today, physically she's OK, but mentally she's very down," Ms Lubis said at Denpasar police station, where she was planning to help her sister, who is also a lawyer, represent some of the nine Australians arrested on Monday for heroin smuggling offences.
On the last two occasions she has been in court Corby has been too ill for prosecutors to read out their statement detailing the sentence they believe judges should impose.
Corby could face the death penalty under the law used to prosecute her when she was caught with 4.1 kilograms of cannabis in her luggage at Denpasar airport last October.
When Corby collapsed last Thursday Judge Linton Sirait ordered that she have a full medical check-up.
Although this was expected to happen last week, Corby was only taken from jail on Monday.
Instead of going to hospital she was kept in prosecutors' cells for the day and then returned to jail.
A spokesman for Corby's legal team, Vasu Rasiah, said he could not understand the delay.
"What the hell is happening?" he said. "Are they waiting for another breakdown on Thursday?"
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4075570 - 04/20/05 12:34 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby lawyers reject help of top QCs
April 20, 2005
The Advertiser
SCHAPELLE Corby's legal team has snubbed the services of two of Australia's top criminal lawyers after they were recommended by the Australian Government.
The two top silks, Mark Trowell, QC, and Tom Percy, QC, now fear the headline-seeking antics of Corby's legal team could cost the 27-year-old beauty student her life.
The lawyers repeatedly approached Corby's legal team with offers of help, only to be shut out.
Mr Trowell called legal partners at Hoolihan's Lawyers in Surfers Paradise as part of a government-sponsored attempt to assist Corby, but his calls were not returned.
"I was very surprised there was no response," Mr Trowell said yesterday.
"We were offering ourselves at no cost, we were not trying to muscle-in because we had a thirst for publicity, but simply because she was an Australian national in a foreign country needing assistance."
Corby has been in Bali's Kerobokan Jail since October, when she was arrested at the holiday island's airport with 4.1kg of marijuana in her boogie board bag.
She will discover when her trial resumes on Thursday whether prosecutors want her to receive the death penalty if she is convicted.
Mr Trowell, a WA-based lawyer boasting excellent contacts within the Indonesian legal system, was approached by Attorney-General Philip Ruddock at a law conference in Queensland last month and asked if he would be willing to aid or guide the Corby team.
Mr Trowell and Mr Percy ? a high-profile WA criminal lawyer ? agreed to help, but only if the Attorney-General's office contacted Corby's lawyers first to make clear the two silks had the Government's backing.
Mr Trowell said Mr Ruddock wanted Corby to get the best help available, but was keen to ensure it did not appear the Australian Government was meddling with the Indonesian legal system.
Calls were made from the Attorney-General's office to the law firm just before Easter. They outlined Mr Trowell's credentials and recommending he be allowed to assist.
Mr Trowell said he left detailed messages with the law firm on two occasions. They outlined how he and Mr Percy could help but he received no response.
Corby's lawyers and financial backer Ron Bakir have repeatedly complained the Federal Government and Australian Federal Police have not done enough to help the Gold Coast beauty student.
But Mr Bakir's antics outside court have drawn fire from some observers, who worry his claims of bribery and corruption have placed Corby in peril.
Mr Bakir reportedly fled Bali this week, fearing he would be arrested for contempt of court.
Mr Trowell said drawing foreign media attention to a trial like Corby's usually had a negative effect.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4076240 - 04/20/05 07:54 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby fit to face court amid extra security
April 20, 2005
smh.com.au
Lawyers for Schapelle Corby say she will be well enough to face court tomorrow when Indonesian prosecutors are expected to demand a sentence of life imprisonment if she is found guilty of drug smuggling.
Extra security will be on hand for tomorrow's hearing to prevent a media crush and chaos in the courtroom when she collapsed last week.
Corby yesterday had a full medical examination at a Denpasar hospital.
Last week an Indonesian judge ordered that she be given a check-up after she collapsed.
Her lawyer, Lely Lubis, said Corby was feeling better than she had for several weeks, although the full medical report was still in the hands of the prosecutor.
"I saw her and she looked OK," she said.
"Physically she is OK, but there is still the psychology [test] which I didn't get yet."
Prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu is expected to demand a life sentence and a $A133,000 fine tomorrow, rather than the maximum death penalty for Corby.
But Corby's team is worried Mr Wiswantanu may toughen his request after Corby's main financial backer, Gold Coast businessman Rob Bakir, accused him of bribery.
Ms Lely said there "would be no justice" if the prosecutor demanded execution for the 27-year-old former beauty student given the strength of Corby's defence, even though several legal experts in Australia and Indonesia have accused her team of mounting a poor case.
She said judge Linton Sirait would order extra security after a media scrum almost swamped Corby last week, forcing police to carry her through the crush.
"The judge was pretty upset last time," Ms Lely said.
Ms Lely said Corby's defence team would have to wait another week before presenting the three judges and the prosecutor with a crucial letter which could help clear Corby of charges she carried 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Bali airport last year in her luggage.
A former airport security officer in 2002 penned a note tipping authorities off to a drug-running operation at Sydney Airport before he mysteriously died.
Former Australian Protective Services officer Gary Lee-Rogers was found dead in his Queanbeyan flat in October 2002 after alerting authorities in the letter.
Corby has repeatedly claimed she was an unwitting drug "mule" or courier of such a gang and Ms Lely said the letter may help reinforce her claim to innocence.
"We will include that in our plea [next week], after which the prosecutor will have a chance again to make a conclusion," she said.
"He can always change his request later on."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4079206 - 04/20/05 09:06 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Schapelle Corby arrives in court
April 21, 2005
heraldsun.news.com.au
GOLD Coast woman Schapelle Corby has arrived at a Bali court looking weak and unsteady.
Ms Corby is to hear what sentence prosecutors think she should get if she is found guilty of drug smuggling.
The 27-year-old arrived at the Denpasar Court in a police bus.
She emerged from the vehicle in handcuffs.
She was flanked by 10 Indonesian police officers as she slowly made her way through a chaotic media scrum to a holding cell next to the court.
Ms Corby looked weak and at times held her hands together as if she was praying.
She kept her head down and did not reply to questions shouted at her by reporters.
On her two previous court appearances this month, proceedings had to be postponed after she complained of being sick.
Last week, she fainted in the crowded court and earlier this week underwent court-ordered medical tests.
On paper, at least, she could face death by firing squad if a three-judge eventually convicts her of trying to smuggling more than 4kg of marijuana into Bali last year.
But Indonesian prosecutors at today's hearing are widely expected to recommend life imprisonment and a big fine.
Ms Corby says she is not guilty.
Defence lawyer Lely Lubis said a doctor had given Ms Corby a tranquiliser to help her get through today's hearing. "I told her to keep her spirits up," the lawyer said, adding Ms Corby replied that she was "ready".
Ms Corby's family has repeatedly raised concerns about her mental condition because of the stress of the high-profile trial and life behind bars.
Lubis said she could understand how "anyone can go crazy here, anyone can get depression from this".
The three judges are not expected to hand down a verdict for several weeks.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4079837 - 04/20/05 11:58 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby escapes death sentence
April 21, 2005
smh.com.au
Schapelle Corby is facing life in prison after prosecutors said they won't pursue the death penalty if she is found guilty of drug smuggling.
As expected, Prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu chose to pursue a life sentence rather than the maximum death penalty for Corby, should she be convicted.
Corby's team was worried Wiswantanu may toughen his request after Corby's main financial backer, Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir, accused him of bribery.
Wiswantanu told the court that Corby, who was arrested at Denpasar airport last year, should be found guilty of importing 4.2 kg of marijuana.
He said the case against her was "convincing".
"The defendant's actions can ruin the image of Bali as a tourist destination," he told the Denpasar court.
"The defendant's actions can make Bali look like a drug haven and affect young people's lives."
Wiswantanu also asked the trials' three judges to impose a 100 million rupiah ($13,500) fine.
In Indonesia, a life sentence means a prisoner spends the rest of his or her life behind bars.
Today, submission by the prosecution is only a recommendation. It will be up to a three-judge panel to determine Corby's guilt or innocence and determine her ultimate sentence.
They are not expected to hand down a verdict for several weeks.
The 27-year-old former Gold Coast beauty student has been charged over allegedly carrying 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Bali airport last year in her luggage.
Meanwhile, the judge overseeing Corby's trial says he won't be influenced by the arrests of nine fellow Australians accused of heroin trafficking in Bali.
Chief Judge Linton Siriat said he and his fellow two judges would consider the Corby case on its merits, and would not be influenced by the other arrests.
Judge Siriat says Australians should have faith in the integrity of the Indonesian justice system.
The judges are expected to hand down their verdict in mid to late May.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4080620 - 04/21/05 08:50 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Judge warns Corby could still face death
21 April 2005
abc.net.au
 It is still possible that Australian woman Schapelle Corby, who is accused of smuggling marijuana into Bali, will face the death penalty if she is found guilty next month.
Speaking outside the Denpasar District court, chief judge Linton Siriat confirmed that he has the power under Indonesian law to sentence Corby to death by firing squad, despite the prosecution calling for a life sentence.
He said his deliberations will be conducted in secret and no details will be announced until he delivers his verdict at the end of May.
During sentencing submissions, prosecutors said the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman's actions in attempting to smuggle marijuana into Bali had given an image that the island is a haven for narcotics distribution.
The prosecution team took turns summarising their case and demolishing the credibility of all of Corby's witnesses, including prisoner John Ford and criminologist Paul Wilson.
They said Corby's refusal to admit her crime had compounded her culpability.
They said the only reason to give leniency from the maxmimum death sentence was Corby's politeness to the court and lack of previous criminal record in Australia.
Finally, after a two-hour presentation, prosecutors declared that Corby should receive a life sentence for the crime of smuggling 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Bali last October.
"[We] demand the district court of Denpasar... declare the defendant Schapelle Corby guilty of breaking the law by importing narcotics, and give a life sentence in jail to the defendant," prosecutor ID Wiswantanu said.
They also requested a fine of $13,400.
Before being led from court Corby tearfully embraced her sister.
Schapelle Corby waited until she was deep inside the holding cells at the back of the Denpasar District Court before she unleashed the wail that has been building inside her for months.
Defence lawyers say they will ask the judge to reject the application and set Corby free when they address the court at the next hearing.
The case will resume next Thursday.
A verdict is not expected to be known for three to four weeks.
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says he is pleased the prosecution did not ask for the death sentence for Corby.
He says there is a chance the life sentence can be reduced if Corby is found guilty.
"We didn't want her to be sentenced to death and so the tiny little shard of positive light that comes through today is that the prosecution there have not recommended the death sentence, although they have recommended life," he said.
"But there again that is only a recommendation of the prosecution."
Mr Downer has warned the case is far from over, with further submissions yet to be heard from both the defence and prosecution.
"The judges obviously have the responsibility of making a decision, first of all as to whether Schapelle Corby is guilty or innocent and secondly, they will have the responsibility if she is found guilty of determining the sentence - not the prosecution," he said.
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faslimy
Dead Man
Registered: 04/03/04
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4081990 - 04/21/05 03:14 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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look at how us governments can juggle with a life like a stone, aren't we so good to the people we govern
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4083550 - 04/21/05 10:55 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Russell Crowe urges PM to act on Corby
April 22, 2005
news.com.au
HOLLYWOOD superstar Russell Crowe has appealed to the Australian Government to act to save Schapelle Corby from life in jail over what he says is a questionable charge.
Crowe, who owns a property at Nana Glen on the mid-north New South Wales coast, not far from the hippie capital Nimbin, also said it was time to decriminalise marijuana, as the present system was jeopardising too many lives.
The 41-year-old Oscar-winning actor jumped to the defence of of the Gold Coast woman, who faces life imprisonment if convicted of smuggling more than 4kg of cannabis into Bali's Denpasar airport last October.
Photographs of the distraught 27-year-old filled the front pages of newspapers today after Indonesian prosecutors yesterday announced they would seek life imprisonment rather than the death penalty.
Crowe called on Prime Minister John Howard to act, saying it was ridiculous that Ms Corby could rot away in prison for the rest of her life.
"When there is such doubt, how can we, as a country, stand by and let a young lady, as an Australian, rot away in a foreign prison?" he said on the John Laws Radio Program.
"That is ridiculous.
"We just gave Indonesia how many hundreds of millions of dollars in tsunami relief? We're not disrespecting your (Indonesia's) laws or anything, but in our minds we think there is a massive doubt here."
Crowe said the Government should request Ms Corby be brought back to Australia to face trial under the Australian judicial system.
"The photographs of Schapelle Corby broke my heart," he said.
"The first thing I thought this morning was, like, how can I get Johnny Howard on the phone and say 'look, what are you gonna do, mate, what are you gonna do?' - that's ridiculous, what if it was your daughter?
"You know it as well as I do - all of these things, international diplomacy, can be moved to meet the needs of the individual country in that time.
"The due process of Indonesian law we have to respect from an international relations point of view, but from my individual point of view, looking at it, it's like it's bulls**t, let's deal with it."
But his sympathies appeared to run dry when it came to the nine Australians held in Bali this week over an 8.65kg heroin seizure.
Four of the group allegedly had heroin strapped to their bodies and police have said they could face death by firing squad if found guilty of trafficking.
"That's a completely different thing," Crowe said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4084822 - 04/22/05 10:52 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby 'would serve full sentence'
April 23, 2005
theage.com.au
Schapelle Corby would serve her full sentence even if she was transferred to an Australian jail, says Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
But a prison transfer to Australia would still leave open the option of a presidential pardon, an Indonesian expert said.
With the prosecution demanding life imprisonment for Corby, who allegedly smuggled four kilograms of marijuana into Bali, Mr Downer said he would prefer Australians convicted in Asia to serve their sentences here. A prisoner exchange agreement with Indonesia was being negotiated, he said.
Once the agreement was finalised, 11 other Australians imprisoned in Indonesia could also finish their prison terms back home, Mr Downer said.
Corby's defence will put its closing submission to the court next Thursday. Corby may get to make her own statement. After that it's up to the judges, who may deliver a verdict next month.
Under such agreements, like the one with Thailand, prisoners would serve the same sentence as the local court had handed down, Mr Downer said.
"They don't come here and get retried in Australia, there's no question of that," he said.
Deakin University's Damian Kingsbury said a life sentence in Indonesia meant precisely that, with none of the usual remissions for set-term sentences. But it was not uncommon for Indonesia's president to grant pardons to prisoners serving life terms, he said.
Dr Kingsbury said the president normally granted several pardons towards the end of each year. It would be open for Corby to request a pardon if she was convicted.
She could also appeal to a higher court to have her sentence reduced, he said.
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LiveByFreedom
Catalyst
Registered: 03/21/05
Posts: 652
Loc: Mountains
Last seen: 5 years, 6 months
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4084933 - 04/22/05 11:26 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Damn, look at her picture. How could they honestly think she (a Gold Coast beauty student) was trying to smuggle 4.1kg of pot through the airport? The legal system in Indonesia sucks. I respect Russel Crowe for at least attempting to help, but i don't think it would have happened if he didn't see her picture. Wish there were something more we could do.
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"Everything is not as it seems." Eye
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero
Registered: 04/27/01
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: LiveByFreedom]
#4087763 - 04/23/05 05:23 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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> How could they honestly think she (a Gold Coast beauty student) was trying to smuggle 4.1kg of pot through the airport?
If a picture could determine guilt or innocence, life would be a lot easier. There are a lot of young woman that take stupid risks for the thrill. Winona Ryder shoplifting is a classic example. I don't know if Schapelle is innocent or not.
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Just another spore in the wind.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4091388 - 04/24/05 10:30 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby readies tearful last plea
April 25, 2005
Courier-Mail
SCHAPELLE Corby will deliver a personal plea "from her own heart" to the judges in her trial this week, begging them to listen to all the evidence and find her not guilty of drug smuggling.
Corby has told her lawyers she wants to write and deliver the plea herself, to supplement their lengthy legal closing address.
Her lawyers said she was writing her own statement in jail on the weekend and hoped to perfect it early this week.
It is expected that delivering the statement will be an emotionally difficult moment for the 27-year-old, who has, from day one, tearfully proclaimed her innocence.
On the last occasion she addressed the judges and the prosecutor she broke down, begging them to let her go home.
Corby's lawyer Lily Lubis, who visited her on the weekend at Bali's Kerobokan Jail, said she was nervous and worried after hearing the prosecutor last week demand that she be jailed for life.
She said Corby was working on the statement, which will be her own words and her own handwriting and "from her own heart".
"She is basically going to ask the judges not to be blinded by what the prosecutor has said. She is going to beg the judges to open their eyes and their hearts and use their intelligence and the facts," Ms Lubis said.
"It is going to be her words, we are not telling her what to say," she said.
Prosecutors last week told the three judges hearing her case that she was legally and convincingly guilty of attempting to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali and that she should be sentenced to life in jail with a 100 million rupiah ($13,500) fine.
In a damning assessment of the defence witnesses, including Victorian prisoner John Patrick Ford, prosecutor I.B. Wiswantanu told the three judges that all their testimony should be disregarded.
He was most scathing of Ford, whom he said had wanted to come to Bali from his prison cell "to inhale the air of freedom".
Ms Corby's lawyers plan to tell the three judges about the large number of letters they have received from Australians who claim their luggage was tampered with at airports in Sydney and Brisbane.
After Thursday the prosecutor will then be given an opportunity one week later to address the judges again.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4093997 - 04/24/05 11:57 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby to be sedated for 'plea from heart'
April 25, 2005
smh.com.au
Accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby will be sedated to prevent an attack of nerves as she protests her innocence to judges in a final "plea from her heart", her lawyer said today.
She will read a personal letter to judges in Bali on Thursday, saying she was an innocent victim of Australian drug gangs.
She will also attack the prosecutor for demanding a life sentence during his final statement to the Denpasar District Court.
Corby's Indonesian lawyer Lily Lubis said her client would need a sedative to help her face the hearing, after stress attacks forced the cancellation of two recent court appearances.
"Of course, yes," she said when asked if the 27-year-old former Gold Coast beauty student would continue taking powerful calming pills which helped her through her court appearance last week.
"Whatever she says will be counting as consideration. Of course she will get nervous, of course she will be afraid that it doesn't mean anything to the judges.
"But, hopefully, the situation will support her to be focused and then concentrate so that she can read the plea from her heart."
The defence team and Corby had also been unsettled by noisy protests in an adjoining court in recent weeks as students turned out in force to back a free-speech demonstrator involved in a clash with Indonesia's president, Lubis said.
Prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu last week said Corby had been proven officially and convincingly guilty of attempting to smuggle 4.1kg of cannabis into Bali, demanding judges hand her a life sentence.
But Lubis said Corby would ask judges "not to be blind" and would protest her innocence in a letter she was writing alone in her cell at Kerobokan Prison.
"Basically, she will state that she is innocent, the fact that when she heard it is a life sentence from the prosecutor, that basically it is not fair, that there is no justice for her," she said.
"She will protest, complain to the prosecutor, and ask the judges not to be blind like the prosecutor."
The letter, which Lubis hoped to receive today, would be translated into Indonesian before being read to the court, first by Corby in English, then by her translator.
A written copy would also be given to the judges hearing her case.
"It is the chance for her to say the way it is and then the judges can judge what it's all about," Lubis said.
"Hopefully it will make their belief even more strong, the belief of her innocence."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4098247 - 04/26/05 08:06 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby pregnancy claims 'rubbish'
April 26, 2005
theage.com.au
Schapelle Corby has taken a jail pregnancy test after a newspaper suggested she might be pregnant to a foreign lover - a story her family and lawyers angrily denounced as "absolute rubbish".
A Bali newspaper reported the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman, who faces life in jail if found guilty of drug smuggling, had fallen pregnant in Denpasar's Kerobokan Prison.
Corby will present her defence statement to a Bali court this week, denying charges of attempting to bring 4.1kg of cannabis into Bali airport last year.
"After (the prosecution demanded the court) sentence her to life in prison at Denpasar District Court last week, now the beautiful Corby is rumoured to be two months' pregnant," the Harian Umum Nusa (Island Public Daily) newspaper said. "Who got her pregnant?"
Corby had been having a casual relationship with another foreigner being held in the jail on drug charges since she was moved to the prison on January 6, the paper said.
Kerobokan Prison doctor AA Gede Hartawan asked Corby to undertake a pregnancy test in a bid to quash the rumours.
"It's negative," he told AAP.
Hartawan said rumours of Corby's pregnancy had been swirling since she collapsed in court and her trial was postponed for two weeks due to a mystery illness.
Corby's Indonesian lawyer Lily Lubis slammed the paper for not checking the accuracy of its report.
"It's absolute rubbish," she said. "These people. What else do they want from Schapelle?"
Corby's Indonesian brother-in-law, Wayan Widiartha, said the family was outraged.
"Schapelle has morals and there is no way she would have sex in that dirty, rat-infested, no-privacy place," he said.
"Where is she meant to be meeting her so-called lover? Are they having sex in the garden?"
He said Corby was stunned when told of the rumour last week.
"We don't understand why people make up these lies and the press actually prints them knowing it's all crap," Widiartha said.
Lubis said the rumour may have started because Corby had asked her main financial backer, Queensland businessman Ron Bakir, to buy baby clothes for a woman sharing her cell who was seven months' pregnant.
"Maybe someone overheard Schapelle reminding (her sister) Mercedes to remind Ron and misunderstood," she said.
She said Corby was still completing the statement she planned to make to the court on Thursday.
Corby is expected to ask judges not to ignore evidence backing her claims of innocence.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4101561 - 04/27/05 01:07 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby's hopes plummet
April 27, 2005
seven.com.au
Schapelle Corby will make a final "appeal from the heart" on Thursday, urging three Indonesian judges to acquit her of drug smuggling and reject demands that she spend the rest of her life in jail.
Corby's Indonesian lawyer Lily Lubis said the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman sat in her prison cell on Tuesday, preparing the statement she will read to a Bali court.
Lubis said her client's spirits were fading.
"I am very worried now," Lubis told AAP after visiting Corby in Denpasar's Kerobokan Prison.
"I know her very well after six months, and I can see Schapelle loses all hope."
Corby's statement, to be read out before defence lawyers present their final submission, may prove crucial to the judges' verdict which is expected in several weeks' time.
Last week, Corby broke down when prosecutors demanded that she serve a life sentence for allegedly bringing 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali airport last year.
Amid a huge media presence, every word and even movement will be scrutinised in a country which places great store in manners and polite behaviour.
Prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu last week agreed to drop the death penalty for Corby, partly because she had been well mannered during the trial process.
Another Australian, millionaire champion sailor Chris Packer, also escaped a tough penalty earlier this year because he had no prior record and had been polite throughout the trial.
The statement will place Corby under great stress and Lubis has said her client will take a sedative to help her stay calm and avoid attacks of nerves which have forced two previous trial appearances to be postponed.
Lubis said Corby had perhaps lost heart after speaking to others in jail on drug offences.
A South African man received a life sentence on Monday for possessing heroin. Like Corby, he claimed the drugs had been planted in his belongings without his knowledge.
"I can see that it is not really her now," Lubis said.
"She is not just nervous, she is angry and at the same time she is sad."
Lubis said she had stressed to Corby that the trial was not over and Thursday was just a summing up.
"I've told her don't give up," she said.
"But her eyes, her face - it is not a good expression anymore.
"After the last few days I can see she is angry."
Corby on Tuesday underwent a jail pregnancy test after a newspaper reported she had fallen pregnant to a foreign lover.
The test was negative, and her lawyers and family lashed out at the report, branding it "absolute rubbish".
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4102160 - 04/27/05 08:35 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Major hitch on quick Corby transfer
April 28, 2005
smh.com.au
The top Indonesian official negotiating the agreement to allow prisoners like Schapelle Corby to serve sentences in Australia believes the first five to eight years of a jail term should be spent in Indonesia.
Zulkarnain Yunus, a director-general of the Department of Justice, said his team would ask Australia to consider three options in negotiations about to begin for a prisoner repatriation agreement, but his view was a substantial portion of a sentence should be served in Indonesia.
"The second idea is for the prisoner to serve five or eight years in prison in Indonesia, and after that, allow an application for a transfer … This is a good idea, a good solution from Thailand," he said.
Mr Yunus made his comments to the Herald as Corby was preparing to implore three judges in Bali to accept her insistence that she had nothing to do with the 4.1 kilograms of marijuana found in her luggage at Denpasar Airport in October.
Last week prosecutors rejected Corby's case and urged the court to convict the Queensland woman and sentence her to life imprisonment. Corby's response to the prosecutors today is her last scheduled chance to convince the court of her innocence.
Canberra has said it would negotiate a prisoner repatriation agreement with Jakarta to allow Corby - if convicted - and 11 other Australians to serve their sentences at home and offer Indonesians in Australia the same chance. Indonesia has not yet concluded any agreement to repatriate prisoners, although Mr Yunus said that after two years, negotiations had almost been concluded with the French Government.
But the French agreement was very different from the one the Australian Government had proposed, Mr Yunus said.
Not only does it allow for French prisoners to apply for repatriation as soon as they are sentenced, it also allows for them to have their sentences "converted" by a French court to one more in line with that country's law once they were back home.
The Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, has already rejected the conversion option and said Australia wanted Corby and others to serve out whatever sentences an Indonesian court imposed: "A prisoner exchange - we have such an arrangement with Thailand, so that will do as a model," Mr Downer said last week.
"Under the … agreement with Thailand, if there is an agreement that the prisoner be transferred then the sentence has to be served as was handed down by the court in Thailand.
"They don't come here and get retried in Australia - there's no question of that."
Introduced in 2002, the International Transfer of Prisoners Scheme with Thailand allows prisoners to serve out their sentences in Australia if language or cultural barriers would prevent them from being rehabilitated.
Each application is considered individually and applicants must have at least one year remaining of their sentence and no other legal proceedings pending against them. If the transfer is approved, the prisoner must serve out the full remainder of the sentence in Australia. Although Indonesia has agreed with the conversion model in the negotiations with the French, Mr Yunus said he preferred the continued enforcement model proposed by Mr Downer.
Another option to be discussed with Australia included the right of a prisoner to apply to return home immediately after sentencing, although Mr Yunus said this was "not fair".
A third option was for Australian prisoners serving life sentences to wait until Indonesia's president approved an appeal for clemency and imposed a fixed term, usually 20 years, before they could apply for a transfer.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4104213 - 04/27/05 06:16 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby team 'anxious but hopeful' on key day
April 28, 2005
smh.com.au
Schapelle Corby's frustrated lawyers are "very anxious" but hopeful about today's crucial hearing, when the accused drug smuggler pleads for her life.
Corby will beg three Indonesian judges to spare her life in a Balinese Court room today.
The 27-year-old Gold Coast beauty therapy student is on trial for allegedly trying to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Indonesia.
She says she is innocent and that the drugs were planted in her bodyboard bag, possibly by a airport baggage handler.
Defence lawyer Robin Tampoe told ABC radio from Denpasar today Corby should not spend any time in jail.
"Schapelle Corby certainly shouldn't spend any time in jail ... but if they were to come back and impose a substantial sentence, well, the fact that we've got death off the table is small comfort if they impose life," he said.
The defence team was feeling confident but anxious about the hearing, he said.
"We're all very anxious, there's a lot of frustration amongst the defence but I think we've got some confidence as well, so we're hopeful we'll get a good hearing," he said.
The judges would deliver a verdict within a few weeks, he said.
"From the date she's charged, I think they have 207 days in which to deliver a verdict, which I think takes us to the 17th of May," he said.
"It could be a fast decision ... but certainly within the next few weeks we will know the answer. It's coming very quickly."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4105708 - 04/28/05 12:09 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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A tearful Corby begs judges for freedom
April 2, 2005
news.com.au
In a wavering voice, a tearful Schapelle Corby has begged three Indonesian judges not to convict her of drug smuggling, saying her life is in their hands.
"Firstly, I'd like to say to the prosecutors I cannot admit to a crime I did not commit," she told the Denpasar District Court.
"And to the judges, my life at the moment is in your hands but I would prefer that my life was in your heart."
"And I say again that I have no knowledge of how the marijuana came to be inside my bag, and I believe the evidence shows (that), one, there is a problem in Australia with security at airports and baggage handling procedures.
"Two, my own mistake is not putting a lock on on my luggage.
"Three, I have never at any stage claimed ownership of the plastic bag and its contents.
"Four, had the police weighed all of my luggage for the total weight, it would have proven to show a difference from the total weight at check-in at Brisbane airport."
In a voice cracking with emotion, she told the judges she had already been punished enough for doing no more than failing to lock her bags.
"I believe the seven months I have been in prison is severe enough punishment for not putting locks on my bags," she said tearfully.
Corby said her family's reputation and her own had been "severely burdened" since her arrest last October at Bali's Denpasar airport with 4.1kg of marijuana in her unlocked body board bag.
"I don't know how long I can survive in here," she said.
"I swear that as God is my witness, I did not know that the marijuana was in my bag.
"Please look to your God for guidance in your judgment for me. For God only speaks of justice, and your Honours, I ask for you to show good judgment and send me home.
"I am the innocent victim of a ... drug smuggling network.
"I am not a person involved in drugs and I am not a person who might become involved in a drug smuggling operation."
Observers say there is little chance the statement will make any difference to the outcome of the case.
Before today's hearing even began, the chief judge confirmed that he is 75 per cent of the way towards deciding her punishment.
Corby made her plea after her defence lawyers delivered a 70-page submission to the court.
Members of the Corby family had earlier decorated the courtroom with symbolic yellow ribbons and had written placards demanding her freedom.
Onlookers in the packed court applauded as Corby completed her statement that she had penned in her prison cell.
Moments earlier, her defence team had delivered its final submissions to the judges, who are expected to take weeks to consider their verdict.
Prosecutors last week demanded Corby receive a life jail term.
After making her statement, the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman left court room and the hearing was adjourned.
Corby has always denied smuggling the drugs into Bali when she arrived on a flight from Brisbane last October.
She claims she was an unwitting victim of an Australian drug smuggling ring, probably involving baggage handlers at Australian airports.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4106497 - 04/28/05 09:33 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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No Corby intervention: Downer
April 29, 2005
heraldsun.news.com.au
INTERVENING in accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby's Bali court case would be inappropriate and unhelpful, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.
Corby made a last-ditch plea to three Indonesian judges, begging them not to convict her of drug smuggling and saying her only crime had been failing to lock her bag.
The 27-year-old Gold Coast woman is accused of smuggling more than 4kg of marijuana into Bali airport in her unlocked boogie board bag last October.
Mr Downer said if Corby received a sentence that was clearly unreasonable, the Australian government would probably intervene.
But he said it was unhelpful to intervene before the Indonesian court had a chance to reach a judgment.
"When that case is completed, and if she's convicted, there will no doubt be an appeal and once that appeal is resolved then we'll have a look at the situation," Mr Downer told ABC's Lateline program.
"But certainly during the time the case is being heard, it's never going to be appropriate and frankly I don't think would be remotely helpful to an Australian if we started intervening and trying to influence the outcome of the case.
"If there are any anomalies in terms of the justice of the case, in terms of ... the legal procedures, then we would always take those up with the relevant government."
Mr Downer avoided answering a question on whether the outcome of the Corby case could damage Australia-Indonesia relations.
"We haven't had so much complaints about the actual procedures in the court or the way the case has been handled," he said.
"What we've had is ... an expression of view from many people in Australia that they believe that Schapelle Corby is innocent."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4110224 - 04/29/05 07:26 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby's plea falls on deaf ears
April 29, 2005
theage.com.au
Schapelle Corby's emotional plea to Indonesian judges to be set free may have fallen on deaf ears.
Corby, facing life in jail for alleged marijuana smuggling, yesterday read a prepared statement to a Bali court declaring her innocence and pleading to be allowed to go home.
The judge who will decide Schapelle Corby's future said last night he would ignore her emotional plea for freedom.
Linton Sirait said her tearful address carried no legal weight, and he would make his decision based solely on the evidence.
Corby held the court enthralled on Thursday as she read her handwritten appeal for mercy, but Mr Sirait did not understand a word, and is still waiting for a translation.
"Not enough - he or she has to prove he or she is not guilty," he told the Nine Network through a translator.
"Every inmate would say I'm not guilty.
"I'm still looking for something that can be related to the law."
In an ominous sign for Corby, Sirait today handed a life jail term to a South African man for heroin dealing.
The federal government is continuing to seek a prisoner transfer agreement with Indonesia, which could allow Corby to serve any jail term she receives at home in Australia.
Australia has sent Indonesia a copy of its prisoner transfer agreement with Thailand, and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock today said the government was anxious for a meeting to help progress the deal.
Edited by veggie (04/29/05 11:00 AM)
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4121598 - 05/01/05 11:09 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby trial prompts Bali boycott threat
2 May 2005 abc.net.au
A Hobart travel agent is threatening to refuse to sell holidays to Bali in protest against the treatment of alleged Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby.
Tony Foster, who is also the Mayor of Brighton Council, says he believes the Queensland woman is not receiving a fair trail in Indonesia.
Corby is on trial for allegedly smuggling four kilograms of marijuana into Bali in her boogie board bag.
He says his refusal to sell holiday packages to Bali is his way of making a personal protest against the Indonesian justice system.
"If she is found guilty, I've just taken the stance, the personal stance that I'm not going to sell Bali as a travel destination," he said.
"If people come in and want to go to that type of holiday I will probably suggest Phuket, Fiji, Vanuatu, but if they insist on Bali I'll say, well look there's a travel agent just up the road that will be able to help you."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4128118 - 05/03/05 01:30 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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$200,000 rumoured for Corby book deal
May 04, 2005 theaustralian.news.com.au
A BOOK deal to tell Schapelle Corby's story is set to rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Queenslander fighting drug charges in Indonesia, but she may have to give it all to the federal Government if she is found guilty.
Mobile phone magnate Ron Bakir is negotiating the deal, which is said to be almost finalised at $200,000.
But Attorney-General Philip Ruddock confirmed last night that if Ms Corby were found guilty, proceeds-of-crime legislation designed to stop criminals profiting from their notoriety could apply.
"For the proceeds-of-crime legislation to be invoked it does require a crime to be committed here or overseas, and there are a number of legal and evidentiary issues which would apply and which he will not comment on," a spokeswoman for Mr Ruddock said.
She said Mr Ruddock believed it was too early to talk about whether the federal Government would pursue any profits she might make.
"He feels it would be completely premature and inappropriate to speculate on matters that are still to be determined in a court of law."
Ms Corby is charged with trying to smuggle 4.1kg of high-quality marijuana into Bali from Australia.
The Australian publishing industry is abuzz with talk, but Mr Bakir said: "We definitely have no deal."
"There have been numerous offers from publishers but at this stage there is no signed deal," he said.
"It has nothing to do with me, everything I do is in the interests of Schapelle. All the offers that have been put are for Schapelle."
Mr Bakir is funding Ms Corby's legal battle in the Indonesian courts.
Pan Macmillan publisher Tom Gilliat refused to confirm or deny Pan was in talks or that a deal had been done.
It is understood author and former journalist Patrick Lindsay has been lined up to write the book for Pan.
Another senior industry insider for a rival publisher said they had been negotiating with Bakir through a potential writer for several weeks.
Of the rumoured Pan deal involving Mr Bakir and Lindsay, the source said: "I thought it could have been for more, but $200,000 seems a believable figure. It's in the ballpark. (Bakir) was indicating he had an offer."
Lindsay could not be contacted last night.
Ms Corby's sister, Mercedes Widiartha, said in Bali last night she knew nothing about a book deal. "I don't know what you're talking about."
A friend said Corby currently did not appear at all interested in a book.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4132938 - 05/04/05 12:50 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Eleventh hour letter to judge
05-05-2005 news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby has sent 11th-hour handwritten pleas to the chief judge and the chief prosecutor in her trial, begging to go home to Australia to be with her dying father.
Her grandmother died while she was locked up, she wrote in both letters, and she thought seven months in Balinese cells was sufficient punishment for forgetting to lock her body-board bag.
The 27-year-old beauty school student begged chief judge Linton Sirait to consider the evidence of John Patrick Ford, the Victorian prisoner flown to Bali by the Australian Government to testify he had overheard a conversation in jail concerning drug-smuggling in Australian airports.
"Please Mr Judge, find in your heart to take Mr John Ford's testimony into account, also all the evidence and lack of evidence - for your final verdict," Ms Corby wrote.
The two-page letters were delivered, with translations into Indonesian, to Judge Sirait last week, the day after the defence lawyers addressed the court in a final summation. That same day, Ms Corby also read from handwritten notes, her voice breaking and tears streaming down her cheeks.
Ms Corby's interpreter delivered the letters to the judge, and the judge was asked to pass on the second letter to chief prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu. Judge Sirait confirmed he had received the letter.
"Without being told to do it, John Ford's testimony will be considered," he said.
"All testimony from the witnesses, either from the prosecution or the defence, will be considered by the judges. That's certain. Not one element will be overlooked."
Arrested in Bali's Ngurah Rai airport last October, and accused of trying to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Indonesia, Ms Corby is scheduled to appear tomorrow in Bali District Court to hear the prosecutor's rebuttal of the defence's final address.
The prosecution team has already recommended a sentence of life in prison.
In the letter to the chief prosecutor, Ms Corby used a rather brisker tone.
"Both sides of the story don't add up," she wrote.
"Your side with Customs and police working unprofessionally. My side with no help from Australian airports and security."
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Jim
InjectableAmpoule
Registered: 04/07/04
Posts: 19,346
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4134385 - 05/04/05 06:31 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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It may be just me, but Her being crude to the judge is not smart considering she is at the Judges' mercy.
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Use the Fucking Reply To Feature You Lazy Pieces of Shit!
afoaf said:
Jim, if you were in my city, I would let you fuck my wife.
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motaman
old hand
Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 5,813
Last seen: 2 years, 18 days
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Jim]
#4134733 - 05/04/05 07:42 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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I think she is running out of option GJ.. What else do you think she should do?
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http://heffter.org
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Jim]
#4135167 - 05/04/05 09:10 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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I was thinking the same thing, Jim. I suppose at this point she figures since all the evidence in in, she may as well speak her mind.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4135222 - 05/04/05 09:17 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Hackers attack pro-Corby websites
May 5, 2005 theage.com.au
Websites fighting for the release of accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby are coming under attack from unknown international computer hackers keen to shut down the sites, the operator of a prominent pro-Corby site has told smh.com.au.
Daniel Pocock, who runs www.dontshootschapelle. com, said websites dedicated to Corby had been targeted by hackers.
Indonesian prosecutors are to deliver their final address to the court tomorrow.
Mr Pocock said there were at least 10 sites fighting the campaign.
The hackers are deliberately clogging web servers with denial of service attacks, making it impossible for people to visit the sites, Mr Pocock said.
"All the websites involved in this campaign have been attacked," he said.
"Web servers are designed to handle thousands of visitors an hour. But a denial of service attack is like simulating millions of people visiting the site an hour," he said.
The internet attacks were being traced to Indonesia and Singapore from people who did not know the facts of the case, he said.
"I guess that they probably just assumed that Schapelle is guilty without looking at the facts. Or perhaps they just don't care or maybe they just want to see an execution."
But he said they would not succeed.
"They think they can attack these sites and they can try and stir up trouble but, for every site that comes down, two more Schapelle sites come up," he said.
Meanwhile the operator of pro-Corby site www.schapellecorby. com said he had received vicious personal attacks.
"Intensive personal attacks, website attacks, email attacks, calls to my house, abuse, obscene language, threats, insults and otherwise degrading comments have been made towards me," a notice on his now closed website says.
The operator, who lists his name as "Ben aka coolaussie", said he had shut down the site because, "I am unable to verify the relationship to the Corby Family of ANY website claiming to be raising funds or selling products on their behalf."
Mr Pocock, who says he has the support of Corby's cousin, Shonnea Nicol, said traffic to his site had doubled since the shut down of www.schapellecorby. com.
His site receives up to 5000 hits an hour, he said, and, in its first week of operation, more than 20,000 signatures were generated via the site's petition to free Corby.
His site has received more than $4000 in donations, he said.
Donors can decide if they want their contributions given to the Corby family for immediate assistance or put into a reward fund for information leading to Corby's acquittal.
A petition can be downloaded from the site and sent to Corby's family. They will present the petitions to the court before a verdict is handed down.
A NSW pensioner who took the petition to the local supermarket attracted a queue of keen supporters longer than the check-out queue, Mr Pocock said.
Messages of support can also be left at the site. Mr Pocock said messages were printed out by Corby's sister, Mercedes, and shown Corby.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4135331 - 05/04/05 09:36 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Bakir says he's launching 'official' Corby website
May 5, 2005 smh.com.au
The man bankrolling Schapelle Corby's case, Ron Bakir, said he appreciated the good intentions of all the people creating pro-Corby websites.
But he says only one website, which will go online tomorrow, will act as the official fundraising site for the Corby family - http://www.schapellecorby.com.au/.
"There are certain websites who are requesting donations and for the sake of the Corby family we need to ensure that the donations get to the family," he told smh.com.au.
He was unaware that some Corby campaign sites were being attacked but condemned anyone who would do so.
"Whoever does not want to support Schapelle Corby and whoever does not want ot support truth, freedom and justice should not log on to any of these sites," he said.
Corby was struggling to cope in prison in Bali, he said.
"She's emotionally distraught and she just can't wait to get out."
Mr Bakir said he had been contacted by a number of publishers seeking a book deal but nothing had been signed yet.
"There's been offers but there has been no deal done at this stage. The publishers are considering writing about Schapelle's life and that's a matter for them," he said.
He did not want to comment on speculation that offers of $200,000 were being sought for the book.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4137898 - 05/05/05 12:45 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Final submissions for Corby prosecutors
May 6, 2005 news.com.au
INDONESIAN prosecutors will have their final say in Schapelle Corby's drugs trial today after Bali police rejected defence accusations that they bungled their investigation.
Corby's legal team has also criticised comments made by the trial's head judge, who appeared unmoved by Corby's emotional plea of innocence last week.
Bali prosecutor I Bagus Wiswantanu has already called for the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman to be jailed for life for allegedly trying to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali last October.
Today in the Denpasar District Court he will reply to last week's defence call for her acquittal.
Corby's lawyers say that after her arrest at Denpasar airport police failed to fingerprint the boogie board bag that contained the drugs.
Corby has suggested the drugs were put in her bag after she had checked in for the flight to Bali, possibly by a criminal gang operating at Australian airports.
Vasu Rasiah, an adviser to Corby's legal team, said the prosecutor was now trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat and was ignoring key evidence.
The defence team would "definitely" make another submission to the court next week, zeroing in on reports that Bali's top drugs cop Colonel Bambang Sugiarto had acknowleged that the case hadn't been properly investigated.
Sugiarto has rejected defence claims of incompetence. He said if the evidence against Corby had been insufficient, the case would never have gone to trial.
Rasiah also criticised Linton Sirait, the chief judge hearing Corby's case, for saying Corby had not proved her innocence in her emotional statement last week, when she asked the court to free her.
Rasiah said the comments were "amazing" and could lead to an appeal if Corby was found guilty and sentenced to life in jail, as prosecutors have demanded.
With Rasiah's promise of a reply to the prosecutor, a verdict by the court's three-judge panel is now likely by the end of the month, possibly May 26.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4139130 - 05/05/05 05:32 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby witnesss 'stabbed in jail'
May 6, 2005 theage.com.au
The Victorian prisoner who gave evidence at Schapelle Corby's trial in Bali has been stabbed in a Victorian jail, his ex-wife said today.
John Patrick Ford, 40, is facing charges of rape, threat to kill, stalking, aggravated burglary and intentionally causing serious injury.
He has been in remand for 14 months. His trial is due to begin on May 13 in the County Court.
Rita Ford said her ex-husband John Ford was slashed on the back by a prisoner using a bladed weapon and had since been placed in solitary confinement for his protection.
Mrs Ford said she believed the attack was related to his high-profile role in the defence of accused drug smuggler Corby in Bali last month.
"He's all right but it has really taken its toll since he came back (from Corby's trial),'' Mrs Ford said.
"It's been really tough mentally and emotionally.
"He's back in solitary confinement now, and that means three-hour lockdowns, one visit a week and one phone call a day.
"It's for his own safety. It's come with what he's done helping out with the (Corby) case over there.''
Ford told a Bali judge that Corby was the victim of a trafficking syndicate that had "lost" 4.1 kilograms of high-grade marijuana after putting it in her bodyboard bag at Brisbane Airport last October.
He said two men who had told him that "somebody else got caught with it and somebody else was going to get done for it".
"There is no way on God's Earth that Miss Corby is a drug trafficker," he said. "My belief in that is so strong that I have put my personal safety at risk over this. I just want to see justice done."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4139734 - 05/05/05 08:15 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Schapelle Corby arrives in court
May 6, 2005 seven.com.au
Alleged drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has arrived at Denpasar District Court to hear a final statement by prosecutors.
The 27-year-old Gold Coast woman made no comment as police led her to a holding cell at the courthouse.
Indonesian prosecutors are expected to argue against defence claims that Bali police bungled their investigation.
Corby's legal team has also criticised comments made by the trial's head judge, who appeared unmoved by Corby's emotional plea of innocence last week.
Bali prosecutor I Bagus Wiswantanu has already called for Corby to be jailed for life for allegedly trying to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali last October.
Corby's lawyer Lily Lubis said her client was suffering from stress and was physically shaking when she was driven to the latest hearing.
She said Corby was becoming increasingly depressed through the final phases of the trial, but said the former student beautician was not suicidal.
"She is a strong person. So I hope she will not do a stupid thing," Lubis said.
Lubis also said she would speak in court about news that John Ford, the Victorian prisoner who gave evidence at Corby's trial, had been attacked twice and slashed with a razor blade in a Victorian jail.
In March, Ford went to Bali and told the Denpasar District Court that the drugs found in Corby's luggage had been planted there without her knowledge by criminals involved in a drug-trafficking ring operating at Australian airports.
Ford testified that he had overheard two fellow prisoners laughing about how a crime boss's shipment of marijuana had gone missing between Brisbane and Sydney last year.
He said the drugs were owned by a Melbourne man, who later vehemently denied the allegation.
At the time Ford said he had endangered his life by appearing as a defence witness for Corby.
Indonesian prosecutors, though, dismissed the validity of Ford's testimony.
But Lubis said the attacks on Ford showed that his testimony was serious.
"Everyone in the Indonesian legal system should know it is not a joke," she said.
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SuperD 
Lophophiend
Registered: 10/05/03
Posts: 4,982
Loc: My stash box
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4139870 - 05/05/05 08:54 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Let the poor woman go for fuck's sake. It's a P-L-A-N-T. Ridiculous bullshit like this will be looked at in the future just as we look at Salem witch trials today.
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I'd like you to meet my local drug dealer 
Bruce Campbell for a day! said: Go misidentify a mushroom please.
"Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young, 1988
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4140342 - 05/05/05 10:53 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Prosecutors sure of Corby guilt
May 6, 2005 dailytelegraph.news.com.au
INDONESIAN prosecutors confidently wrapped up their case against accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby today, dismissing defence testimony and her tearful plea of innocence as emotional words with no legal weight.
Prosecutors in the Schapelle Corby drugs trial say the 27-year-old was caught red-handed importing drugs to Indonesia, and should therefore be jailed for life.
Worryingly for the defence team, the three judges in the Denpasar District Court appeared to nod in agreement during the prosecution's summation.
Defence lawyer Lily Lubis also appeared pessimistic ahead of a verdict from the judges, possibly on May 26.
In their final statement to the court, prosecutors denied they had ignored key evidence the defence claims shows Corby is innocent of smuggling 4.1 kg of marijuana into Bali airport last October.
Corby's legal team had tried to sway the judges with emotional arguments, instead of legal fact, they said.
"We conclude legally that there was nothing to respond to," prosecutor Ni Wayan Sinaryati said of the defence case.
"According to us it is natural and common in the defence effort for lawyers to have a different view," he said.
"But the lawyers have used phrases which are emotive and not sympathetic towards police and the customs."
Sinaryati said there had been little about "real justice" in a two-hour defence submission read to the court last week ahead of an Corby's own personal appeal for freedom.
"To achieve justice we must follow the law," she said.
Sinaryati argued it was legal fact that Corby had brought the drugs to Bali in her unlocked body board bag.
She said defence witness statements from Corby's family and friends could not be trusted.
She also attacked evidence from Victorian prisoner John Ford - who was stabbed in a Victorian jail this week after testifying in support of Corby.
Ford told the court last month that he had heard two other Australian inmates laughing about how the 27-year-old had been an innocent "mule" used by domestic drug gangs in Australia.
Sinaryati said such claim had come from someone who had been "joking".
"The statement was not based on valid legal procedure," Sinaryati said.
Corby, dressed in a green shirt and black slacks, only learned of Ford's stabbing when she was led past a smaller than usual group of waiting journalists, thinned out by fears of a police visa raid during the court hearing.
Her lawyer Lubis said she hoped Ford's stabbing - which she said she would tell judges about next week - would help convince them that his evidence about a domestic drug smuggling ring in Australia had been serious.
"We cannot influence the judges, but we believe that with their intelligence they can see it is not a joke," she said.
Lubis also started talking about the possibility of an appeal.
"This is only the first court," she said.
"It is the system, when you cannot get what you expect.
"If it is not (a verdict for freedom), of course we will not give up."
Lubis said Corby, who was shaking on her way into court, was becoming increasingly depressed as the verdict drew closer and hoped she was not becoming suicidal.
Edited by veggie (05/05/05 11:11 PM)
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4148326 - 05/07/05 08:07 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Indonesian police admit Corby case flaws
May 8, 2005 abc.net.au
The head of the Balinese drug squad says he sees some weaknesses in the case against Schapelle Corby.
Prosecutors have demanded a life sentence, saying she was caught red-handed importing drugs into Indonesia.
On Indonesian television, Colonel Bambang Sugiarto has singled out the lack of television footage at Bali airport when she arrived last October as one weakness.
In comments aired on Channel Nine, Colonel Sugiarto said there were other gaps in the prosecution case.
Colonel Sugiarto said the prosecution case was only half there because of difficulties with fingerprinting.
A verdict is expected by the end of the month.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4149143 - 05/08/05 12:50 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Police part of smuggling at airports
May 8, 2005 thecouriermail.news.com.au
THE Australian Federal Police had in the past failed to properly investigate allegations of drug trafficking at airports because serving police officers were involved in the practice, a former detective said today.
Ray Cooper, a former head of operations for the AFP's internal investigations, told Channel 9 it was well known by the force that unwitting passengers were being used as "mules" to shift drugs between Australian domestic airports.
He said his investigations suggested some state and federal police were in league with the smugglers.
"It was well known amongst the federal police that this particular operation and strategy was being adopted by criminals," Mr Cooper said.
"(But) the leadership of the federal police was not capable or strong enough to conduct a thorough, honest and open investigation.
"They were afraid for their reputation. They wanted the world to believe they were the only police force in the world that didn't have corruption.
"They were naive then, and I believe to some extent they're still naive."
Mr Cooper also said some Australian airports suffered from a lack of security that made it easy for drug smugglers to gain access to passenger's baggage.
Speaking about Gold Coast Airport, Mr Cooper said: "There was no control at the back of that airport. Every man and his dog can access that baggage."
Mr Cooper's claims lend credence to accused Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby, who faces possible life in prison for carrying 4.2kg of cannabis to Bali.
Ms Corby has long maintained the drugs were planted in her boogie board bag at Brisbane airport. Mr Cooper did not comment on security at Brisbane.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4149600 - 05/08/05 07:27 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Marijuana in luggage: consulate confirms call
May 9, 2005 - smh.com.au
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed a man rang the Australian consulate in Bali when he found a package of marijuana in his bag after flying in from Melbourne.
The Melbourne man, named only as "Steve", told Channel Nine's Sunday program that he found an airtight bag of drugs about the size of a loaf of bread when he unpacked.
Steve came forward in an attempt to bolster the case of Schapelle Corby, the Australian woman charged in Indonesia with attempting to smuggle 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into the country.
When Steve discovered the marijuana in 1997 he immediately contacted the Australian consulate. He says he was told: "If you get caught with that, mate, you'll be eating nasi goreng (rice) for the rest of your life in jail."
Steve said he was advised to flush the package down the toilet and not tell the authorities under any circumstances.
Julie McDonald, a spokeswoman for the department, said the vice-consul remembers the call. She said the vice-consul discussed three options - seeking legal advice, reporting the matter to authorities or disposing of the drugs.
"But he didn't advise any particular course of action, saying that was a matter for the individual concerned," Ms McDonald said.
The Sunday program also aired claims by a former Australian Federal Police officer, Ray Cooper, that it was well known air passengers were used as unwitting drug mules.
Mr Cooper also said allegations of drug trafficking at airports had not been properly investigated because serving police officers were involved.
An AFP spokeswoman, Rebecca Goddard, said: "If Mr Cooper has evidence of any offence that has not already been thoroughly examined he should take that to the AFP or Commonwealth Ombudsman, not Channel Nine."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4151532 - 05/08/05 08:28 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby's lawyers gear up to make final submission
May 9, 2005 - theadvertiser.news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby's lawyers will tell her trial judges this week the evidence of Customs officers who first apprehended her cannot be relied upon because their grasp of English was too poor.
The defence gets one last chance this week to make submissions or their "duplik" to the court before the judges retire to consider a verdict.
But allegations on the weekend by an ex-Australian Federal Police officer about baggage handlers using domestic airports and the luggage of unsuspecting passengers to traffic drugs between states are too late to be introduced as evidence.
Ray Cooper, former head of operations for the AFP's internal investigations, told the Nine Network it was well known by the AFP that unwitting passengers were being used as "mules" to shift drugs between Australian domestic airports.
All evidence in the case has now closed and both sides have made their closing addresses.
Vasu Rasiah, a consultant to Ms Corby's legal team, said yesterday allegations raised by Mr Cooper could only be used in an appeal to a higher court, should Ms Corby be found guilty by the Denpasar District Court.
Mr Cooper, former anti-organised crime head in the AFP's internal investigations section until he left in 1995, said at the time there was ample intelligence to suggest airports were being used to transport drugs between states.
Prosecutors in Ms Corby's trial have placed importance on the evidence of Customs officer Gusti Nyoman Winata, who testified that when he tried to open Ms Corby's boogie board bag she tried to stop him, saying: "No, I have some."
Ms Corby has denied this ever happened, saying that she willingly opened the bag without being asked.
When the court resumes on Thursday, in response to the prosecution's submissions, the defence team will tell the judges Mr Winata's evidence of the conversation that day cannot be relied upon because his grasp of the English was not good enough.
Ms Corby's team has also seized on comments made by the head of Bali's drug squad, Lieutenant-Colonel Bambang Sugiarto, in an Indonesian TV interview that the inquiry regarding fingerprints on the plastic bag of drugs had only been 50 per cent completed.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4153750 - 05/09/05 01:58 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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The story below confirms that baggage handlers are involved with drug smuggling in Australia, and possibly how marijuana found it's way into Schapelle Corby's bag. Unfortunately, this will not be of any help to Ms. Corby.
Airport link to cocaine ring arrests
May 10, 2005 - smh.com.au
Baggage handlers at Sydney Airport allegedly helped smuggle cocaine for a multi-million dollar drugs ring that NSW and federal police say they have smashed.
Police yesterday arrested 11 men, including a former NSW police sergeant and a former merchant banker, in raids throughout the city and have charged them with conspiring to smuggle and supply 20-30 kilograms of cocaine.
Although none of the men were baggage handlers, police say they believe the syndicate could not have sneaked suitcases filled with drugs past customs for more than a year without the help of handlers, the Herald has learnt.
The syndicate allegedly made $10 million from one drugs run from South America last year alone. Police allegedly found in a Bondi home a photo of a man wearing a black balaclava posing behind a small pyramid of $10 million in $100 and $50 notes stacked on the dining room table.
Police allege that he is one of the men arrested.
The targeting of baggage handlers comes amid concerns about security in cargo handling areas at Australian airports and claims by that Australian Schapelle Corby that the cannabis Indonesian authorities allegedly found in her luggage in October was planted.
Last night an adviser for Corby's legal team, Vasu Rasiah, said he was shocked by news of the arrests but said it was too late to help Corby, who faces life in jail if convicted of drugs smuggling.
"Every Australian should be upset by this news," he said.
The NSW and federal police said that yesterday's arrests had nothing to do with the nine Australians Bali police arrested last month allegedly trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia. The syndicate they were targeting allegedly smuggled cocaine out of South America.
Starting at dawn, police raided homes in Bondi, Brighton-Le-Sands, Collaroy, Coogee, Gladesville, Greenwich, Kings Cross, Maroubra, Normanhurst, Paddington, Padstow, Petersham, Pyrmont and Winston Hills. The ages of those arrested ranged from 18 to 70. No drugs were found.
The acting NSW Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, who made the announcement with the Federal Police Special Operations Agent Michael Phelan and the head of the NSW Police Special Crime Unit working with the State Crime Commission, Assistant Commis-sioner John Carroll, said the arrests were the result of a five-month investigation.
Mr Scipione said it was unknown what happened to the $10 million. However, police said they found $1 million buried in a suitcase at one of the 15 premises they raided.
Only two of the arrested men have appeared in court.
A former merchant banker, 40, faced Central Local Court charged with importing a prohibited drug. He was refused bail and is to appear in Central Local tomorrow.
The other was a former NSW Police detective sergeant, 50, who faced Sutherland Local Court charged with supplying a prohibited drug. He was refused bail and was ordered to appear before Central Local Court next Tuesday.
The other men arrested in the raids included: a man from Maroubra, 56; a man from Coogee, 70; a man from Winston Hills, 28; a man from Kings Cross, 50; a man from Petersham, 55; a man from Bondi, 39; a man from Woy Woy, 33; and two brothers from Padstow, 37 and 18.
They are expected to face courts today.
Edited by veggie (05/10/05 09:18 AM)
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Jim
InjectableAmpoule
Registered: 04/07/04
Posts: 19,346
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4154917 - 05/09/05 07:12 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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All the evidence is in, but when you give up hope... thats when you are fucked.
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Use the Fucking Reply To Feature You Lazy Pieces of Shit!
afoaf said:
Jim, if you were in my city, I would let you fuck my wife.
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Photoguy
Drunk andJobless
Registered: 02/24/05
Posts: 553
Loc: Drunk in Texas
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Jim]
#4156464 - 05/10/05 06:16 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Jesus tapdancing christ. I just read every single page of this story.
#1 I am a world traveler. I will NEVER EVER go to Indonisia, EVER. I will not contribute one cent to that economy.
#2 I see some SUV sized holes in this story. Third world countries legal systems run on bribes and illegal payments. This was what they were looking for, but with the lime light shinning on her, they were forced to procced into areas that they did not want to go.
#3 The australlian government has been shamfully lacking in fighting for her freedom. With the alleged amount of inconsistancies that have shown up in this case, along with new evidence, they still stand silent? Why? What deal do they have with indonessia that they do not want to scew up?
Maybe because of a 550 million dollar investment plan...
http://www.austrade.gov.au/overseas/layout/0,,0_S3-1_3z6-2_-3_PWB110366804-4_-5_-6_-7_,00.html
That grew into a 8.5 billion dollar monster...
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15006668-31037,00.html
Or the fact that a new joint australlian/indonesia space program is in the works.(This link is the begining stages of it. I can dig up more recent ones, but need more coffee..)
http://www.science.org.au/reports/spacesub.htm
The point is, they don't want to ruin a amazing trade agreement that could strengthen australias global economy by some 20% over a girl.
It is a sad sad thing, and i am glad someone posted it up on this website. I am going to be fowarding this story to many reporters in the midwest see, if we can get some press on this here.
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You gotta check yo' self before you wreck yo' self
B, Z, F, Burma, Cambodian, Golden Teacher, Puerto Rico, South American, Costa Rica, African
My name is Ender Wiggen and I will own you soon. Bean is my second in command, he is PC'ing jars right now.
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faslimy
Dead Man
Registered: 04/03/04
Posts: 3,435
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Photoguy]
#4159095 - 05/10/05 06:36 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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I take it they just swept the death sentance which in the beginning was mandatory if he was found guilty under the carpet due to media attention?
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: faslimy]
#4159940 - 05/10/05 09:57 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Actually, she could still be sentenced to death if found guilty of drug trafficking. The chief judge in the case has the power to have Schapelle killed by firing squad even though the prosecution is now recommending a life sentence. A verdict is expected by the end of the month. I don't think the media attention will have any influence at all.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#4159974 - 05/10/05 10:02 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby's defence case flimsy, says Keelty
May 11, 2005 - smh.com.au
Australia's top cop says intelligence supporting Schapelle Corby's defence of being an unwitting Australian drug mule is flimsy.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) commissioner Mick Keelty said if he were called on to give evidence in Corby's Bali trial, he could not fully support the theory.
"There is very little intelligence to suggest that baggage handlers are using innocent people to traffic heroin or other drugs between states," Mr Keelty told ABC Radio.
"We can only go by the intelligence we've got.
"If I was to give evidence in a case like Corby's I would have to be honest and I would have to say that's what the intelligence produces."
Corby, 27, faces life imprisonment if found guilty of importing 4.2 kg of cannabis into Bali.
The Queenslander has maintained she did not know there was marijuana in her baggage and believes the drugs were planted in her bag at Brisbane airport, possibly by baggage handlers running a domestic drug-running operation.
The commissioner has also said Corby's case could not be compared to the alleged cocaine smuggling racket busted this week, which also involved airport baggage handlers.
On Monday, 15 homes were raided across Sydney as part of Operation Mocha, a five month investigation into an alleged conspiracy to import up to $15 million worth of cocaine into Australia.
Police say the plan was to bring in up to 30 kg of cocaine in suitcases carried by drug mules on flights from South America.
Mr Keelty said the AFP was aware of baggage handlers on the international side who were involved with the syndicates - but the situation was nothing like what had been raised by Corby's defence lawyers.
"In terms of comparing it (the cocaine ring) to the Schapelle Corby case, we actually know the alleged role the players, I'm not going to go specifically into baggage handlers, but the alleged role of the various players," Mr Keelty said.
"The allegation by her defence team ... is that she was unwittingly used a mule in an attempt by baggage handlers to trade, behind the scenes if you like, in narcotics between Brisbane and Sydney.
"This cocaine job is about importing narcotics into Australia. It's not about trafficking between states, or alleged trafficking between states.
"(Corby's case is) very different to what we've got here (Operation Mocha)."
The alleged cocaine ring was an international operation and based on the international side of the airport, which was some distance away from the domestic terminals.
Mr Keelty said he did not think it did Corby's case any good to be discussing it in the Australian media because it appeared to be critical of the Indonesian justice system.
Edited by veggie (05/11/05 01:16 AM)
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4160626 - 05/11/05 01:20 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Keelty 'ignoring' airport evidence
May 11, 2005 - theadvertiser.news.com.au
AUSTRALIAN Federal Police (AFP) commissioner Mick Keelty is ignoring evidence of a drug trafficking network active in Australian airports, a top adviser for accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby says.
As Ms Corby's lawyers prepare to make a final plea before a Bali court tomorrow, one of her main advisers criticised Mr Keelty for suggesting her defence of being an unwitting Australian drug mule was flimsy.
"There is very little intelligence to suggest that baggage handlers are using innocent people to traffic heroin or other drugs between states," Mr Keelty told ABC radio today.
Corby adviser Vasu Rasiah said Mr Keelty's timing was appalling, and he was "flabbergasted and shocked" by his comments just a day ahead of the Gold Coast woman's crucial next court appearance.
"Everybody talks about baggage handlers except Mick Keelty," Mr Rasiah said.
"He is just covering for AFP."
From the time Ms Corby was arrested last october, Mr Keelty had sought to brush over the problem of a domestic drug ring operating in Australian airports, selecting unsuspecting travellers such as Ms Corby to be their unwitting couriers, Mr Rasiah said.
Allegations in a Sydney court today that Qantas baggage handlers were paid $300,000 to smuggle a briefcase packed with cocaine through Sydney airport helped to underpin Ms Corby's defence, he said.
Those claims came on top of weekend evidence from Ray Cooper, former head of operations for the AFP internal investigations, that drug networks within Australian airports were a long-standing problem for the force.
"What does Mick Keelty say about that?" Mr Rasiah said.
In Canberra, an AFP spokesman refused to respond to Mr Rasiah's comments.
But he said the AFP had never denied there were criminal baggage handlers.
Mr Keelty had only pointed to the lack of evidence for the use of innocent drug mules, he said.
Mr Rasiah said Ms Corby's final defence would focus on weekend comments by Bali drug chief Lieutenant Colonel Bambang Sugiarto that there were gaps in the prosecution case against her.
Lt-Col Sugiarto reportedly told Indonesian television the lack of video footage of Ms Corby's arrest and problems with fingerprinting bags containing the 4.1kg of marijuana she allegedly tried to smuggle into Bali were shortcomings in the case.
But he told AAP last week that his comments had been taken out of context and it would have been impossible to bring the case to court if it had not been properly completed.
But Mr Rasiah said Lt-Col Sugiarto had undermined the entire prosecution case.
"Is there any other case that would come to court which had only been 50 per cent completed?" he said.
Ms Corby, 27, faces life in prison if judges accept the demands of prosecutors.
The panel of three judges hearing her case is expected to hand down a verdict on May 26.
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daba
Stranger
Registered: 12/30/02
Posts: 3,881
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: Photoguy]
#4160847 - 05/11/05 05:30 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Photoguy said:
The point is, they don't want to ruin a amazing trade agreement that could strengthen australias global economy by some 20% over a girl.
Well, duh...
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4161636 - 05/11/05 10:35 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby flew out the same day
May 12, 2005 - smh.com.au
The day police allege a Sydney drug ring brought almost 10 kilograms of cocaine through Sydney Airport with the help of corrupt baggage handlers is the same day Schapelle Corby flew to Bali from the same airport.
Corby, who faces life imprisonment for allegedly smuggling 4.2 kilograms of marijuana into Indonesia, claims the drugs were placed in her luggage by baggage handlers.
A spokesman for Corby's legal team, Vasu Raiah, said the allegations, which were presented in a police statement yesterday, were "unbelievable".
He again attacked the Australian Federal Police for refusing to acknowledge baggage handlers' involvement in smuggling at Australian airports. "We have told them so many times baggage handlers are involved."
Mr Raiah said he could not raise the new allegations in court because the Indonesian legal system only allowed the defence to raise the matters that had already been before the court. However, he said the legal team would seek to use the allegations in an appeal.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4162811 - 05/11/05 03:55 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Law Council outraged by Keelty's Corby comments
May 12, 2005 - abc.net.au
The Law Council of Australia says Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty has acted dangerously in publicly commenting on the Schapelle Corby case during the trial.
Corby is facing life imprisonment after being charged with smuggling four kilos of marijuana into Bali.
Mr Keelty has questioned Ms Corby's defence about the involvement of baggage handlers and played down evidence by Victorian prisoner John Ford as unsubstantiated.
Council president John North says if the Commissioner has evidence he should present the information to the Indonesian authorities instead of commenting publicly.
Mr North says he has growing concerns Mr Keelty's comments about Ms Corby's defence could jeopardise her chances of a fair trial.
"Hopefully, the Indonesian judges will ignore whatever he says, but the potential is still there," he said.
"If the Australian police have more information then ... they [should] share this with the Indonesian authorities as they have in the Bali nine case.
"He should either put up, or shut up."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4163592 - 05/11/05 06:49 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Qantas can't dismiss Corby-handlers link
May 12, 2005 - seven.com.au
Qantas could not rule out a link between corrupt baggage handlers implicated in a cocaine smuggling racket and claims by Schapelle Corby that handlers planted drugs in her luggage, chief executive Geoff Dixon said on Thursday.
Mr Dixon said he was aware of reports that Corby's boogie-board was processed at Sydney Airport's international terminal on the same day a Qantas baggage handler allegedly smuggled near 10kg of cocaine out of the airport from another plane.
"I can't rule out any link," he said.
"All I can say is that we have looked very carefully over the past five months we've known what's been going on and we haven't found any connections, but I can't say anything more than that."
Corby, 27, is accused of smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali.
She faces life in prison if judges agree with prosecutor demands when handing down their verdict, tipped to be on May 26.
Corby's lawyers are to make a final plea before a Bali court on Thursday.
Mr Dixon said covert cameras should be installed in baggage handling areas at all airports and in aircraft holds.
The airline said it had worked closely with police during their five month Operation Mocha investigation into an alleged conspiracy to bring up to $15 million worth of cocaine to Australia from South America.
Court documents tendered in a bail application on Wednesday for a man charged over the alleged cocaine importation conspiracy said Qantas baggage handlers were paid $300,000 to smuggle a briefcase containing 9.9 kg of cocaine through Sydney International Airport on October 8 last year.
Mr Dixon said covert cameras should be placed in aircraft holds and other baggage handling areas.
"I think it's getting to the stage were some civil liberties in these situations must be given away," Mr Dixon told the Seven network.
Qantas had written to the federal government asking for assistance in seeking to change state-based legislation to allow the cameras to be installed.
"I certainly think covert cameras are necessary now," Mr Dixon said.
He also defended the majority of Qantas' 38,000 staff as "decent hardworking people".
"You've got maybe one or two and maybe a few more who are involved in this," Mr Dixon said.
"I would defend the great majority of Qantas employees as decent hardworking people and I think that's shown everyday by the way they go about their business."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4164256 - 05/11/05 09:22 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby in court to make final plea
May 12, 2005 - smh.com.au
Schapelle Corby has arrived at court in Bali where her lawyers will make a final plea in her defence before judges hand down their verdict.
The Gold Coast woman is facing possible life in jail if Indonesian judges convict her of trying to smuggle 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Bali in October last year.
Today Corby's defence lawyers will have their last chance to push her case that she is an unwitting victim of a drug ring that put drugs in her unlocked boogy board bag.
Adviser Vasu Rasiah said defence lawyers would also focus on comments by Bali's top drug policeman Bambang Sugiarto, who admitted there were gaps in the prosecution case against her.
Members of Corby's family and a group of well-wishers were on hand when she was brought by van from prison to the court complex in Denpasar.
It is expected a date will be set today for a verdict in the case.
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 Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers
Registered: 03/06/03
Posts: 20,771
Loc: The Ocean of Notions
Last seen: 4 minutes, 52 seconds
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4164479 - 05/11/05 10:07 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Holy shit. Veggie is an update machine. Keep it up.
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After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway
If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy
He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4164573 - 05/11/05 10:27 PM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby verdict set for May 27
May 12, 2005 - theage.com.au
The Indonesian judges in the Schapelle Corby drug case will hand down their verdict on May 27.
The judges set the date in the Denpasar District Court today after Corby's trial wound up with lawyers making their final plea in her defence.
The Gold Coast woman is facing possible life in jail if judges convict her of trying to smuggle 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Bali in October last year.
Corby's lawyers today had their last chance to push her claims that she is an unwitting victim of a drug ring that put drugs in her unlocked bodyboard bag.
The judges today declined to listen to new evidence of the alleged involvement of Australian airport baggage handlers in drug smuggling.
However they asked Corby's lawyers to make a written submission on the issue by Monday.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4165020 - 05/12/05 12:19 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Defence team demands Keelty resignation
May 12, 2005 - news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby's defence team has called for the resignation of Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty.
Ms Corby's Australian lawyer Robin Tampoe and financial backer Ron Bakir said today that Mr Keelty should step down after he described intelligence supporting Ms Corby's defence of being an unwitting drug mule as flimsy.
Ms Corby, 27, is accused of smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali on October 8 last year and faces life in prison.
"It's our very firm belief that an enormous amount of damage was done by inappropriate comments (made), not just the last few days but over the last few months by Mr Keelty," Mr Tampoe said.
Mr Bakir said Mr Keelty needed to "find himself a new job".
The pair also appealed to the federal Government to seek a pardon from their Indonesian counterparts if Ms Corby was found guilty on May 27.
"If Schapelle Corby is convicted ... we are asking that the Australian Government step in, take ownership and ask for her to be pardoned because what's happening to her is a total injustice," Mr Bakir said.
Earlier, the Law Council said Mr Keelty had acted dangerously in commenting publicly on the Corby defence case.
Law Council of Australia president John North said several comments made by Mr Keelty about the Gold Coast woman's Bali drugs case were potentially harmful.
Mr Keelty was reported this week as saying there was very little intelligence to suggest that baggage handlers were using innocent passengers to traffic drugs between states.
The AFP was aware of baggage handlers on the international side who were involved with the syndicates, but the situation was nothing like the matters raised by Ms Corby's defence lawyers, Mr Keelty said.
On Monday, 15 homes were raided across Sydney as part of Operation Mocha, a five-month operation investigating an alleged conspiracy to import up to $15 million worth of cocaine into Australia.
The alleged plan was to import up to 30kg of cocaine into the country in suitcases carried by drug mules on flights from South America, police said.
Qantas baggage handlers were said in court yesterday to have been paid $300,000 to facilitate the passage of the drugs through Sydney airport.
Ms Corby maintains she did not know there was marijuana in her baggage, and she believes the drugs were planted in her bag at Brisbane airport, possibly by baggage handlers running a domestic drug-smuggling operation.
"Mr Keelty would not be able to make such damaging comments in an Australian case because he would run a grave risk of being found in contempt of court," Mr North said.
Australians deserved more from their chief law enforcement officer, he said.
"Mr Keelty has acted dangerously in attempting to play down these accusations against baggage handlers," Mr North said.
"An Australian law enforcement authority with responsibilities for investigation allegations and providing evidence to prosecutors for production in court should not be commenting publicly on such matters while a case is pending."
Furthermore, Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said today that he could not rule out a link between Ms Corby's claims and corrupt baggage handlers implicated in a cocaine-smuggling racket.
Mr Dixon said he was aware of reports that Ms Corby's bodyboard was processed at Sydney airport's international terminal on the same day a Qantas baggage handler allegedly smuggled nearly 10kg of cocaine out of the airport from another plane.
"I can't rule out any link," he said. "All I can say is that we have looked very carefully over the past five months we've known what's been going on and we haven't found any connections, but I can't say anything more than that."
Mr Dixon said covert cameras should be installed in baggage-handling areas at all airports and in aircraft holds.
The airline said it had worked closely with police during their five month Operation Mocha investigation into an alleged conspiracy to bring up to $15 million worth of cocaine to Australia from South America.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4166162 - 05/12/05 10:51 AM (6 years, 9 months ago) |
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Drugs' snug fit led Aussie officers to suspect Corby
May 13, 2005 - theaustralian.news.com.au
AUSTRALIAN police scepticism about Schapelle Corby's innocence is based on her failure to explain how a 4kg bag of cannabis detected in Bali fitted so snugly into the front pouch of her bodyboard bag and why she did not notice the extra weight.
Senior officers in three forces have privately said it was "implausible" the drugs had been randomly placed in the 27-year-old Gold Coast beauty student's luggage by baggage handlers waiting for an appropriate-sized bag.
One officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, questioned why Corby had not noticed that her bag, supposedly containing only a lightweight bodyboard and flippers, had become at least twice as heavy when she collected it from the baggage carousel at Denpasar airport before approaching the Customs check.
Ms Corby's Australian lawyer Robin Tampoe last night rejected claims the marijuana was an exact fit for a bodyboard bag, describing them as "absolute nonsense".
"It's a complete load of crap, it's completely insane," he said.
He said the defence team steadfastly maintained its position that the cannabis was put into the bag by a corrupt baggage handler.
Police have explored whether Ms Corby's luggage could have come into contact with allegedly corrupt baggage handlers on duty at Sydney airport on October 8, when she embarked on her ill-fated trip.
The Australian revealed yesterday that Ms Corby's flight coincided with the importation the same morning of a suitcase containing 9.99kg of cocaine that an allegedly corrupt baggage handler ensured would avoid Customs.
Ms Corby's Gold Coast-based financial backer, Ron Bakir, and Mr Tampoe yesterday called for Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty to stand down after he described as "flimsy" her defence of being an unwitting drug mule. Their concerns were echoed by Law Council of Australia president John North QC, who said Mr Keelty would have "run a grave risk of being found in contempt of court" if Ms Corby were being tried here.
Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon yesterday revealed that the baggage-handling area in Sydney had been under police surveillance for six months as part of the recent cocaine operation. It is not known whether the surveillance extended back to last October.
A last-ditch effort by Ms Corby's lawyers to tell judges of new developments in her case half-succeeded yesterday, when chief judge Linton Sirait refused to watch a compilation of Australian and Indonesian television programs, but agreed later to read translated transcripts.
Yet Judge Sirait said alleged drug-smuggling in Australian airports would not be relevant to a Balinese court, cruelling much of the defence team's final submission.
The Indonesian show featured Bali's drug squad chief questioning flaws in the prosecution case.
Judge Sirait adjourned the trial until May 27, when the three judges will hand down their verdict.
Ms Corby's defence lawyers did not attempt to submit any information about the alleged cocaine-smuggling in Australia, which came to light this week.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4169595 - 05/13/05 01:35 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Activists demand death for Corby
May 13, 2005 - dailytelegraph.news.com.au
INDONESIAN anti-drug campaigners are demanding the judges in the Schapelle Corby case make an example of the 27-year-old accused drug smuggler when they bring down their verdict in two weeks.
"It is best if they give her the death sentence or life imprisonment," said Anak Agung Semara Adhyana, the secretary general of the Bali chapter of GRANAT, the nation's anti-narcotics movement.
Prosecutors in Corby's case want life imprisonment and not the death penalty for the Gold Coast woman, who is accused of trying to smuggle 4.1kg of cannabis into Bali.
But Adhyana said: "We want her death.
"It is impossible for her to be set free. It would be a bad precedent for the Indonesian justice system."
At an early stage of Corby's trial, placard-waving members of the movement protested inside the court, triggering an angry confrontation with members of her family.
The three judges hearing the case are now considering their decision after Corby's defence team delivered a final submission in the Denpasar District Court yesterday, appealing for her acquittal.
Under Indonesian legal procedure, which has no jury system, judges decide whether a defendant is innocent or guilty. At the same time they also pass sentence if it is required.
With prosecutors recommending that she be locked away for life, it is highly unlikely - though not impossible - that judges will order she be executed by firing squad when they deliver their verdict on May 27.
Indonesian police privately expect a tough penalty, perhaps 10 to 20 years imprisonment.
Corby will spend the next fortnight as she has the months since her arrest at Denpasar airport last October - in a cell in Bali's Kerobokan Prison she shares with eight women.
Her sister Mercedes described the conditions as terrible. She said the cell is about three metres by three metres or "about the size of a child's bedroom".
A toilet is in one corner and each inmate receives a ration of one bucket of water a day to bathe and do laundry. A fluorescent light is always switched on.
Corby sleeps with an eye mask on a thin mattress on the floor - both provided by her family who also buy her bottled water and food.
At one emotionally-charged point in her trial, Corby sobbed that she did not know how long she could cope with the stress and conditions of her imprisonment.
Despite widespread expectation of a conviction and a heavy jail term, Corby's family say they remain optimistic that she will be found not guilty.
They are taking solace in tens of thousands of messages of support they say they have received.
However, Vasu Rasiah, an adviser to the defence team, said a May 27 acquittal probably would not mean instant freedom for Corby.
Instead, prosecutors would likely try to keep her behind bars while they appeal to a higher court.
A prosecution appeal would also be likely if the judges found her guilty but imposed a relatively light sentence.
The defence would appeal "within a matter of days" if she is found guilty, Vasu said.
"There's a long way to go in the appeals process, whatever the verdict" he said. "Schapelle is aware of this."
Anti-drug campaigner Adhyana said judges must send a strong message to Australia about Indonesia's war on drug trafficking.
He acknowledged, though, that many in Australia believed Corby was innocent.
"It is as if one of the family has been caught," he said. "It's natural for them to think she is innocent. But she was caught in the act with so much of the drug."
Adhyana said Indonesia must take harsh action against drug offenders to protect its next generation.
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MOTH
Wild Woman
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 22,962
Loc: In the jungle
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4170446 - 05/13/05 09:52 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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I can't follow this trial anymore. I get too digustingly sick everytime I read.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4174254 - 05/14/05 10:07 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Schapelle begs PM to rescue her
May 15, 2005 - themercury.news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby made a desperate personal plea for help to Prime Minister John Howard from her Bali jail cell yesterday.
In her first direct plea to Mr Howard, the accused drug trafficker begged him for justice, saying she doesn't know how much longer she can survive behind bars.
In the heartfelt cry for help, an anguished Corby, 27, said: "Mr Howard, as a father and as a leader, I plead for your help. I did not do this. I beg for justice.
"I don't know how much longer I can do this. Please bring me home. Please."
Her message from the jail cell came as there was growing belief that baggage handlers in Australia may have planted the marijuana in her luggage.
But Mr Howard yesterday said he could not interfere in the judicial process of another country.
"I feel for her. I understand why there's a lot of public sympathy for her," Mr Howard said.
"I would simply say that I hope justice is done and it's a fair and true verdict."
But he added: "I would ask the rhetorical question: My fellow Australians, if a foreigner were to come to Australia and a foreign government were to start telling us how we should handle (it), we would react very angrily to that."
Her message comes as three Denpasar District Court judges ponder their verdict.
Her Australian legal team has renewed requests for any video surveillance footage at Sydney airport on the day she left for Bali - the day baggage handlers allegedly allowed 10kg of cocaine to be shipped through the airport.
Revelations that Australian Federal Police conducted an airport undercover operation for months has given the team hope of obtaining surveillance footage.
Yesterday Corby's backer Ron Bakir said the team was awaiting an answer.
"We have requested from the federal police and Qantas whatever surveillance equipment they have," Mr Bakir said.
Corby's Bali lawyers are translating into Indonesian Australian media reports about the cocaine bust. These will be given to the judges tomorrow.
"We are going to try everything we possibly can. We will fire every bit of ammunition we have," Mr Bakir said.
"Twenty-four/seven we are working on trying to get information. We have been arguing that she is a victim of a drug syndicate, that she is an unknowing mule and they used her.
"We asked for someone from the AFP to testify that there was an investigation into baggage handlers," he said.
Denpasar District Court will hand down a verdict on May 27. If Corby is found guilty, judges will sentence her that day.
The Gold Coast woman has sent handwritten letters to the judges and the prosecutor exhorting them to find her not guilty and let her go home.
In one to the judges, she says she is barely scraping up enough strength to survive each day.
"Please find in your heart to let me go home. I need to go home," she wrote.
And to prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu, Ms Corby wrote: "I do believe the only mistake I have made in coming to this beautiful country of yours (yes, I still love and think this is a beautiful country) is not putting locks on my bags.
"Each day that goes by is becoming harder and harder for me, my energy, my strength is fast draining to almost empty. Please Mr Ida Bagus, I cannot (physically) survive here much longer. Please find in your heart to let me go home to my family, where I belong, Sincerely, Schapelle Corby."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4176723 - 05/14/05 10:54 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Australia supports defence of Bali drug accused
May 15, 2005 - reuters.co.uk
CANBERRA (Reuters) - The Australian government has written to an Indonesian court to support the defence of 27-year old Australian woman Schapelle Corby, who faces life in prison on charges of smuggling drugs into the resort island of Bali.
Corby, who will find out on May 27 if she is convicted for allegedly smuggling 4.1 kg (9lb) of marijuana into Bali, has said the drugs were planted in her luggage and corrupt baggage handlers in Australia could be responsible.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Sunday said the government had written to the court to detail new allegations against Australian airport baggage handlers following last week's arrest of 15 people in Australia on charges of importing drugs.
"At the request of her lawyers, the government ... has provided a letter which will be tendered to the court outlining what has happened in relation to allegations involving baggage handlers," Howard told Australian television.
Howard said he would not interfere with the Indonesian justice system, but hoped the courts would deliver a "true and fair and just verdict".
The Corby case has attracted widespread publicity in Australia, including a front page newspaper story on Sunday, where Corby pleads with Howard to intervene.
"Mr Howard, as a father and as a leader, I plead for your help. I did not do this. I beg for justice," Corby told the Sunday Herald Sun newspaper.
The Corby case has put Bali under the spotlight, with Indonesia's police chief labelling it a hub for international drug trafficking syndicates.
In April, Indonesian police arrested nine Australians in Bali for alleged heroin trafficking. They have yet to face trial.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4177038 - 05/15/05 12:44 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby team pins hope on letter
May 15, 2005 - heraldsun.news.com.au
A LETTER from the Australian Government to the Bali court trying Gold Coast woman Schapelle Corby on drug smuggling charges has been welcomed by her defence team.
The letter outlines allegations about the involvement of Australian baggage handlers in drug smuggling at Sydney airport.
It was drawn up following the charging last week or 15 people after 9.9kg of cocaine was shipped through Sydney airport, allegedly with the aid of corrupt baggage handlers. One Qantas baggage handler has been stood down.
Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir, who is bankrolling Ms Corby's legal battle said it was disappointing it had taken so long for the Australian Government to do what he and the legal team had been calling for.
But he said: "We appreciate it very, very much and we thank (Foreign Minister Alexander) Mr Downer and Prime Minister Howard for that letter.
"For quite a while we have been asking both the Government and the federal police to come out and corroborate that story. They haven't until this letter, and it's crucial for us to have that letter.
"It's disappointing that it's taken so long, but we thank them very much."
He said the whole defence team was hoping the letter would have a strong influence on the Indonesian judges in the Denpasar District Court in deciding their verdict.
"It's very important to have that letter because we need to prove to the Indonesian authorities that there is a problem in Australia," Mr Bakir said.
"We have been saying it for a number of months that there is a problem in Australia which involves baggage handlers.
"They are involved in corruption, they are involved in smuggling and hopefully this letter will be very, very good for our case," Mr Bakir said.
Mr Bakir said the legal team would continue to fight until the verdict on May 27, even though the time for defence evidence to be presented was ending.
"We are collating every bit of information we can possibly obtain to submit by midday tomorrow to the courts and we will fire every arrow we have I guess and any other information that comes to light we will try no doubt to submit it - whether the judges decide to take it or not we are going to try anyway," Mr Bakir said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4177546 - 05/15/05 08:30 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby judge unmoved as PM steps in
May 16 - smh.com.au
The chief prosecutor in the Schapelle Corby case fears the Australian Government is trying to influence the verdict with a letter that details new accusations of baggage handlers smuggling drugs.
The Prime Minister, John Howard, yesterday said "I feel for the girl" when he revealed the Government's letter - sent to Corby's defence - would be tendered to the court in Bali before it delivers its verdict next week.
But the chief judge in the case, Linton Sirait, said the letter would make no difference to the decision on 27-year-old Corby, who faces life in a Balinese jail if she is found guilty of importing 4.1 kilograms of marijuana.
While Mr Howard insisted he was not interfering in Indonesia's justice system, the chief prosecutor, Ida Bagus Wiswantanu, said the letter had no legal standing and should be ignored.
"I cannot say the Australian Government is interfering but surely whoever sent the letter will try to gain influence in the decision," Mr Wiswantanu said.
Judge Sirait did not believe there had been any intervention, but said: "We don't watch what happens in Australia. We just keep moving with what we are doing. We don't read Australian papers. We don't think it's important to follow developments in Australia."
Mr Howard said: "I cannot interfere in the justice system of another country. It's fundamental to our system of democracy that the executive arm of government doesn't interfere with the judiciary and I know that if a foreigner … were arrested in Australia and charged with an offence and the president or PM of another country started telling our courts what to do, Australians would be mightily angry.
"But having said all of that, I feel for the girl. I think the whole country has been drawn into this and I can only repeat my fervent hope that the verdict is true and fair and right and just."
The Opposition Leader, Kim Beazley, went further, saying he hoped Corby was acquitted, and pressed the Government to complete a prisoner-exchange agreement with Indonesia, to repatriate her if she was not.
"I think the hearts of all Australians are with her," Mr Beazley told Channel Nine's Sunday. "Now, if the verdict goes the wrong way, and I sincerely hope she's acquitted, but if it goes in the opposite direction … the Government must complete its agreement with Indonesia, as it has with a number of other countries." Mr Beazley later clarified his comments to the Herald: "It doesn't suggest I've made a judgement she's innocent. I just hope she's innocent."
Mr Wiswantanu said the only way for Corby to be acquitted was to prove that someone placed the marijuana in her luggage. "Of course I have the heart for justice. If she's not guilty she has to be free, but in this case she's guilty."
Mr Howard said the Attorney-General had "settled" the letter on Friday, but Corby's lawyers were unhappy with it yesterday. They said it should have gone directly to the chief justice, and it did not contain any of the specific information they needed to help prove baggage handlers placed the marijuana in her luggage.
They wanted the Government to admit directly that baggage handlers had been involved in moving drugs and that may mean Corby is innocent.
The Government's letter said: "Following a joint investigation which has been conducted over the last six months, the [Australian Federal Police] and the NSW police have dismantled a Sydney-based syndicate involved in the trafficking of drugs.
"Police are currently investigating a number of baggage handlers who work at Sydney's international airport about these drug trafficking activities. The police believe the baggage handlers were on duty on 8 October 2004 when a shipment of drugs was brought into Sydney international airport."
Mr Beazley suggested the Federal Police Commissioner, Mick Keelty, had been unwise to make comments interpreted as damaging to Corby.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4177634 - 05/15/05 08:55 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Botched smuggling 'highly likely'
May 16, 2005 - dailytelegraph.news.com.au
A FORMER Qantas security officer said
it was "highly likely" Corby had been the victim of a botched drug smuggling effort by baggage handlers.
Claude Killick, who worked on the airline's security staff at Sydney airport for almost 10 years, said it was common knowledge drugs were often smuggled through the terminal by baggage handlers.
Likewise, there were often mix ups with bags -- both those with and without contraband.
Corby has repeatedly claimed she had the marijuana put in her boogie board bag by mistake as part of an airport drug racket.
"Not only is it possible, I would say it's more than likely," Mr Killick said yesterday.
"There's a very good chance she's entirely innocent.
"What she's claiming is highly possible and highly likely."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4181066 - 05/16/05 12:24 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Letter worthless: prosecution
May 16, 2005 - heraldsun.news.com.au
THE Government's letter to a Bali court about drug trafficking at Australian airports has been sent too late to save Schapelle Corby from jail, the prosecution says.
Ms Corby's defence team and the Law Council of Australia have praised the Government for sending the letter, which will be delivered to the court today.
But the chief prosecutor in the case, Ida Bagus Wiswantanu, said the letter had been sent too late.
"After the hearing is closed, it's impossible to present more evidence," he said on ABC radio through an interpreter.
"If it were to be submitted now, it would have no value at all according to Indonesian law."
Mr Wiswantanu also said the Australian Government appeared to be trying to influence the decision in the Corby case.
"I cannot say the Australian Government is interfering, but surely whoever sent the letter will try to gain influence in the decision," he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
The chief judge in the case, Linton Sirait, said the letter would make no difference to the decision on Ms Corby, who faces life in a Bali jail if found guilty.
Judge Sirait said he did not believe there had been any intervention, but told the newspaper: "We don't watch what happens in Australia.
"We just keep moving with what we are doing. We don't read Australian papers. We don't think it's important to follow developments in Australia."
Prime Minister John Howard revealed yesterday the Government had agreed to a request from Ms Corby's lawyers to explain to the Bali court new information involving baggage handlers who may have helped smuggle cocaine through Sydney airport.
Ms Corby, 27, who is accused of smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali on October 8 last year, has begged Mr Howard to act in the interest of justice, saying she is innocent.
Ms Corby's Australian lawyer Robin Tampoe said he was delighted the Government's letter said alleged drug smugglers were at Sydney airport the day she passed through on her way to Bali.
"We were very happy with the letter that we received from (Foreign Minister) Mr (Alexander) Downer's office, extremely happy with the contents of it," Mr tampoe said on ABC radio.
"We asked for the letter on Thursday and I think by Friday evening we had it, so we're ecstatic with what Mr Howard has done for us."
The president of the Law Council of Australia, John North, also praised the Government for taking the unusual step.
"The Law Council is pleased that the Australian Government is sending the letter to possibly assist an Australian citizen facing life imprisonment, and it is to be hoped that it is not too late," he said.
"It's fairly unusual (for the Government to write such a letter) because circumstances were obviously meant to be kept secret until the alleged cocaine ring (at the airport) had been broken.
"But it is absolutely vital in Schapelle Corby's case that the Government move quickly because her trial was nearly at an end."
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ZippoZ
Knomadic
Registered: 06/17/03
Posts: 12,024
Loc: Pongyang, North Korea
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4181354 - 05/16/05 04:45 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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im hoping for this girl i am, i read this every day... but damn if convicted and i was in her shoes, i would probably have to kill mylself before they could.....
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PEACE
 zippoz
"in times of widespread chaos and cofusion, it has ben the duty of more advanced human beings - artists, scientists, clowns, and philosophers - to create order. In such times as ours however, when there is too much order, too much m anagment, too much programming and controll, it becomes the duty of superior men and women and women to fling their favorite monkey wrenches into the machinery. To relieve the repression of the human spirit, they must sow doubt and disruption"
"People do it every day, they talk to themselves ... they see themselves as they'd like to be, they don't have the courage you have, to just run with it."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4181948 - 05/16/05 10:37 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby judges bombarded
May 17, 2005 - heraldsun.news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby's lawyers have pulled out all stops in one last desperate bid to save her, yesterday giving her judges petitions, character references, letters, media reports and even the police fact sheet from the Sydney Airport cocaine bust.
But Prime Minister John Howard has ruled out any further letters of support from the Australian Government.
Mr Howard last week asked the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to draft a carefully worded letter to the court pointing out details of the case involving baggage handlers running an alleged drug ring at Sydney Airport.
The man bankrolling Corby's defence, Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir, yesterday called on Mr Howard to add some fresh lines to the letter. "We need the letter to be a bit more tailored, so to speak, towards Schapelle Corby and we'll be asking for specific things," Mr Bakir said.
But The Courier-Mail understands the original letter will not be changed.
It was unclear yesterday what, if any, effect the Government's 11th-hour intervention would have on the Corby case.
Indonesian Parliament Speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid, who is visiting Australia, warned the letter would not have the explosive effect the Corby team had hoped.
"It's OK (but) of course the Indonesian court would never be pressured because of such a letter," Dr Wahid said.
"A letter is a letter. A letter is not evidence, unless the letter came with evidence."
Corby's prosecutor, Ida Bagus Wiswantanu, was also dismissive, saying that under Indonesian law the documents were not legal evidence and could not be used in considering the verdict.
Mr Howard yesterday expressed sympathy for Corby.
Corby will learn on May 27 if she will spend the rest of her life in prison for attempting to import 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali on October 8 last year.
But Mr Howard said his Government was "walking a fine line" between helping Corby and interfering with Indonesian justice.
Mr Howard also refused to defend Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty, who has come under fire for repeatedly questioning Corby's claim that she was set up by baggage handlers.
When asked if Mr Keelty had been too outspoken, Mr Howard said: "All I can say is that I have been very circumspect . . . and I believe everybody in any position of authority in Australia should be circumspect if we are really concerned that this girl will receive a fair trial."
Mr Keelty last week branded Corby's defence "flimsy" and said there was no evidence her bag had been tampered with between Sydney and Denpasar.
Mr Keelty angrily denied yesterday that he had deliberately tried to damage Corby's chance of freedom.
"I don't have a vendetta against Schapelle Corby," he said. "I have not tried to discredit her evidence."
In another development yesterday, Today Tonight revealed that Corby was married to a Japanese man for three months when she was working in Japan serving drinks in nightclubs.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4184365 - 05/16/05 08:42 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby case cause of diplomat death threats
May 17, 2005 - abc.net.au
The Indonesian Embassy in Canberra has confirmed it has been receiving death threats in relation to the Schapelle Corby drug case in Bali.
A spokesman from the Embassy says its diplomats in Canberra, and Indonesian consulate officials across the country have been targeted with anonymous letters and emails about Corby.
The spokesman says an on-going investigation is looking into a number of leads but, due to the nature of the threats, embassy officials and the Australian Federal Police will not comment further.
The embassy says Australians need to understand that the Indonesian Government has no influence with the legal proceedings in the Corby case.
Corby has been accused of carrying four kilograms of cannabis into Bali.
A verdict on her trial is due on Friday week.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4184403 - 05/16/05 08:53 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby could be jailed in Australia
May 17, 2005 - theage.com.au
The Australian and Indonesian governments are in talks to set up a prisoner exchange program, which could see Schapelle Corby jailed in Australia if convicted.
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said Australia already had a transfer agreement with authorities in Thailand and negotiations were underway with the Indonesian government.
Such a scheme could include Corby, he said, if the Queensland woman was convicted of drug smuggling when a decision in her case is announced by judges in Bali later this month.
"We have had discussions with the Indonesians about the possibility of a prisoner transfer agreement," Mr Downer said during an ABC radio interview.
"They are well disposed to the idea, of course details will have to be negotiated and we have already sent them a draft text.
"Hopefully we can negotiate that reasonably quickly."
Mr Downer said it was important to note Corby, who was discovered entering Bali with a bag of marijuana in her boogie board bag, had not been convicted of drug smuggling.
He denied the federal government had obtained an agreement from Indonesian authorities that Corby would be found guilty of a lesser charge and serve the bulk of her prison sentence in Australia.
Mr Downer said the transfer program would cover any Australians serving prison terms within Indonesia, and he said there were about 11.
"This is not specifically related to the Schapelle Corby case because she has not been convicted," he said.
Meanwhile, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has defended the timing of a letter the government sent to the Bali court hearing Schapelle Corby's case about alleged drug-smuggling at Sydney airport.
The letter was handed to the court, but the chief prosecutor and judge overseeing the Corby drug smuggling case have branded it a waste of time.
The two-paragraph letter from the federal government alleges Australian airport baggage handlers may be involved in drug trafficking.
Mr Ruddock said the letter could not have been sent any earlier because it would have ruined a secret police investigation of alleged cocaine smuggling at Sydney airport.
"What we did in this case was to provide factual information to her (Corby's) attorneys at their request so that it could be tendered in the court," he told ABC radio.
"But could you have done it earlier? Well I think it's well known that this cocaine operation into Sydney was a very major one.
"Police were undertaking continued surveillance with a view to being able to apprehend all of those involved."
Mr Ruddock said the government was only able to provide the details it did about the airport after part of the investigation was thwarted when some of the suspects discovered police surveillance equipment.
"And therefore the information was able to be brought out into the public because the operation had been concluded," he said.
Mr Ruddock said he was frustrated about how hard it was trying to convince Australians if the federal government tried to interfere in the Corby case their efforts could have backfired.
"I think the frustration I might have is that I haven't been able to persuade people that in a matter of this sort Australia trying to be belligerent about court proceedings in another country would in fact have a very adverse outcome," he said.
Mr Ruddock said if Corby was convicted, the government could plea for clemency on her behalf.
In another development, Corby's financial backer, Ron Bakir, has registered her name as a private company.
Mr Bakir has denied he will benefit financially and that while he was a director of Schapelle Corby Pty Ltd, he would not collect any money from the company.
Asked if he had set up the company to recoup his losses from financing Corby's legal fight against drugs charges in Bali, Mr Bakir told the Nine Network, "Absolutely not."
"That company receives not one dollar, receives not one dollar.
"Everything I do is in the interests of Schapelle Corby and only in the interests of Schapelle Corby.
"I will not be collecting any money from that whatsoever."
Mr Bakir said the company's shares were owned by the Schapelle Corby Trust, of which he is the trustee.
But he said Corby was in total control of the trust.
"She controls and ultimately owns the trust," he said.
"No-one can do anything without her approval. It's set up for the sole purpose of Schapelle Corby."
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4191294 - 05/18/05 01:23 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby 'the girl next door'
Family and friends say the nation's best-known accused drug trafficker is a typical Aussie girl
May 19, 2005 - thecouriermail.news.com.au
AS a nipper frolicking in the surf at Bilinga on the southern Gold Coast, Schapelle Corby was a carefree kid with no clue that she would one day be sitting in a Bali jail cell, facing the prospect of never riding the waves again.
Relatives and friends remember the 27-year-old Gold Coast beauty therapy student as a "surfie chick" who loved body-boarding, camping and spending time with her family and mates.
In contrast with her generally laid-back persona, she also had a fiery side, an obsession with cleanliness and was at times a loner, family members say.
Corby was born in Brisbane, the youngest of three children to Michael and Rosleigh Corby, who separated when Schapelle and her siblings Mercedes, now 30, and Michael, 29, were young.
Corby ? who also has two half-brothers Clinton, 21, and James, 17, and a half-sister Neleane, 14 ? attended Waterford West primary school and Loganlea High, leaving in Year 11.
Ros Corby took her children to the Gold Coast almost every weekend and it was there she developed a passion for the ocean.
"She joined Bilinga Surf Club as a nipper and got into boogie-boarding as well," her brother Michael said yesterday.
Corby's father, Michael Sr, said his daughter "had me wrapped around her little finger" and he was always helping her out financially.
"Whatever Schapelle wanted, she always got because she was my little girl and I suppose I spoilt her a bit," he said.
"I worked in the coal mines for 20 years and earned good money, so I helped buy her her first car when she was about 17 but she never drove it. She never even got her licence and was just happy to ride her push-bike or catch buses. Then, all of a sudden a couple of years ago, she went for her licence and got it first time.
"She bought herself an old rust-bucket and used to take off down the coast to northern NSW camping by herself. She'd pack her tent and boogie board and off she'd go. Schapelle liked people but she also enjoyed her own company."
After leaving school, Corby worked part-time in her mother's seafood takeaway and also as a Coles "check-out chick". It was in a Gold Coast supermarket in the late 1990s that she met Japanese surfer Kimi, who was on a working-surfing holiday.
Corby spoke a little Japanese and the pair struck up a friendship that blossomed into romance.
"Schapelle and Kimi both loved the ocean and they just fell for each other," Michael Jr recalls.
"We all liked Kimi, he was a funny guy, and were happy for Schapelle when they decided to get married."
The couple tied the knot in mid-1988 in a city hall ceremony in the Japanese surf town of Omaezaki. Their romance, however, began to crumble amid arguments over money problems and jealousy.
"Schapelle found it hard to adjust to the Japanese culture," her brother said.
"Kimi really wanted to work and make some money and I think Schapelle found it very lonely. Schapelle is a very social person and everyone likes her, and Kimi used to get jealous if she talked to other guys. Many relationships are ruined by jealousy."
Three months after their wedding, Corby left for Tokyo, where she joined other Western women working as hostesses in a bar.
Her uncle, Shun Hatton, said the family was outraged at suggestions Corby was doing more than just serving drinks.
"It makes us so mad because Schapelle was definitely not into prostitution or anything of the sort, she's a prude," Mr Hatton said.
"It was a traditional Japanese gentleman's club where the girls are fully clothed and are paid to serve the men drinks and talk to them, but nothing more. The mere suggestion that she was involved in anything else is offensive to the whole family."
Corby returned to Omaezaki and Kimi in 2000 but the reunion ended in a final blazing row, during which the couple reportedly threw things at each other, breaking a window. "Schapelle is pretty mellow but step on her toes and look out, she'll fire up," Michael Sr said.
Corby was also a "neat freak", Mr Corby said and was nicknamed "Grub" because of her obsession with cleanliness.
"The first thing she did when she was arrested was scrub her cell from top to bottom," he said.
Soon after returning to the Gold Coast, Corby ? whose divorce from Kimi was finalised in 2003 ? met concretor Shannon McClure at a Surfers Paradise beer garden. They dated for 2? years, shared a flat and talked about marriage and children. However, the couple drifted apart.
In spite of the breakup, Mr McClure has only sympathy for his ex-girlfriend's plight.
He said that, despite regular trips to Bali where Mercedes was living, Corby "loathed" drugs and "she just doesn't have the contacts to be able to pull something like this off".
"She wouldn't be able to afford it and just couldn't organise it," he said. "I just feel so sorry for the girl."
Michael Jr, a surfer who works in the family's Southport fish and chip shop, said he had heard "all the rumours" about the family's alleged involvement in drugs.
"But that's all they are ? vicious rumours," he said. "None of us have had any involvement in drugs and we're sick of the innuendo."
Fish and chip shop worker Katrina Richards, who befriended Corby about two years ago, said Corby had put her beauty therapy studies on hold to look after her father after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and told he had only months to live.
Michael Sr said he knew his daughter was innocent but was bracing for the worst.
"I tied up that bloody boogie board for her before she went," he said. "I just wish she'd got into surfboard riding like her brother and her sister because she never would have had that boogie board and she'd never be in the mess she's in now. She's just an ordinary, nice kid. Just an Aussie girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4193739 - 05/18/05 11:27 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Years before Corby could come home
IF a Bali court finds Schapelle Corby guilty next week it could be years before a possible deal with Indonesia allows her to serve time back in Australia.
May 19, 2005 - news.com.au
Donald Rothwell, a professor at the Centre for International and Global Law at Sydney University, said "any sort of perception that a prisoner exchange agreement will see Corby back in Australia within months, I think, is quite misconceived".
Well down the track, a convicted Corby's best chance of early freedom might be a pardon from Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Separately, the Australian government also holds the politically sensitive option of going to the International Court of Justice in The Hague if it believes minimum international legal standards have not been met during her case, Prof Rothwell said.
Issues that might trigger that include the failure of Indonesian police to fingerprint, weigh or analyse the drugs found in Corby's boogie board bag.
There's also the perception among many Australians that Corby has been distressed by "show trial" media coverage and the conditions she's being held under in Bali are substandard.
A verdict for Corby is scheduled to be handed down by a three-judge panel in the Denpasar District Court on May 27.
Her family and supporters hope for an acquittal.
But Indonesian prosecutors have demanded she be sentenced to life imprisonment if convicted of trying to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali last October.
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda has said his country is willing to negotiate a general prisoner transfer deal with Canberra – not just for Corby.
The likely model for such an accord is one that has already been struck between Australia and Thailand.
The Attorney-General's Department says that since that treaty came into force in September 2002, three Australian inmates have returned to Australia to complete jail sentences handed down by Thai courts.
On the flip side, 15 foreigners have been tranferred out of Australia to prisons in the Netherlands, Britain and Israel under similar treaties since January 2003.
Prof Rothwell identified two fundamental issues for negotiations over a treaty with Indonesia.
Firstly, Jakarta would have to say what offences an exchange deal would cover.
Drug crime would probably be included, "but it may prove to be a sticking point".
Secondly, Indonesia might demand an Australian inmate serve a minimum amount of time in its own prison system before it would be willing to permit a transfer to an Australian jail.
"If Corby gets, say 20 years, they might stipulate that she has to serve 10 years in Indonesia under this agreement," Prof Rothwell said.
If the proposed Indonesian treaty follows the Thai model, a convicted Corby who has been transferred to an Australian jail would not be able to appeal her sentence in the Australian courts.
"There would really be no possibility of Schapelle Corby or her legal team seeking within Australia to reopen the conviction or reopen the sentence that's been made against her," he said.
Australian law, though, probably would determine when she would be paroled or have her sentence reduced for things like good behaviour.
However, Indonesia would likely have to be notified first.
The Thai treaty model also doesn't indicate what sort of imprisonment would be enforced in Australia.
That raises the possibility of a convicted and transferred Corby serving out her time in a minimum security facility in Australia after enduring the squalor behind the high whitewashed walls of Bali's overcrowded Kerobokan Prison.
Prof Rothwell said politics between Australia and Indonesia will come into play and public opinion in both countries will probably also influence Corby's fate.
His sees her best case scenario like this: "She serves some sort of time in Indonesia. This exchange agreement gets negotiated. She gets transferred to Australia and then she gets pardoned" by the Indonesian president.
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4195359 - 05/19/05 11:20 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Schapelle endures her darkest days
May 20, 2005 - thecouriermail.news.com.au
EVERY night that she lays down to a fitful sleep, Schapelle Corby shares her space with at least eight other women - and the light is on 24 hours a day.
Her family brought Corby aeroplane eye masks so at least she can have a semblance of darkness.
This is the reality of life in the remand section at Kerobokan Jail.
The women all sleep, side by side, on the floor. Corby has a roll-up camping mattress provided by her lawyers. There is no airconditioning and no fan to guard against the tropical heat.
This is allowed only when a prisoner is sentenced and moved to the cell block for prisoners serving out their terms.
There is one cramped Indonesian squat toilet and "mandi" for them all to use, where water from a little concrete tank is ladled over one's body.
Each woman gets a bucket of water a day that they must fetch themselves from the jail's regularly malfunctioning well.
This water is for the toilet, bathing and washing clothes.
Most of the inmates' time, when they are not receiving visitors in another area, is spent inside the cell. Jail authorities, fearful of unwanted pregnancies, are careful not to allow too much contact between male and female prisoners.
For this reason, female inmates cannot use the jail library when the men do.
Occasionally they are allowed a game of tennis on the jail's tennis court, which is normally reserved for the men.
According to Corby's family, most jail food is inedible. The rice is full of stones and dirt and the giant stew pot is encrusted with dried food. The family bring food to Corby each day to sustain her.
Since her time in jail began, Corby has found solace in religion. She attends the jail's church services three times a week and a leather-bound Bible is one of her most-read books.
She has managed to decorate the wall next to her cell with a series of photographs of her family and friends, children's drawings and other memories of life at home.
Her family is confident that, come next week, she will be resuming life on the outside.
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4198970 - 05/20/05 08:51 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby faces appeal threat
May 21, 2005 - theage.com.au
Indonesian prosecutors say they will immediately appeal for a heavier penalty if Schapelle Corby is sentenced to only 15 years' jail when judges deliver their verdict on Friday.
Chief prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu said he would probably appeal if the sentence was 20 years unless the judges had good legal reasons for a sentence of less than life imprisonment.
Mr Wiswantanu said sentencing Corby to life was the best way to send a message to foreigners not to smuggle drugs into Indonesia.
"This is a kind of shock therapy, the life sentence," he said. "We have to understand the impact these drugs have on society."
Mr Wiswantanu said Australians protesting about the treatment of Corby were "over-reacting" to charges brought against the Queensland woman after 4.1 kilograms of marijuana were found in her bodyboard bag last October.
"They exaggerate, as if this is a big case," he said. "The case is actually simple because we found this stuff in her bag. But I think it (the reaction) is pretty normal because she's Australian and her fellow Australians feel sympathy for her, but we don't put someone on trial because of his or her citizenship - it's because of his or her offence."
Mr Wiswantanu said he felt under pressure because of the involvement of Australian and Indonesian politicians, including Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said Corby could serve her sentence in the Brisbane Women's Prison if she was found guilty under a prisoner transfer deal. She would not be able to appeal here.
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4199598 - 05/20/05 12:16 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Is her sentencing this week or next week? I hope she gets 10 to 20 and is allowed to serve them in a Aussie jail because I know those pigs won't give her any less. God I hate this, I'm not racist or profiling in anyway but the Indonesian govenment and their laws are pretty fucked. I want my tsunami money back.
Because the eyes of the world are on this fucked up backwards ass country and it's getting attention, she's going down and she's going down hard. I don't think she'll be executed but I'll be shocked if she gets less than twenty five years.
This is depressing the hell out of me.
--------------------
Hi 
My god... it's full of stars...
Edited by PhatWhitey420 (05/20/05 12:19 PM)
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4201415 - 05/20/05 07:45 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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The case against Schapelle
May 21, 2005 - theaustralian.news.com.au
THE evidence stacked against Schapelle Corby is enough to put her on trial anywhere in the world, according to legal experts, and will almost certainly keep her behind bars in Bali.
Almost obscured by the mushrooming cloud of Corby hysteria, the mounting Australian anger, the death threats and xenophobia, the blanket media coverage and the mouthings of various singers, talkback hosts, film stars and politicians, three Indonesian judges have concentrated on a few basic facts.
A transparent plastic sack filled with 4.1kg of marijuana was found inside another plastic sack in Corby's unlocked bodyboard bag at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport on October 8 last year. The former beauty school student has admitted she owns the bag, as well as the bodyboard and the flippers that were in it. Despite lifting the bag on to an arrivals hall counter, she apparently failed to notice its substantial extra weight. Indonesian Customs officers and police stationed at the airport have testified the 27-year-old was reluctant to open the bag, even trying to prevent an official opening it.
Corby's lawyers have tried to throw doubt on the prosecution case, making the point the bag was unlocked, so the cannabis could have been slipped into it anywhere between Brisbane airport and Bali.
A defence witness testified he had heard prisoners talking about how Corby had been an unwitting courier. The defence lawyers suggested the marijuana might have been on a domestic drugs run, destined for Sydney from Brisbane, and a mix-up left it in Corby's bag when it was transferred to the second flight.
They harped on the lapses of Indonesian officials. They pointed out the examination of Corby's bag and the initial interrogation was not video-recorded or tape-recorded by police, and an official translator was not provided. Most important, they told the three judges in Denpasar District Court, the plastic sacks were not examined for fingerprints.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty has described the Corby defence case as flimsy. The director of the Asian Law Centre at the University of Melbourne, Tim Lindsey, guardedly says the defence lawyers didn't have much material with which to work.
But a top defence lawyer from Jakarta may have been able to do more with it and made a more convincing case, says the Indonesian law expert, adding more mileage could have been made of the police failure to take fingerprints.
Perhaps most important in the eyes of the Australian public, there has been no direct witness testimony to incriminate the young woman from the Gold Coast, who has regularly and tearfully assured the court of her innocence.
But in Indonesia, as in Australia, witness testimony is not necessary for a prosecution or essential for a conviction. Lindsey says the prosecution has made a substantial prima-facie case against her, a case in which she seems, on the surface, to be guilty.
"This is her bag, in the bag was found the cannabis," he says. "In any legal system in the world that would establish a prima-facie case." Once the prima-facie case is before the judges, the defence has no option but to prove it wrong.
Indonesia has a different legal system: juries are not used and a panel of three judges usually decides a defendant's guilt. Many cases in Australia are decided by a judge alone, without a jury. In Australia, Lindsey adds, "a person in her circumstances is very likely to be charged", declining to speculate on whether Corby would be convicted.
Other legal experts, speaking anonymously, say it is likely an Australian judge would find her guilty.
Much of the prosecution's case turns on the arrest of Corby at Ngurah Rai airport. She arrived in Bali in the afternoon of October 8 with her brother, 17-year-old James Kisina, and two friends: Alyth McComb, 25, and Katrina Richards, 17. According to the official indictment, a Customs official saw "forbidden goods" in the bag after it was unloaded from the plane and put through an external X-ray machine.
"Because he was suspicious, the official followed the bag to the baggage claim area and kept watch to determine who owned the bodyboard bag," the indictment says. Corby retrieved the bag and the official maintained his surveillance of her, noting she looked anxious, the indictment continues.
Customs official I Gusti Nyoman Winata told Denpasar District Court that he asked Corby to open the blue bag, but she unzipped only a front pocket. He opened the main zip himself, he said. "When I opened it a bit, she said: 'No,"' Winata said. "I asked: 'Why?', and she said: 'I have some,' and looked confused."
Winata also said she blocked his hand to stop him opening the main zip. Finally the bag was opened, and officials saw a pillow-case sized clear plastic zip-lock bag filled with 4.1kg of marijuana heads.
Winata said Corby identified it as marijuana. "I asked the suspect what was in the plastic bags. She said it was marijuana. I asked her, 'How do you know?' She said, 'I smelled it when you opened the bag."'
Yet casting some doubt on whether the English conversations were fully understood, a second Customs officer, Komang Gelgel, said Corby had told Winata she owned the marijuana, an unlikely admission. "She said, 'This is mine, I own it,"' Gelgel said, a claim Corby vehemently denied.
Gelgel and two police officers largely agreed with Winata's version of events, including Corby's attempt to prevent him opening the main zip. It was damning testimony from four Indonesian civil servants, all apparently objective witnesses.
Corby flatly denied she had tried to avoid opening the main zip of the bodyboard bag. "Well, firstly he didn't ask me to open the bag, he just asked whose bag it was," she told the court. "I opened the bag and I don't remember saying anything or hitting anyone's hand. I opened the bag and then I closed it."
Corby says she voluntarily opened the bag because she thought it was expected of her. She told the court she didn't know what was in the bag, even after the zip was opened. "I was scared, I didn't know what it was," she said. "Then when I closed my boogie board bag up, a strong smell came out. I was very scared, I didn't know what was going on."
Corby didn't deny she identified the substance as marijuana but she said flatly she had never claimed it as hers. She was not looking restless or suspicious, she said; she had been happy about her Bali holiday until grim reality struck.
"I open it, I lift it up and I'm surprised, there's a plastic bag and half-open, and I'm like 'Ohhh!' And I close it up, I can smell it," she told the court. "I never, at any stage, stated that that marijuana belongs to me; never, ever, have I stated that."
In their last statement to the court, Corby's lawyers averred she had said, in a startled fashion, "There is something" rather than "I have some" to Winata, the first time this version of events was related. The lawyers said Winata's ability to speak fluent English was in doubt. Corby's brother and her friends supported her testimony.
Corby also denied one of the police officer's claims that her flippers were found on top of the pillow-case sized plastic sack of marijuana. "There is no way that the flippers can be on top of the plastic bag," she told the court. "I packed my bodyboard and flippers, I did not pack the plastic bag. The flippers cannot be on top of the plastic bag, it can't be there."
Regarding her failure to notice the bag's extra weight, Corby told the court the bag's handle had somehow been broken en route to Bali, meaning she had to drag it.
Asked if that was why she failed to notice the added 4kg, she replied: "Well, I had my suitcase and another bag and I had never dreamed there was anything else in my boogie board bag than what I had just packed."
One of Corby's chief lawyers, Erwin Siregar, asked the two police officer witnesses, Wayan Suwita and I Gusti Ngurah Bagus Astawa, why no fingerprints had been taken from the ziplock plastic sack inside the bodyboard bag. Suwita answered: "We knew it was marijuana, so it wasn't necessary." Siregar pointed out that the crime of drug smuggling potentially carried the death penalty and asked if that made a "perfect investigation" more important.
"It's not my duty to answer that," Suwita replied. "Ask my superior." Astawa also said he did not know whether fingerprints were taken. "It's not my field," he explained. Asked whether fingerprints were necessary in Corby's case, he replied, "No."
Fingerprinting is not a common procedure in Indonesia, where the under-resourced police force is hard-pressed to deal with burgeoning crime.
The defence, though, submitted transcripts of television footage showing gloved police officers dealing with the nine Australians recently arrested for heroin smuggling in Bali. Why gloves for the Bali Nine and not for Schapelle, came the question from the defence.
A transcript of an Indonesian TV interview with Bali drug squad chief Bambang Sugiarto was also tendered to the court by the defence after the closing addresses. Sugiarto said Corby's "condition" was only 50 per cent, apparently referring to shortcomings in the fingerprinting and videotaping elements of the investigation.
Countering the defence's queries about the failure to fingerprint the plastic sack of marijuana, prosecutor Ni Wayan Sinaryati told the court it was unnecessary.
"In this case, the criminal perpetrator was caught red-handed by the Customs officers at the airport," Sinaryati said.
The defence was also unable to prove the weight of Corby's bag when she checked in at Brisbane airport, since all the bags were weighed together and police in Bali did not weigh all the bags for an overall comparison. Nor did Balinese police take up an AFP request to test the marijuana to determine its origin; there was no need, they said, they already had a case.
The prosecution dismissed as worthless various defence witnesses, including Victorian prisoner John Patrick Ford, flown to Bali by the Australian Government to give evidence. Ford had come to Bali, the prosecutors said, because he "wanted to breathe free air", but his testimony was pointless. Already dubbed "hearsay on hearsay" by Keelty, Ford's testimony would not have been admitted by an Australian court, legal experts say.
Chief Judge Linton Sirait, presiding over the Corby case, has also told reporters hearsay is not admissible in Indonesian courts.
Accused of rape, Ford told the Bali court how he overheard two men in prison discussing a drug shipment gone wrong. Corby, he said, was the unwitting scapegoat, but he declined to name the real criminal.
Lindsey says the Indonesian judicial system, unlike the Australian system, will accept dubious evidence for consideration and the judges will then give it no weight.
Defence witness Scott Speed, a Qantas baggage handler at Brisbane airport, told the court it was possible to put drugs or other goods into bags after they had been checked in.
Another defence witness, criminologist Paul Wilson, told the court Corby did not fit the profile of a drug courier, based on his only interview with her, conducted that morning.
Late in the piece, after the closing statements had been made, Corby's legal team presented the judges with a bundle of letters, character references, newspaper articles, a court statement of facts and a report from the Australian Government concerning an airport-linked cocaine-smuggling ring, a gang that was operating on the date she flew to Bali.
Yet legal experts query the cocaine case's evidentiary strength, considering the cocaine smugglers have yet to be tried, let alone convicted.
The bundle of evidence included transcripts of Australian and Indonesian TV programs, with other allegations of drug smuggling in Australian airports.
Yet none of it is sworn evidence, and none can be tested in court. The judges accepted it as an attachment to the defence, but that doesn't mean it will carry any weight in their judgment.
Indonesia is notoriously corrupt, routinely languishing at the bottom of international corruption indexes. The judicial system, too, undoubtably has rotten elements, especially in connection with large civil cases. But no charges of corruption have been levelled against the three judges in Corby's case, who have listened gravely and courteously to all the witnesses and allowed the defence to submit last-minute documents.
On the known evidence, it's almost certain they will find Corby guilty when they hand down their verdict next Friday, and on past history it's likely they will sentence her to a lengthy jail term. Indonesia has tougher drugs penalties than Australia, up to and including death.
Perhaps it's the sentencing disparity that has galvanised so many Australians rather than the question of whether she has been justly tried. Sirait has dubbed her trial "ordinary"; yet it's one that has provoked an extraordinary reaction in Australia, a reaction that is likely to roll on for some time.
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4203076 - 05/21/05 10:13 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Schapelle's last plea for a pardon
May 22, 2005 - thesundaymail.news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby has made a desperate plea to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for a pardon.
Her lawyers are preparing a petition to Mr Yudhoyono that may be sent even before Friday's verdict is handed down in Denpasar Court.
Yesterday, she begged Mr Yudhoyono to believe in her innocence and release her.
"I cry myself to sleep each night wondering why this happened to me," the Gold Coast student, 27, said from her cell.
"President Yudhoyono, you hold the key. Please set me free.
"I have done enough time for this terrible crime that I promise you that I did not do. Please set me free. That is the truth."
Indonesia's President traditionally pardons several prisoners each year.
In the past, this has included foreigners serving long sentences for drug offences.
Corby's lawyer, Robin Tampoe, said he was preparing a formal pardon appeal in a letter to President Yudhoyono. "It's just a matter of whether it's sent sooner or later," he said.
Corby's last-ditch plea came as Australian Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock revealed bureaucrats were working furiously behind the scenes to prepare a prisoner transfer treaty that could see her sentence slashed if she is found guilty.
Mr Ruddock said the Government sent a draft treaty this week to Indonesia's Minister for Law and Justice, Hamid Awaludin, and Jakarta had given it priority status.
"If a conviction was no longer under appeal, then under such a treaty, prisoners could serve their sentences at home," Mr Ruddock said.
"That doesn't preclude two countries saying that we think that a lesser sentence, given extenuating circumstances, would be appropriate."
Eleven Australians are in jail in Indonesia, and nine Indonesians in Australian jails.
Mr Ruddock said Australian officials were due to visit Indonesia soon to discuss the treaty, similar to the one in place with Thailand.
Corby is said to have convinced herself she will be released on Friday.
Her sister Mercedes vowed yesterday she would never leave Corby's side and would fight for as long as it takes to have her name cleared.
"I just say to her, 'You are going to get out, if it's not on Friday we are going to continue fighting, it won't be too much longer. You have to be prepared for that, Schapelle'."
Mercedes has been in Bali with her husband Wayan Widiartha and her two children since Corby's arrest on October 8.
The children - Nyeleigh, 4, and Wayan, 5 - visit Corby about once a week in jail, taking their drawings and paintings for "Aunty Pell" to put on the wall in her cell.
Yesterday, they proudly showed off several more they intend to take for their final visit before the verdict.
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4205455 - 05/21/05 11:05 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Questions raised over Corby's rookie lawyer
May 22, 2005 - smh.com.au
Accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has pinned her hopes on a young lawyer who refuses to say if she has ever won a criminal case.
And the only reason Corby hired Lily Lubis was because she was the lawyer prepared to take her case late on a Friday afternoon when most chambers had closed early for the weekend.
As Ms Lubis, 31, awaits the verdict of a case that engulfed her small legal practice of four after Corby was arrested last October, seasoned legal figures in Bali's criminal courts have expressed doubt about her strategy.
They say the rookie, who has been practising for about six years, should have ensured that her client kept a low profile and sorted the matter out behind closed doors.
"Our system cannot accept trial by press so [it's better to] just make all people happy," said one senior lawyer who has successfully handled high-profile expatriate cases.
Earlier this month when prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu submitted that Corby should spend the rest of her life behind bars, it was not just the desperate inmate who cried. Ms Lubis, too, broke down in tears.
Outside the court the advocate declared the case was "really unfair".
But her public criticism only put pressure on a legal system that was already well known for being corrupt, Balinese legal experts said.
Any appearance of giving foreigners special treatment would be frowned upon, particularly when voters last year chose a president who campaigned on a platform of cracking down on graft.
Corby's financial supporter, Ron Bakir, has angrily claimed that the defence was asked by Indonesian officials to offer bribes to get an acquittal. But the lawyer said it was important not to let court officials "lose face".
"[Keeping people] happy is not only about the money but also about how to respect the system. The money is not important," he said.
Another veteran of the Balinese court system, Ngurah Karyadi, said most cases involving expatriates and drugs were handled "under the table".
"But it's hard now that there's a lot of attention," he said. "They get pressure from international media. The whole court system wants to handle it the right way."
Ms Lubis is familiar with working with foreigners, who make up the overwhelming majority of her clients at Bali Law Chambers, but she and her team are vague about exactly how much criminal court experience she has.
Life in her practice in the wealthy beachside district of Sanur changed dramatically on October 8 when Corby, 27, was arrested at Ngurah Rai Airport with 4.1 kilograms of marijuana in her boogie board bag.
Previously, Ms Lubis had not handled a drug case for an accused trafficker, said her sister Anggia Lubis Browne, who is also a lawyer.
Corby's sister Mercedes was handed a list of local lawyers by the Australian Consulate, and she found that lawyers in Bali finish up work early on Fridays.
Eventually she dialled the number for Ms Lubis Browne, who said she did not handle narcotics cases but her sister Lily did.
Next recruited was a "consultant" Vasudevan Rasiah, an engineering graduate of the University of East London who has worked in the Middle East, the US and Australia. He calls himself the team's case co-ordinator.
Also on the team is Erwin Siregar, who court-watchers say has been the most convincing advocate for the defence. Corby's ever-present translator, who is carefully referred to only by her Javanese nickname Eka, is a trained accountant.
Bali Law Chambers is not devoted exclusively to criminal law. Last week, the firm was working on commercial contracts on the West Java coast, a getaway for Jakarta's wealthy.
The two sisters are daughters of a police officer and were born in the North Sumatran city of Medan. Lily is the youngest of nine and studied law at Jakarta's Jayabaya University, where she graduated in 1996. She started practising two years later.
In Bali, most of the expatriate drugs cases Ms Lubis had handled involved partygoers caught with illicit substances, Ms Lubis Browne said.
"Kuta party" cases were usually "settled" before they reached the courts by establishing that prosecutors did not have enough evidence, she said.
While Corby's legal team continues to declare her innocence, it is preparing for an appeal.
Now, as she awaits the court's verdict on Friday, Ms Lubis could only describe her own feelings as "anxious and hopeful".
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4208367 - 05/22/05 09:13 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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More jail expected for Corby
May 23, 2005 - news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby will remain in a Bali jail for months even if three Indonesian judges acquit her on Friday.
And chief prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu told The Australian he would launch an appeal if the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman were found guilty of drug smuggling but sentenced to anything less than life in prison, the sentence he and his colleagues have recommended.
"What is suitable is a life sentence," he said.
"If it is less than that, it will not fit our sense of what is just, so we will appeal."
Appeals to Bali's High Court can take anywhere from weeks to months to be decided. Either side can then appeal to Indonesia's Supreme Court, based in Jakarta.
If Ms Corby's defence lawyers appeal, they run the risk of the High Court imposing a tougher sentence, as it has in previous drugs cases. Yet Ms Corby's chief lawyer, Lily Lubis, has repeatedly declared she would appeal if her client were sentenced to a prison term, however light.
Mr Wiswantanu said an appeal would follow if the judges deciding the case gave unwarranted weight to documents tendered after the trial process had ended, such as the Australian Government's letter and a statement of facts that Ms Corby's barristers sent to the judges.
The letter and statement concerned the cocaine-smuggling ring found to have been operating in Australian airports on October 8 last year, the day Ms Corby flew to Bali.
Ms Corby was arrested at Denpasar airport when a customs official found 4.1kg of marijuana in her unlocked body-board bag.
Made Suraatmaja, a judge and spokesman for the Denpasar District Court, said defence lawyers had to consider an appeal very carefully.
"I remember a case when the prosecutors recommended 10 years in prison; we gave him eight years," Judge Suraatmaja said. "He appealed, and then he got 13 years in prison from the High Court. It was a drugs case."
In another case, the prosecution recommended the death penalty, but he and his fellow judges sentenced the defendant to life in prison. The defendant appealed and the High Court increased the penalty to death.
"There have been many cases like that," Judge Suraatmaja said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4209479 - 05/23/05 08:41 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Security upgrade sought as Corby verdict looms
May 24, 2005 - smh.com.au
Australian consular officials have written to Bali police and sought a meeting with them to address mounting concerns about inadequate security at Schapelle Corby's trial on Friday.
The acting consul-general, Anne Quinane, wrote to the head of the Bali police, General I Made Pastika, on Friday asking for extra police. She said yesterday she would be speaking to the police again this week in an attempt to get better protection for Corby.
The Australian Government last week issued another warning of a possible terrorist attack in Indonesia, and while there are concerns the whole court could become a target, the consul-general appears most concerned for Corby's welfare.
Arriving at the court several weeks ago, Corby fell as she was led from the prison van through a huge media scrum and, with scores more media representatives coming to Bali for the decision, Ms Quinane said it was important to provide the right level of protection.
Ms Quinane said she had heard rumours the venue for Friday's decision might be changed but said she was "not in a position to confirm or deny" their accuracy.
A spokesman for Denpasar District Court, I Made Suraatmaja, said there had been no request to move the court. His staff would need 10 days to do this if requested.
With so many Australians expected in court on Friday, he said there were rumours the court could become a target for terrorists, although this information was "baseless".
If the court believed there was a credible threat of an attack "we would not read the verdict on that day", he said.
Mr Suraatmaja said he was worried Corby supporters might be unhappy with the verdict and he wanted extra police on hand.
However, friends of Corby's who visited her in jail yesterday remained confident the Queensland woman would be acquitted and released.
"She's in high spirits and she's looking forward to being released on Friday," said Glen Jeffers, a family friend from Tugun in Queensland, where Corby lives. "She's a strong girl, she's got religion now. God is helping her, I suppose, and she knows she's going to be released because she's innocent."
With Mr Jeffers was Alyth McComb, a friend and former flatmate of Corby's who travelled to Bali with her on October 8 when Corby was arrested.
She said her friend was "doing really well", but did not want to talk about the visit.
However, she told New Idea magazine she feared the judges would find Corby guilty, even though she was certain she was not. "She's innocent. I saw that bag with my own eyes when it was checked in at Brisbane airport, there was no drugs there."
Ms Quinane also visited Corby for about an hour yesterday but said Corby had asked her not to say anything to the media.
Meanwhile in Queensland, the man who says he's funding Corby's defence, Ron Bakir, issued an apology for his remarks accusing Corby's chief prosecutor, Ida Bagus Wiswantanu, of seeking bribes.
The apology, written after Indonesia said the remarks were a breach of the law, described the comments as "baseless and unsubstantiated".
Mr Bakir is expected to arrive in Bali today and to attend the trial on Friday.
Mr Wiswantanu said that as a religious person he was bound to accept the apology with an "open heart". He said the Indonesian legal system "will not tolerate interference".
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4212386 - 05/23/05 09:28 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Australia asks for Corby exchange
May 24, 2005 - theage.com.au
Australia has submitted a draft prisoner exchange agreement for Indonesia to consider, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says.
The government is negotiating with Indonesia an agreement which could be used for accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby, who will find out on Friday if a Bali court will convict her on trafficking charges.
She faces a life sentence if found guilty.
Mr Ruddock told ABC TV that Australia had submitted a draft to Indonesia which followed the form of agreement negotiated with other countries.
"Most of those agreements do not make provision for a country that receives a prisoner back to unilaterally alter the sentence," he said.
"I don't think I've seen an agreement where that is possible.
"It could be that together you could vary a sentence.
"(But) you don't get a lesser sentence because you're able to serve it out at home."
Mr Ruddock said it was likely any agreement would provide that a prisoner could serve a sentence at home after all appeals had been exhausted.
"That would need to be agreed by both Indonesia and Australia," he said.
Mr Ruddock also spoke out against the intense media coverage surrounding the Corby case.
But he did not necessarily blame media outlets.
"There has been a great deal of comment, much of it initiated by those who were employed to assist the charged in this matter," he said.
"Right from the beginning these matters have been addressed by the defence using the media."
Mr Ruddock again defended comments by Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty, who cast doubts on suggestions there was intelligence supporting claims that baggage handlers were smuggling drugs through Sydney airport using passengers' luggage.
"There were views being put about the nature of the evidence that the Australian Federal Police could adduce in Corby's favour," he said.
"What he was simply saying ... was that they shouldn't assume that the evidence wouldn't be adduced in the way in which they had suggested."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4213401 - 05/24/05 07:25 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Judge gives Corby ominous warning
May 24, 2005 - abc.net.au
The chief judge in Schapelle Corby's Bali trial has admitted that he has never acquitted anyone in hundreds of drug cases.
Corby was arrested last October at Denpasar airport with just over four kilograms of marijuana in her luggage.
Judge Linton Sirait says he has been unmoved by her emotion in the court room.
"It's normal because it's not only Corby who is like that, in other hearings many of the defendants cry," he said.
"We can't be influenced by crying, we treat her just like normal.
"It's an ordinary drug case but as it is reported by so many media it becomes like an extraordinary one."
Mr Sirait said he would be criticised whatever he and his fellow judges decided in Ms Corby's case.
"If people believe Corby is innocent and she is found guilty, the public may hate the judges without realising the judges have been considering the evidence carefully," he said.
"Then if Corby is released, the public think the judges get money or something."
Judge Sirait has also confirmed an ominous pattern to his past judgements.
"I've handled many cases, not a hundred or 200, but over 500 since I became a judge.
"As far as I remember in a drugs case I haven't yet set anyone free."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4213589 - 05/24/05 08:45 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Admission of guilt the key to severity of sentence, says Corby judge
May 25, 2005 - smh.com.au
Amrozi, the so-called "smiling" Bali bomber, yelled racial and other insults at Schapelle Corby inside Denpasar's jail, according to one of her lawyers.
Robin Tampoe said Corby was extremely upset when Amrozi, who is on death row, yelled the abuse from his cell as she was exercising on a makeshift tennis court inside the jail compound. She ran back to her cell in tears.
Mr Tampoe told a Channel Seven reporter that Corby had been asking for some time to be allowed to exercise in the yard.
Corby's mother, Rosleigh, visited the jail yesterday and said her daughter was "feeling numb" and "scared" three days before judges are scheduled to announce her sentence.
Asked if Schapelle was praying, Mrs Corby said: "Of course she is praying she will be home."
Queensland businessman Ron Bakir, who says he is underwriting some of Corby's legal costs, arrived in Bali yesterday for the first time since he accused the chief prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu of soliciting a bribe.
Mr Bakir refused to answer questions about his apology to the Indonesian Government this week in which he retracted his allegation. "Bring the girl home" was the only comment he made.
The chief judge in the case, Linton Sirait, has told the Herald the key factor in what sentence the court would give if it found Corby guilty was whether or not the defendant admitted guilt.
The quality of the defendant's character and behaviour in court meant little. "They contribute only a little. The main factor is honesty, whether he or she admits guilt," Judge Sirait said.
Corby has consistently denied any knowledge of how a 4.1 kilogram bag of marijuana came to be in her luggage.
Judge Sirait reiterated in a Channel Nine interview yesterday that he has never before acquitted an accused drug smuggler.
He told the Herald that in hundreds of cases of people carrying marijuana he had judged in North Sumatra he had never sentenced anyone to less than five years.
"Sometimes they carry two kilograms, three kilograms even five kilograms, so the sentence on average was more than five years," he said.
In an interview with The Bulletin to be published today, the federal Justice Minister, Chris Ellison, said the Government was looking to negotiate an one-off interim agreement with Indonesia to get Corby home, should a formal prisoner-exchange deal take too long.
As Indonesian police announced new security rules for Friday's court hearing to cope with scores of media representatives, tourism operators in Bali issued a statement warning they were "dismayed" at calls by some Australian travel agents to boycott travel to Bali because of the Corby case.
Robert Kelsall, the chairman of the Bali Hotels Association, said he feared a guilty verdict could prompt a cutback in Australian tourism numbers similar to that which followed the outbreak of SARS two years ago.
He said 177 travel agents in Australia had already told a travel industry newsletter they would stop selling Bali if Corby was found guilty.
Australians were now visiting Bali in record numbers and probably brought more money in than any other country, Mr Kelsall said.
Hotel operators could not understand calls to punish the Balinese, he said, when Corby's defence team had accused Australians of being responsible for the marijuana found in her bag.
"Why are they persecuting us when Schapelle Corby's main defence is that baggage handlers were responsible?"
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4216498 - 05/24/05 08:53 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Australia ready to help Corby, if convicted.
May 25, 2005 - thecouriermail.news.com.au
AUSTRALIA has officials ready to go to Indonesia to negotiate a prisoner transfer for Schapelle Corby if she is found guilty of drug smuggling on Friday, Justice Minister Chris Ellison said today.
Corby, a 27-year-old former beauty student from the Gold Coast, will find out on Friday whether she will go to prison on a charge of trying to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Indonesia last October.
A prisoner transfer agreement between Australia and Indonesia is being negotiated but an interim deal to get Corby back to Australia sooner is being contemplated.
"We don't want to pre-empt in any way the decision of the Indonesian court this Friday," Senator Ellison told the Nine Network today.
"But in the event that Schapelle Corby is found guilty and sentenced, then we'll be looking at a situation where there could be a possible transfer."
He said the proposal had not been put to the Indonesians because the government wanted to see what happened on Friday.
"But we have an agreement that our officials will travel to Indonesia in early June and that's a very positive step forward in the negotiation of this agreement."
Senator Ellison said the idea of a prisoner transfer agreement with Indonesia had been being discussed for some time.
"I've sent a draft text to Indonesia for their consideration and we have a team of officials who are going up to Indonesia in early June," he said.
"But these things do take time.
"Of course we have to pursue that agreement through its normal course.
"If that does take time, we could look at an interim arrangement for Schapelle Corby.
"But that remains to be seen."
Senator Ellison also cautioned that an appeal process was also available to Corby if she was convicted.
"If Schapelle Corby embarked upon an appeal process, that could take some time in itself," he said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4218087 - 05/25/05 09:34 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Jakarta wary of Corby repatriation deal
May 26, 2005 - smh.com.au
The federal Justice Minister, Chris Ellison, has refused to say why he was prepared to try to negotiate a special deal with Indonesia to bring Schapelle Corby home if she is convicted tomorrow, before making a similar effort for any other Australian in a foreign jail.
He also would not say what criteria the Government used when determining whether or not to try to secure an ad hoc deal for a single convict.
Yesterday, Senator Ellison said he had sent a draft text of the treaty to Indonesia. A team of officials would be going there in June to establish negotiations, but if that process "does take some time, then we could look at an interim arrangement for Schapelle Corby". He noted that if Corby were convicted, there would be an appeal process before any repatriation could take place.
In Jakarta, Indonesia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Marty Natalegawa, said the relationship between Jakarta and Canberra would be able to absorb any fallout from the Corby case.
However, he reacted warily to Senator Ellison's suggestion for a one-off prisoner transfer for Corby if she is convicted. Mr Natalegawa said Indonesia was open to agreeing to a general treaty but "we would have to be extremely careful" about cutting a deal only for Corby. "This is like a slippery slope," he said. "If we make a special arrangement in this case, an argument might be made when other cases come up by the loved ones of people who get into trouble."
An international law expert at Sydney University, Professor Don Rothwell, said a one-off deal for Corby would be unprecedented and much would depend on whether or not Indonesia would be prepared to accommodate Australia's wishes politically.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4218098 - 05/25/05 09:37 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Schapelle's assassination fears
May 26, 2005 - dailytelegraph.news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby lives in terror that an extremist may try to kill her on the way to court to hear the verdict in her drug trial tomorrow.
Speaking from inside Bali's Kerobokan jail, she said she was terrified a lunatic may make an assassination bid during the chaos as she is led from her cell to the court.
"Someone might come and try to stab me," she told a reporter from radio station 2GB who was smuggled into the jail by her main backer, businessman Ron Bakir.
Corby, 27, said the threat scared her more than the verdict, which could be a death sentence or life in prison.
During the hour-long interview, her emotions switched between laughter and tears.
Corby said she believed she would be found not guilty of smuggling 4.1kg of cannabis and would be flying to her Gold Coast home with her family immediately after the verdict.
During the interview, Corby cheekily asked for the craziest rumour being spread about her, before laughing: "I have never been an escort and I am not pregnant."
Wearing short jeans, a white T-shirt and a pink bandana, she also demanded that she was not asked questions about her love life.
"Don't mention anything about kissing, because I haven't been kissed or kissed anyone in nine months," she said.
They were lighter moments, punctuated by bouts of tears. She told the reporter she was shocked and grateful for the support she is receiving from Australians.
But when visiting time was over, she held her head in her hands and wept: "I don't want to go back to my cell."
The reporter described her as "the loneliest girl in the world".
She was also said to have developed a "close bond" with Bakir, but it was not a romance. Bakir flew back into Bali on Tuesday following his apology for making bribery allegations against Indonesian legal officials.
He said: "She is struggling, the girl is struggling. You can only imagine the pressure she is under, you can only imagine. She thanks Australia and she thanks everybody for all their support.
"She keeps saying that without them she could not do it. Hopefully she will be going home on Friday. We are trying to keep her positive and we will see how we go."
Corby's Gold Coast lawyer Robin Tampoe arrived at the jail wearing a Corby Defence Team T-shirt featuring a cartoon character girl asking a man in a camel suit: "Can you explain why, Mr Keelty, you consider the Corby defence to be flimsy?"
The camel suit is a reference to a recent case where a Qantas baggage handler at Sydney airport was sacked for rifling through a passenger's luggage, taking out a camel suit and wearing it on the tarmac.
Mr Tampoe said they had tried to joke with Corby but she became emotional. "She knows Australia is right behind her," he said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4218982 - 05/25/05 02:32 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby rejects sedatives to remain alert
May 26, 2005 - thecouriermail.news.com.au
ACCUSED drug smuggler Schapelle Corby prayed with her doctor yesterday and told her she did not want sedatives to help her cope with tomorrow's Indonesian court verdict, saying that she would rather be fully alert for what transpires.
Dr Conny Pangkahila was among yesterday's visitors to Bali's Kerobokan Jail.
She and Corby, both Christians, said a short prayer together and the doctor took her some spiritual books dealing with people facing bad situations.
"She is fine, she is healthy. She wants to be without any medication (tomorrow) so she can understand what is happening," Dr Pangkahila said.
Also visiting yesterday were mobile phone dealer Ron Bakir and Gold Coast lawyer Robin Tampoe.
Both emerged expressing concern for the 27-year-old's wellbeing but with a fervent hope that "justice prevails" when the three judges take their place in the Denpasar District Court to pronounce judgment on Corby.
"She is struggling, the girl is struggling. You can only imagine the pressure she is under, you can only imagine," Mr Bakir said.
"We are trying to keep her positive and we will see how we go.
"She is a strong girl. We hope justice prevails. She thinks she is coming home on Friday and we hope that is the case," he said.
Mr Tampoe arrived at the jail wearing a "Corby Defence Team" T-shirt. On the back it featured a cartoon character girl asking a man in a camel suit: "Can you explain why Mr Keelty, you consider the Corby defence to be flimsy?"
The statement refers to comments made by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty in the past few weeks regarding the defence case.
The camel suit is a reference to a recent case where a Qantas baggage handler at Sydney airport was sacked for rifling through a passenger's luggage, taking out a camel suit and wearing it on the tarmac.
Corby has consistently denied any knowledge of marijuana found in her unlocked boogie board bag, claiming it was planted.
Mr Tampoe said that during the visit they had tried to have a joke with Corby but that she had become emotional.
"She tries so hard, that's the thing, she even tries hard with us but then she can't maintain it and she gets very upset. She was very emotional," Mr Tampoe said.
"She tries very hard and that's the way she maintains her dignity and the moment that starts to slip will be a huge concern. She is trying really, really hard," he said.
Indonesian anti-drug protesters, who initially took a hardline stance against Corby, demanding during the trial's earliest days that she be put to death, said yesterday they were yet to decide whether they would be at the court tomorrow and if so, how many.
Granat, the anti-narcotics protest group, was planning a meeting for last night to decide on what action it would take.
Meanwhile, an argument broke out at the court yesterday, with the Indonesian press protesting the way Australian media, and particularly Channel 7, had taken over the court grounds, setting up podia and makeshift studios and with cabling running everywhere.
Late yesterday, Judge Linton Sirait, chief of the three-judge bench, was threatening to ban all cameras from inside the courtroom. Initially, he had agreed to allow a limited number of Australian and Indonesian cameras inside to provide footage and photographs on a pool basis.
But the arrangement, along with TV plans for live coverage of the verdict from the cameras stationed inside, was in chaos.
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Photoguy
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4219432 - 05/25/05 04:22 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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What time will the verdict come down? Anyone know. God help that girl now.
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You gotta check yo' self before you wreck yo' self
B, Z, F, Burma, Cambodian, Golden Teacher, Puerto Rico, South American, Costa Rica, African
My name is Ender Wiggen and I will own you soon. Bean is my second in command, he is PC'ing jars right now.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: Photoguy]
#4219609 - 05/25/05 05:14 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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>What time will the verdict come down?
The verdict will be handed down Friday, May 27th morning (Bali time). I don't know the exact time, but I am following this story and will post the verdict in this thread when announced.
Edited by veggie (05/26/05 01:58 AM)
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dblaney
Human Being
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4220035 - 05/25/05 07:01 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
veggie said:
Also visiting yesterday were mobile phone dealer Ron Bakir and Gold Coast lawyer Robin Tampoe.
I'm probably missing something but what business would a mobile phone dealer have with Corby?
[answered my own question]
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"What is in us that turns a deaf ear to the cries of human suffering?"
"Belief is a beautiful armor
But makes for the heaviest sword"
- John Mayer
Making the noise "penicillin" is no substitute for actually taking penicillin.
"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it." -Abraham Lincoln
Edited by dblaney18 (05/26/05 07:10 AM)
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4221298 - 05/26/05 01:56 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby spends tearful hours with parents
May 26, 2005 - theage.com.au
Schapelle Corby has been granted two tearful hours with her mother and father on the eve of her judgment day, amid fears she won't be able to cope with a possible guilty verdict and long jail sentence.
Meanwhile, Bali police have responded to safety fears by pledging tight security around the island's main courthouse when a three-judge panel hands down its verdict in Corby's drug smuggling trial.
Corby's mother Rosleigh Rose and her terminally ill father Michael Corby emerged stony-faced from a visit to their daughter in Bali's Kerobokan prison, pushing past waiting media.
When asked how her daughter was, Rose replied only: "Very stressed".
Later Rose issued a last appeal, telling reporters: "Let my daughter come home - she's innocent, you know that."
Officially, Corby's defence team says it is expecting an acquittal on charges she tried to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Denpasar Airport last October.
However, there is no escaping the sense of gloom that seems to have come over the lawyers in the past few days.
Defence lawyer Lily Lubis voiced fears about what would happen if Corby was convicted and jailed.
"She won't survive, she won't survive," she said.
"God, please no, because she is innocent."
Defence lawyer Erwin Siregar said if the judges' verdict was guilty: "We will not wait one day to appeal. Not one day, not one week."
Corby's financial backer Ron Bakir said little after visiting Corby separately.
But asked whether he thought the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman would be able to cope with a lengthy prison term, he said: "I don't think so."
In contrast, Indonesian prosecutors appear confident of securing a conviction.
They hope the judges will follow their recommendation that Corby be sentenced to life in prison although, on paper at least, the charges could still attract the death penalty.
"Let's just wait until the verdict," said a smiling junior prosecutor, Siti Sawiyah.
The trial's chief judge, Linton Sirait, claims to have never acquitted a drug case during his career of more than 500 criminal trials.
He has appeared unmoved by Corby's emotion-charged pleas of innocence.
Sirait said the Corby decision would be handed down on schedule from 9am local time (1100 AEST), with the three judges set to read a lengthy statement before announcing their verdict.
He said the court had conducted a fair and honest trial according to Indonesian legal standards and he was unconcerned by the controversy it has stirred in Australia.
He has also not reacted to Corby's request that Prime Minister John Howard and Indonesian President Bambang Yudhoyono intercede to save her.
The judge has expressed surprise at the saturation coverage of Corby's trial by the Australian media.
"Why are you all here?" he said. "Why are you making it into a big deal?"
Sirait said he was certain police would maintain security at court and that the verdict hearing would proceed smoothly.
Corby is said to be worried that an extremist might try to attack her at the hearing.
Bakir also voiced concerns about security, telling Network Ten: "If something does happen to the girl tomorrow no-one would ever live with themselves."
Bali police spokesman A S Reniban said more than 100 officers would guard the court complex tomorrow while members of the elite mobile brigade, sometimes used to quell rioting and unrest, would be on stand-by nearby.
Everyone attending, including Corby's family as well as supporters and Australian tourists, will pass through a metal detector, while there will also be weapon searches.
To maintain the dignity of the proceedings, to be televised live in Australia, there will be a ban on shorts and flimsy clothing. All mobile phones must be switched off.
"It will be safe. There will be nothing to worry about," said Reniban. "It is our duty to guard her."
Meanwhile, Indonesia's government appeared to rule out a suggestion from Canberra that Schapelle Corby be allowed to serve her sentence back home if she is found guilty.
"We remain to be convinced that there is a need for this," Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said of the proposal, which Australia has yet to officially make.
"It would set a precedent where there is no need for one. Later on, every country will want one."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4222604 - 05/26/05 11:55 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Squalid cell that awaits Schapelle
May 27, 2005 - theaustralian.news.com.au
Just hours before she learns her fate, Schapelle Corby has sent a message to Australians to pray for her today.
"Australia, today is my day. Please pray for me. I pray for justice every day," Corby said late yesterday from her jail cell. "I want to go home."
"Don't forget me, I have done nothing wrong. Please believe in me," the 27-year-old said from Kerobokan Jail on the eve of today's verdict in her drug smuggling trial.
The three judges in the Schapelle Corby trial had their last meeting yesterday to decide whether the beauty school student will spend the rest of her life locked in a crowded and dark jail cell for up to 20 hours a day.
Pictures taken inside Kerobokan jail - where Corby has been held for the past nine months - reveal cramped living conditions for the up to five people who sleep, eat and wash in the triangular-shaped room, less than 3x3m in size.
The photos, taken from the jail's men's quarters, show prisoners preparing their food next to a grimy squat toilet in their cell.
Prisoners can only wash themselves with a small bucket and ladel and, with only one bunk bed per room, some are forced to sleep on the floor.
Little light comes into the grubby cells, in which prisoners are forced to spend the majority of their days and nights.
The judges had their last meeting or "musyawarah" yesterday and decided on the verdict.
"It's done," said chief judge Linton Sirait who, along with his two fellow judges, has never acquitted a defendant. "There were no disagreements."
Prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu, who has been vilified in Australian emails to Indonesian websites, said he hoped Australians would accept the judges' decision. "The hope is that they (Australians) will respect the decision by judges in Indonesia, because it's based on fact and evidence," he said, without specifying whether he had been forewarned of the verdict.
Most analysts now expect Ms Corby to be convicted and sentenced to a lengthy jail term, and Mr Wiswantanu earlier formally recommended life in prison. In the final hours before she learns how her life will unfold in the years to come, Corby seemed in good spirits, according to visitors to Kerobokan prison yesterday. Her mother, Rosleigh Rose, who visited with Ms Corby's extremely ill father, Michael Corby, said Schapelle was "very stressed".
Ms Corby's financial backer Ron Bakir also visited, saying he didn't think she would last long in prison if she was convicted. Two officials from the Australian consulate-general in Bali also saw Ms Corby, but they refused to discuss her condition, saying she had specifically asked them not to.
Mr Wiswantanu said the prison doctor would again check Ms Corby's health this morning, before the hearing, to ensure she was fit to hear the verdict. "This is normal," he said.
As many as 100 officers, including a bomb squad, will guard Denpasar District Court today, and none of the other three courtrooms will be used.
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LiveByFreedom
Catalyst
Registered: 03/21/05
Posts: 652
Loc: Mountains
Last seen: 5 years, 6 months
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4222735 - 05/26/05 12:34 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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I'm praying for you Schapelle! I beleive in my heart that things will turn out alright for Schapelle Corby, convicted or not.
Dblaney: Ron Bakir (an australian mobile phone dealer) has been backing Schapelle Corby financially the whole 8 or 9 months she's been in there. He's just a very generous, heartful guy.
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"Everything is not as it seems." Eye
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CosmicJoke
creative son ofa bitch
Registered: 04/05/00
Posts: 1,850
Loc: Portland, OR
Last seen: 41 minutes, 21 seconds
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4222871 - 05/26/05 01:13 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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please God, let this girl go home. i'm making a commitment to You to raise awareness to others in support of this girl regardless of the outcome, but please God, let this girl go home.
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You can move your thoughts around your skull, but they can't leave your brain when you're stuck in the lull of a clone-men dance. You're a glance in the ball. That's all.
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Photoguy
Drunk andJobless
Registered: 02/24/05
Posts: 553
Loc: Drunk in Texas
Last seen: 6 years, 2 months
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: CosmicJoke]
#4223209 - 05/26/05 02:32 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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It is not going to happen friends. I am sad to say this, but I think we all know that she will be found guilty.
It is time to form an elite group of freedom fighters to fight injustice across the world.
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You gotta check yo' self before you wreck yo' self
B, Z, F, Burma, Cambodian, Golden Teacher, Puerto Rico, South American, Costa Rica, African
My name is Ender Wiggen and I will own you soon. Bean is my second in command, he is PC'ing jars right now.
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CosmicJoke
creative son ofa bitch
Registered: 04/05/00
Posts: 1,850
Loc: Portland, OR
Last seen: 41 minutes, 21 seconds
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: Photoguy]
#4223422 - 05/26/05 03:38 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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well, i'm coming down on acid and a little childhood innocence in letting there be the possibility of a miracle of a just world, if at least for just this istant, is informing to myself and feels right. i certainly won't argue that we need to take a stand.
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You can move your thoughts around your skull, but they can't leave your brain when you're stuck in the lull of a clone-men dance. You're a glance in the ball. That's all.
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LiveByFreedom
Catalyst
Registered: 03/21/05
Posts: 652
Loc: Mountains
Last seen: 5 years, 6 months
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: CosmicJoke]
#4223622 - 05/26/05 04:33 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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I truely beleive though, that if she is found guilty (which is most probable), things will turn out good for her within 5 or 6 so years. I know, that's still a lot of time, but it's better than a life sentence.
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"Everything is not as it seems." Eye
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The Ginger Ninja
Gnubobo is mypoppet!
Registered: 02/26/04
Posts: 17,196
Loc: Pulling Bobo's strings.
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: LiveByFreedom]
#4224006 - 05/26/05 06:22 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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The verdict is due soonish. They are showing the courtroom live on TV now. I'll post the verdict as it comes in if Veggie does not first. That poor poor girl.
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Prisoner#1: Hanky doesn't send PMs to retards
UncleLuke: That's not true. Hanky has sent me a total of 3 PMs.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4224111 - 05/26/05 06:58 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby wears black for judgement day
May 27, 2005 - smh.com.au
A nervous Schapelle Corby has been closing her eyes and taking deep breaths in the Denpasar courtroom where she will soon learn her fate on drug trafficking charges.
Corby, wearing a black silk blouse and pink pants, was half-carried into the court by about 10 Indonesian police officer.
But Corby's condition seemed to improve after she sat down, immediately sharing smiles with friends and family in the public gallery.
Roseleigh Rose, her mother, was carried into court by other members of her family, as was her terminally ill father Michael Corby. Both had to push through a media scrum near the entrance to the court.
Corby spoke intently with her legal team as she waited for the hearing to begin, but also appeared to share a joke with one of her lawyers.
Chief Judge Linton Sirait is expected to take more than two hours to run through the evidence for and against Corby before delivering a verdict on each.
Corby will not be fully aware of the proceedings, which will be delivered in Bahasa Indonesia, and will have to rely on sporadic updates from her interpreter.
The judges have considered three separate charges. The most serious, importing a narcotic, will be decided first. Should they find her not guilty on that charge, it will not mean freedom for Ms Corby.
They may still find her guilty of transitting a drug, which attracts life in prison, or for possession, which could put Ms Corby in prison for 10 years.
The panel of three judges finalised its decision days ago, with one local paper speculating that a 15-year jail term would be announced for the 27-year-old.
The weather in Denpasar is typically muggy, but much worse inside the cramped courtroom.
With plans to allocate one seat inside the court to each media organisation scrapped, journalists queued for hours this morning before scrambling for a seat when the doors were opened.
The court resembles a Hollywood film set in parts, with television stations setting up marquees and temporary television sets for their live coverage back to Australia.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4224244 - 05/26/05 07:30 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Judge says Corby admitted marijuana was hers
May 27, 2005 - theage.com.au
The chief judge in the Schapelle Corby case has said it is "true" Corby admitted a bag containing 4.1 kilograms of marijuana was hers, according to a court translator.
Judge Linton Sirait has begun his summing up to a courtroom packed with media, family and onlookers.
Corby, 27, is answering three charges. She faces the death penalty if convicted of importing a narcotic, a maximum of life imprisonment for transiting a drug, and a maximum of 10 years' jail for possession.
Earlier, Corby, wearing a black silk blouse and pink pants, was half-carried into the court by about 10 Indonesian police officers.
Roseleigh Rose, her mother, was carried into court by other members of her family, as was her terminally ill father Michael Corby.
Both has to push through the large media scrum near the entrance to the court.
Occasionally taking deep breaths and closing her eyes, Corby waited for the court proceedings to begin in the stifling courtroom.
But her condition seemed to improve after she sat down, immediately sharing smiles with friends and family in the public gallery.
Corby then stood as the three judges, wearing black and red robes, filed into the court under police escort.
The Australian was then joined by her translator as Chief Judge Linton Sirait addressed her.
At one stage, Corby asked how long the judge would take to read the judgement.
In court Corby wiped her hands on a towel under her chair, before helping her lawyer Lily Lubis tie her legal robe.
Sirait began reading the judgement in Indonesian, his words relayed to Corby by her translator.
According to Corby's translator, whose voice is being broadcast 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.
Sirait said the "suspect" Corby had admitted the drugs were hers, referring to testimony by Indonesian customs officers.
Chief Judge Linton Sirait is expected to take more than two hours to run through the evidence for and against Corby before delivering a verdict on three charges.
But Corby will not be fully aware of the proceedings, which will be delivered in Bahasa Indonesian, and will have to rely on sporadic updates from her interpreter.
The panel of three judges finalised its decision days ago, with one local paper speculating that a 15-year jail term would be announced for the 27-year-old.
The weather in Denpasar is typically muggy, but will be much worse inside the cramped courtroom.
With plans to allocate one seat inside the court to each media organisation scrapped, journalists lined up for hours to attempt to scramble a seat when the doors are opened.
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The Ginger Ninja
Gnubobo is mypoppet!
Registered: 02/26/04
Posts: 17,196
Loc: Pulling Bobo's strings.
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4224346 - 05/26/05 08:05 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
veggie said:
The chief judge in the Schapelle Corby case has said it is "true" Corby admitted a bag containing 4.1 kilograms of marijuana was hers, according to a court translator.
I wish they would report correctly. When the judge says 'It is true' - he is stating what one of the witness' has said ie)It is true this witness said. He has also said 'It is true' that Schapelle said the marijuana was not hers. Damn papers.
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Prisoner#1: Hanky doesn't send PMs to retards
UncleLuke: That's not true. Hanky has sent me a total of 3 PMs.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4224397 - 05/26/05 08:28 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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PM says Australians must accept Corby verdict
May 27, 2005 - theage.com.au
The Prime Minister says Australians must accept the verdict set to be handed down by an Indonesian court in the Schapelle Corby drugs smuggling case.
As judges were delivering their verdict in a Denpasar court, Mr Howard said he sympathised with Corby.
"I hope the verdict is a true verdict, a just verdict and a fair verdict," he said while announced a $1 billion road funding project in Geelong today.
"I think the entire nation feels for this girl. I make no statement about her guilty or innocence. We have to trust the Indonesian justice system.
"As a father of young adult children, you can't help - guilty or innocent - feel for her but we have to respect the justice systems of other countries.
Mr Howard said he believed the Australian government had done all it could for Schapelle Corby, including organising the transfer of Victorian prisoner John Ford to testify on her behalf.
"I do ask the Australian people to accept and understand that when Australians go abroad they are subject to the justice system of the countries they visit.
"Just as when foreigners visit our country they are subject to our justice system.
"Just as we would resent the leaders of other countries telling us how to run our justice system, we must accept and understand that the leaders of other countries would resent us telling them how to conduct and run their justice system."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4224438 - 05/26/05 08:46 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Schapelle Corby Found Guilty
20 years jail for Corby
May 27, 2005 - theage.com.au
Schapelle Corby has received a 20-year jail term after being found guilty of importing marijuana - sparking fury among her family in court.
Corby has earlier begun weeping and rocking back-and-forth on her chair after learning that the judges have found the charges against her as proven - one step below guilt under Indonesian law - before Chief Judge Linton Sirait announced the verdict.
The 27-year-old looked stunned as the verdict was translated for her, but turned around to urge her family to stop their shouting.
She then hugged lawyer Lily Lupis while members of the gallery voiced their outrage.
The van has now taken Corby off to prison.
"We have decided firstly that the defendant Schapelle Corby has been proven convincingly to be guilty of the crime of importation of a schedule one narcotic," the judges said.
"The prison sentence of 20 years is handed down with a fine of 100 million rupiah.
"If this is not paid, an additional six months will be added to the sentence"
At this point screams broke out in the courtroom.
The drugs plus other personal effects of Corby's were ordered to be confiscated and burned.
Corby has until next Wednesday to appeal the sentence.
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Ekstaza
stranger thanmost
Registered: 04/10/03
Posts: 4,315
Loc: Around the corner
Last seen: 3 months, 28 days
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4224467 - 05/26/05 08:55 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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I say we all boycot anything made in Indonesia.
I will never set foot in that country.
I don't want to know that any dollar of mine went to support such a backward thinking people.
My heart goes out to Schappelle Corby. She has been greatly wronged.
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YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH ANY GIVEN DRUG ISN'T THE DEFINITIVE MEASURE OF THE DRUGS EFFECTS.
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dblaney
Human Being
Registered: 10/03/04
Posts: 7,894
Loc: Here & Now
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: Ekstaza]
#4224488 - 05/26/05 09:00 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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The judge mentioned the lack of fingerprint testing...perhaps that would make a good element of an appeal?
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"What is in us that turns a deaf ear to the cries of human suffering?"
"Belief is a beautiful armor
But makes for the heaviest sword"
- John Mayer
Making the noise "penicillin" is no substitute for actually taking penicillin.
"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it." -Abraham Lincoln
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Ekstaza
stranger thanmost
Registered: 04/10/03
Posts: 4,315
Loc: Around the corner
Last seen: 3 months, 28 days
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: dblaney]
#4224513 - 05/26/05 09:08 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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If she appeals, she could possibly get a death sentence from a higher court.
Indonesia's judicial system is so screwed that her best bet is to just take the 20 years and hope that she can perhaps be sent to an Australian prison through some prisoner exchange program.
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YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH ANY GIVEN DRUG ISN'T THE DEFINITIVE MEASURE OF THE DRUGS EFFECTS.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4224805 - 05/26/05 10:14 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Indonesian prosecutors plan appeal
May 27, 2005 - theage.com.au
Prosecutors in the Schapelle Corby case say they will appeal the sentence, saying it was too lenient.
Prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu said he believed the judge had erred and should have given Corby a life sentence.
"For us justice is life for anyone who imports that much marijuana," he told reporters.
Corby was today sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined 100 million rupiah ($AU14,000) after she was convicted of importing drugs into Indonesia.
Asked whether it was fair, he told reporters: "I cannot comment on my own judgment.
"You heard what I have said."
Chief Judge Linton Sirait said later he would not comment further on the decision.
Ealier, Corby's Australian lawyer, Robin Tampoe, said he would consider all possible avenues of appeal.
"We'll do whatever we can possibly do to get her home. We won't stop. We will not stop."
Asked if he would try to get evidence relating to alleged cocaine smuggling by Australian baggage handlers admitted in any appeal he said: "Perhaps.
"We'll look at all those likely things. . . none of it was accepted (in the trial).. it doesn't leave us with much.
Lily Lubis, Corby's Indonesian lawyer, told reporters she did not believe justice had been served.
"I don't think so," she said.
Lubis was in tears as she faced reporters outside the court, and said the court had failed to take into account crucial evidence.
She became heated at repeated questioning as to whether the trial had been fair: "Ask him," she said, referring to to chief judge Linton Sirait. "He's the one that makes the decision."
In court, Corby wept and rocked back-and-forth on her chair after learning that the judges had found the charges against her as proven - one step below guilt under Indonesian law.
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".
The 27-year-old looked stunned as the verdict was translated for her, but turned around to urge her family to stop their shouting.
She then hugged Lupis while members of the gallery voiced their outrage.
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 and father Michael Corby.
She kissed other members of her family and was then led away by police through a crush of media.
Corby has now been taken back to prison.
"We have decided firstly that the defendant Schapelle Corby has been proven convincingly to be guilty of the crime of importation of a schedule one narcotic," the judges said.
"The prison sentence of 20 years is handed down with a fine of 100 million rupiah ($AU14,000).
"If this is not paid, an additional six months will be added to the sentence"
At this point screams broke out in the courtroom.
The drugs plus other personal effects of Corby's were ordered to be confiscated and burned.
Corby has until next Wednesday to appeal the sentence.
Her sister Mercedes appeared disoriented and in shock as she was surrounded outside court by the media throng.
Also outside the court, a family friend, Glen Jeffers, shouted from a written statement. In the tsunami, he said, Australia had come to Indonesia's aid.
"Nine Australians gave the ultimate in their lives ... Mr President (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono), we have seen enough wasted lives in the past year... all Australians ask is that ... Schapelle is given back to us."
Corby's financial backer, Ron Bakir, said outside the court: "It's a massive injustice, what can i say?"
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OneMoreRobot3021
punky jewster
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 60,497
Loc: new york city
Last seen: 6 days, 8 hours
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4224909 - 05/26/05 10:40 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Jesus. Fucking. Christ.
Too lenient?!
Thanks for the round-the-clock coverage veggie.
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Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake.
-Erik Davis
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Photoguy
Drunk andJobless
Registered: 02/24/05
Posts: 553
Loc: Drunk in Texas
Last seen: 6 years, 2 months
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I set my fucking alarm so i could see if the nightmare came true.
Yes, im afraid it did.
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You gotta check yo' self before you wreck yo' self
B, Z, F, Burma, Cambodian, Golden Teacher, Puerto Rico, South American, Costa Rica, African
My name is Ender Wiggen and I will own you soon. Bean is my second in command, he is PC'ing jars right now.
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The Ginger Ninja
Gnubobo is mypoppet!
Registered: 02/26/04
Posts: 17,196
Loc: Pulling Bobo's strings.
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: Ekstaza]
#4225482 - 05/27/05 02:51 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Ekstaza said:
If she appeals, she could possibly get a death sentence from a higher court.
Indonesia's judicial system is so screwed that her best bet is to just take the 20 years and hope that she can perhaps be sent to an Australian prison through some prisoner exchange program.
The same judicial system is actually used in many European countrys.
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Prisoner#1: Hanky doesn't send PMs to retards
UncleLuke: That's not true. Hanky has sent me a total of 3 PMs.
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Ekstaza
stranger thanmost
Registered: 04/10/03
Posts: 4,315
Loc: Around the corner
Last seen: 3 months, 28 days
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Quote:
grizz said:
Quote:
Ekstaza said:
If she appeals, she could possibly get a death sentence from a higher court.
Indonesia's judicial system is so screwed that her best bet is to just take the 20 years and hope that she can perhaps be sent to an Australian prison through some prisoner exchange program.
The same judicial system is actually used in many European countrys.
I guess there are backwards morons all around the world.
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YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH ANY GIVEN DRUG ISN'T THE DEFINITIVE MEASURE OF THE DRUGS EFFECTS.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4227830 - 05/27/05 05:57 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby appeal may take up to 18 months
May 28, 2005 - news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby may have to wait up to 18 months for her fate to be finally decided by the Indonesian legal system.
With the prosecution and defence legal teams declaring they will appeal against the verdict handed down by the judges yesterday, prolonged legal wrangling is expected.
Although the timeline is not guaranteed, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he expected the appeal process to take up to 18 months.
Chief prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu said Corby's 20-year prison sentence was too lenient, while senior defence lawyer Erwin Siregar said it was far too severe.
Mr Siregar said he would first try to appeal and then ask for an interim order from the Bali High Court to reopen the case.
"The judges didn't consider any of our five witnesses," he said. "Ideally, if the testimonies are in synchronisation, that could be considered as evidence. But the judges didn't do that. That's why we will appeal."
Mr Wiswantanu had earlier recommended life in prison.
Both sides have to lodge the appeals within seven days.
After the verdict, Corby's chief financial backer controversial Gold Coast mobile phone businessman Ron Bakir, looking distressed and shaken, said the battle to free her would continue. "We don't stop," he said. "We bring the girl home. This is a massive injustice. We'll appeal, we'll do whatever it takes."
Since Corby's sentence is longer than nine years, a panel of three or more High Court judges will then have 150 days to consider the case.
Tim Lindsey, director of Melbourne University's Asian Law Centre, said the High Court judges rarely called witnesses, usually deciding the case on a review of the documented evidence.
They can either increase or decrease the sentence, but High Courts rarely reduce sentences, particularly in drugs cases, Dr Lindsey said.
If new evidence were submitted, the judges would be able to consider it. The parties could then appeal again to the Supreme Court, which has 170 days to decide on a case from the date the appeal is lodged.
"If appeals are not heard within the time limits, the defendant can be released," Dr Lindsey said, but this almost never happened.
He said other possible legal avenues included an internal review, which would be heard by a panel of Supreme Court judges, and as a last resort, a presidential pardon - but asking for a presidential pardon implicitly admitted guilt.
A prisoner exchange treaty could help lessen Corby's time in an Indonesian jail.
She could serve a maximum of five years if a prisoner exchange treaty were negotiated with Jakarta.
Three Australians have benefited from the prisoner exchange treaty negotiated with Thailand.
John Doran arrived back in Perth in April 2003 with 17 months left to serve on an eight-year jail sentence for a $1000 cheque fraud.
The then 33-year-old had spent six years in Klong Prem jail, known as the Bangkok Hilton, where he shared a cell with 30 other prisoners and contracted tuberculosis.
In March last year, Jane McKenzie, 38, and Deborah Spinner, 36, flew back to Sydney after serving six years of 50-year jail terms for their part in a plot to smuggle 115g of heroin out of Thailand.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4227848 - 05/27/05 06:01 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Prisoner swap talks 'to last a year'
May 28, 2005 - news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby could serve up to five years in prison in Indonesia if Canberra successfully negotiates a prisoner-exchange treaty with Jakarta.
Australian and Indonesian lawyers will resume negotiations on the proposed treaty early next month in a process likely to last at least a year. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer warned any transfer of Ms Corby to Australia would have to wait until Ms Corby's appeals were finalised, which could take 18 months.
"On the basis of the decision that the Bali court has made we hope that it won't take long for us to negotiate a prisoner-transfer agreement with Indonesia," he said. A treaty would require changes in Indonesian domestic laws and ratification by Indonesia's parliament.
NSW Law Society President John McIntyre said the maximum sentence for the equivalent crime in Australia was 10 years' jail.
But he said given that Ms Corby had no previous criminal record, and taking into account the other circumstances of the offence, she would be unlikely to get more than five years jail in Australia.
The model for Australian negotiators is the prisoner-exchange treaty between Thailand and Australia, ratified in 2002.
Under the agreement each transfer can only be made with the consent of both countries and of the prisoner concerned. Applicants must have at least one year of their jail term remaining and must serve the duration of their sentence in Australia.
There is no guarantee the Thailand model will be copied by Indonesia.
Indonesian Justice Department officials have said a substantial portion of a prisoner's sentence should still be served in Indonesia, they are open on how long.
It is believed the Australian Government has spent up to $50,000 in assistance to Ms Corby's defence. Mr Downer said the Government would consider any request from Ms Corby's lawyers for help in the appeal.
The prospect of a pardon from the Indonesian President was "a long way off" and would depend on the outcome of the appeals process, he added.
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LiveByFreedom
Catalyst
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4228395 - 05/27/05 09:17 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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FUCK! 20 years and an appeal for too lenient of a sentece? Tears...i think she'll get a better deal within 5 years.
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"Everything is not as it seems." Eye
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4229671 - 05/28/05 09:40 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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We'll risk Schapelle's life in making appeal
May 29, 2005 - smh.com.au
Lawyers for Schapelle Corby and the Indonesian chief prosecutor agreed yesterday their appeals to the High Court could cost Corby her life.
Outside the Denpasar jail where Corby had just spent the first night of her 20-year sentence, a member of her legal team, Vasu Rasiah, admitted the death penalty was a risk they had decided to take with their appeal.
"Yes, it's possible," Mr Rasiah said when asked if Corby could be given the death penalty.
And Corby's chief prosecutor, Ida Bagus Wiswantanu, said it was quite possible the High Court could sentence Corby to death. "They can, they can, if they think it serves justice," he said.
Despite the risk, Corby's legal team have decided to appeal against the verdict and the sentence in the hope they can get the huge jail term reduced, Mr Rasiah said.
"We are confident we can get it lesser and lesser."
But he said there was now no hope of getting Corby acquitted "unless we find who put the drug in the bag".
West Australian QC Tom Percy also agreed that Corby's defence team would have to weigh the risk of the death penalty before appealing.
"Its obviously something we have to look at," he said.
In his office yesterday, Mr Wiswantanu was hard at work writing his appeal document in which he will argue that Corby should be locked up for life.
He will push for the 20-year sentence imposed on Corby to be increased to life because of the impact the drug in Corby's bag has on society.
"The impact of marijuana is very big, especially for such a large amount; I think it's fair to give her a life sentence."
He said the only way to stop drugs coming into Bali was to "give criminals a lesson" with heavy sentences.
In Bali yesterday to help one of the families of the Bali nine, Mr Percy said he and another Perth-based QC, Mark Trowell, were willing to help Corby's legal team prepare their appeal if Corby wanted them.
He said they had first agreed to help her in March after they were approached by staff from the office of Attorney-General Philip Ruddock. Mr Percy said Mr Trowell had then made "approaches" to Corby's Australian-based legal team but had never heard back from them.
Mr Rasiah said Corby's lawyers had never had a formal offer. "We have never been approached at all. Until today no one has called us or contacted us at all," he said. But the team would of course "accept help from anybody".
Corby's mother, Ros Rose, said at her modest Kuta villa yesterday: "We've now heard they [the QCs] did get in touch . . . with the people on the Gold Coast." But the offer was not passed on to the family.
Although Mr Percy said he had not read the judgement and did not know much about Corby's case, he agreed with Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty who had said evidence from Victorian prisoner John Ford that someone put the drugs in Corby's luggage was "hearsay upon hearsay".
The judges put the same view in their decision.
Although Indonesia's legal system is notoriously corrupt, and many defendants complain about the bribes they have to pay, Mr Percy said he had "no knowledge" of corruption here.
He hoped to know within the next week whether he and Mr Trowell would be helping with the Corby appeal.
He said that while he has done a lot of free work on cases where injustices were suspected, he'd never attempted a case outside Australia.
Indonesian courts often increased the penalties imposed by lower courts, although Mr Percy said this was something Australian courts did as well.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4229679 - 05/28/05 09:43 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Survival rate 10 years
May 29, 2005 - sundaytimes.news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby yesterday began her 20-year sentence in a jail where the life expectancy of long-term prisoners is just 10 years.
She faces suffering from malnutrition, disease and oppressive heat in Bali's notorious Kerobokan prison.
AIDS/HIV is rife, as corrupt officials allow drug abuse to run virtually unchecked.
The toilets in the squalid cells sit directly beside the benches where food is prepared.
Conditions are ideal for breeding the gastric parasite giardia and the bacterial cholera.
Both can cause severe dehydration which, in the stifling tropical humidity, could be fatal.
There is also the risk of contracting a host of exotic, mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever, malaria and japanese encephalitis.
Tuberculosis is 20 times more common in Bali than Australia.
Cramped living conditions mean disease is easily spread.
The jail was built in 1976 for 366 prisoners, but it holds 525.
Ms Corby shares a 5m-wide cell with seven other women.
She will be forced to wash with only a small bucket and ladle.
Edited by veggie (05/28/05 10:40 AM)
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4231070 - 05/28/05 05:59 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Indonesian Attorney-General backs life sentence for Corby
May 29, 2005 - abc.net.au
Indonesia's Attorney-General says Schapelle Corby should have received life in prison instead of just 20 years for trying to smuggle marijuana into Bali.
Abdul Rahman Saleh has told a local newspaper that he supports a prosecution appeal to have her sentence increased.
The prosecutors are finalising their appeal and will demand a life sentence.
The chief prosecutor, Ida Bagus Wiswantana, says it is possible the High Court may impose an even heavier penalty on the 27-year-old.
"That's a possibility in considering the evidence [if] the Judges see no reason to be lenient," he said.
"It could come to the death sentence."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4231087 - 05/28/05 06:03 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Pardon may be Corby's best bet
May 29, 2005 - news.com.au
CONVICTED drug smuggler Schapelle Corby's best hope of having her 20-year jail sentence reduced was an appeal for a pardon to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.
Mr Downer defended the Government's efforts in Corby's case, saying the Gold Coast beauty student had received a substantial amount of legal aid to fight her drug running charge.
Corby's family has told News Ltd newspapers that they fear the 27-year-old will take her own life if forced to serve the entire sentence.
Corby was found guilty on Friday of smuggling 4.1 kg of marijuana into Bali.
Both the defence and the prosecution intend to appeal against her 20-year jail sentence.
Mr Downer said a prisoner exchange agreement between the two countries, which would allow Corby to serve her sentence in an Australian jail, was several months away.
"We haven't negotiated the details of the agreement with Indonesia, but typically with these prisoner transfer agreements the requirement is for the full sentence to be served back in the home country," Mr Downer said on Channel 7.
"But in this case, as in any case in Indonesia, it is possible to appeal successfully for a presidential pardon and my guess is that that is likely to be, if the appeals are unsuccessful, that is likely to be the only way of reducing the sentence."
Mr Downer said the transfer agreement would take several months to finalise because not only did the countries have to agree, but the treaty would have to be approved by both parliaments.
"So it could take a little bit of time, but so of course will the appeals in the Schapelle Corby case," he said.
"If the appeal fails, the easiest way of getting the sentence reduced is through an appeal for a pardon to the president of Indonesia."
Mr Downer stood by his claim that the Government had offered the free services of two experienced QCs to Corby's defence team but the offer had not been taken up.
Ms Corby's Gold Coast lawyer Robin Tampoe yesterday criticised the Government, saying the offer had only been made through the media.
But Mr Downer said a check of the records showed that the offer had been made by Attorney-General Philip Ruddock's office to Mr Tampoe's office on March 24 this year.
"One of those lawyers (QCs) rang that office as well, I understand," Mr Downer said.
"I don't think we want to get into an unseemly debate about this, but that's what happened and they don't have to take up that kind of an offer. And who knows whether that by the way would have made any difference.
"But in any case, the offer's still there and my advice to the team is to take up the offer."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates [Re: veggie]
#4231992 - 05/28/05 09:59 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby team rules out pardon request
May 29, 2005 - smh.com.au
Schapelle Corby's defence team says she is not seeking a pardon from Indonesia's president because to do so would mean admitting to a crime she did not commit.
"The girl is not guilty," said defence adviser Vasu Rasiah. "How can she ask for a pardon?"
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today that a pardon from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono might be the best chance the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman has of getting her 20-year prison sentence for drug smuggling reduced.
And Governor-General Michael Jeffery has not ruled out lending his weight to a request for mercy from the Indonesian head of state.
Mr Rasiah said Corby's Indonesian lawyers are pressing ahead with an appeal to Indonesia's High Court and then, if necessary, they would go to the Supreme Court to overturn her conviction.
Details of the appeal would be sorted through during the next few days.
If an appeal went wrong it could mean her sentence being increased, not cut. Theoretically, it could even mean the death penalty being imposed by an appeals court.
Prosecutors in Bali, as well as the nation's Attorney-General Abdul Rahman Saleh in Jakarta, complain that 20 years is too light a penalty for Corby.
They are pursuing an appeal of their own to have her imprisoned for life.
The new battle between the defence and prosecution would be fought on paper with no physical hearings taking place. The court would review the case through documents and written arguments.
Mr Rasiah said it was essential the Australian government and police help it come up with evidence to support her defence argument that someone, possibly baggage handlers at Australian airports, had stashed 4.1kg of marijuana in her boogie board bag before she was arrested at Denpasar Airport last October.
He said Australian authorities should have done a lot more to assist the defence case during the trial and that claims from the Australian government that it had done as much as it could smacked of them "just trying to cover their arses".
"What is happening now in Canberra is unfathomable," he said.
While the appeals process could take many months to exhaust, the pursuit of a pardon would also be a lengthy process.
"Hundreds of people are queued up already for clemency from the president," Mr Rasiah said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4232390 - 05/29/05 01:53 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby kidnap fear prompts security hike
May 29, 2005 - smh.com.au
Security at Bali's Kerobokan Prison has been tightened amid fears that someone might try to break Schapelle Corby out.
Bali's Denpost newspaper also quoted the jail's governor Bromo Setyono as saying that media attempts to see Corby were causing major security problems.
"To anticipate all possibilities, we are still on alert," he said. "Rumours of a kidnapping still exist, so the women's section is being specially guarded.
"We are checking all visitors thoroughly."
Vasu Rasiah, an adviser to Corby's Indonesian legal team, has denied reports the 27-year-old Australian is on a suicide watch.
He said she was too strong a personality to harm herself, even though one of her lawyers had earlier cast doubts on her ability to survive for very long behind bars.
Nonetheless, Rasiah said Corby had asked her family and friends to stay away from the jail for the next few days.
He said the media spotlight had taken its toll on Corby as well as her mother, father and other relatives.
Moreover, many reporters have been trying to gain access to the jail by claiming to be related to Corby.
"But Schapelle also needs time to herself. She needs to recuperate. She is mentally and physically tired," Rasiah said. "Her parents need a break as well."
Corby is being held in a small cell with seven other female inmates.
She sleeps on a rolled out mattress on a concrete floor and is allowed one bucket of water a day for bathing and laundry. A fluorescent light stays on 24 hours a day, so she sleeps with an eye mask.
She is able to exercise in the jail main yard daily. She often sits near a fish pond in its centre. Corby is also a regular participant at Christian prayer services held inside the jail.
Until now she has been receiving daily visits from friends and family who bring in food, reading material and other supplies, which she has been sharing with her cellmates who are mainly poor Indonesians.
Dozens of wellwishers, mostly Australian holidaymakers, have also been turning up to the prison. They have been leaving messages of support.
Rasiah, who saw Corby on Saturday, said her spirits remained high, despite the shock of Friday's guilty verdict and 20-year prison sentence for smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali.
"She is a strong person. With 93 per cent of Australians behind her, she told me that she would fight on," he said adding that the defence is now finalising its appeal strategy.
"She really wants to thank Australia."
In the days just prior to the verdict in the Denpasar District Court, Corby had raised fears that an extremist might have tried to attack her.
Security around the court was tightened for the hearing that broke down in chaos despite the deployment of more than 100 police.
The Denpost newspaper also reported that jail authorities had been concerned by a news crews using a building next to the prison to get a view of its grounds, and presumably Corby, behind its whitewashed walls.
"We protested their behaviour," said Bromo. "If it became a base of observing that would be dangerous."
Meanwhile the prison's psychologist Denny Thong said it would take time for Corby to adjust to prison life now that her sentence had been handed down.
He told the Jawa Pos newspaper that she should forget about McDonald's, start enjoying local food and learn the Indonesian language.
"Schapelle is no different to other prisoners," he said.
"Usually prisoners are more realistic in their attitude towards their situation they are facing after they complete one year."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4233259 - 05/29/05 11:06 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Angry Aussies call for boycott on Bali
May 30, 2005 - news.com.au
AUSTRALIA has reacted with fury to Schapelle Corby's 20-year jail sentence with bitter calls for a tourist boycott of Bali and withdrawal of aid to Indonesian tsunami victims.
The backlash hit like a storm as furious Australians began boycotting Bali and refusing to give money to tsunami charities in protest against the conviction and sentence for drug trafficking.
The Herald Sun was flooded with an unprecedented number of letters and calls, mostly supporting 27-year-old Corby, who was convicted on Friday of smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali.
The Indonesian embassy and Indonesian businesses were subjected to abusive calls and threats as anger grew over the fate of a young woman whose plight has captivated a nation.
Charities were also hit, as many donors refused to give money to the Salvation Army's annual Red Shield appeal unless guarantees could be given that it would not be be spent in Indonesia.
Some people even contacted major charities -- including World Vision and the Red Cross -- demanding that the money they donated to Indonesian tsunami victims be returned.
A national day of protest is planned for July 8, and one group that supports prisoners in foreign jails reported 30,000 hits on its website in 24 hours.
Corby yesterday attended a 90-minute Catholic church service at the squalid prison where she is detained, praying and participating in the service.
Her legal team is preparing an appeal -- but this could pose another risk to the Australian, because Indonesian law allows for tougher sentences on appeals, including the death penalty.
She did not see her family, as she had asked them to stay away to avoid the media spotlight for several days.
As the storm continued to rage in Australia, Governor-General Michael Jeffery said he might plead with the Indonesian Government for a pardon, as he did for an Australian facing the death penalty in Singapore.
But Maj-Gen Jeffery can intervene only at the request of the Government.
"I have been known to do that in at least one other case, but we'll leave it at that to see how things develop," Maj-Gen Jeffery said yesterday. Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said a presidential pardon was Corby's best hope if her appeal failed, with a prison transfer treaty unlikely to be arranged for some time.
"The easiest way of getting the sentence reduced is through an appeal for a pardon to the President of Indonesia," Mr Downer said. "We haven't negotiated the details of the agreement with Indonesia, but typically with these prisoner transfer agreements, the requirement is for the full sentence to be served back in the home country."
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said the Government should begin work on a pardon plea immediately in the event that an appeal failed.
Rejecting calls from some sections of the community for tsunami donations to Indonesia to be returned, Mr Beazley urged restraint and said boycotts would be unreasonable.
"I don't think that trying to put pressure on by withdrawing aid is going to be anything but counter-productive," Mr Beazley said.
Several supporters of Corby urged people not to boycott Bali, saying the local people should not be held responsible for their legal system.
And Indonesian prosecutors released their reasons for seeking a life sentence for Corby.
In other developments, officials upped security at the Kerobokan Prison amid fears somebody might attempt to break Corby out.
Director of the Indonesian Cultural and Education Institute Abe Kelabora said he had received abusive calls, starting five minutes after the verdict was handed down.
Lead prosecutor in the Corby case Ida Bagus Wiswantanu said he would appeal to the High Court in Denpasar, arguing the sentence was too lenient.
He said the importation of drugs damaged national security, and sentences should act as a deterrent.
Bali Hotels Association spokesman Michael Burchett said he hoped Australians would not boycott the island, still recovering from the October 2002 bombing that claimed 88 Australian lives.
"If there is a serious downturn in Australian business, then the Balinese people will be severely affected again," Mr Burchett said yesterday.
Qantas, whose subsidiary Australian Airlines is one of three major carriers servicing Bali, was uncertain about the effect of the verdict. "It's far too early to tell about any impact," a Qantas spokeswoman said.
Corby was travelling on an Australian Airlines flight when she arrived in Bali on October 8, and her mother Rosleigh Rose has urged people to boycott Qantas, not Bali.
She said Australians should protest against the actions of baggage handlers, who she believed planted the drugs in Corby's bodyboard bag.
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cb9fl
Senior ChildMolestationExpert
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Posts: 3,104
Loc: florida
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4236035 - 05/30/05 07:47 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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As a citizen of the States and thus a great economic power how can we use this to start a campaign for her release? I am willing to at the very least send letters to their legislators petitioning for her release. We may not live there but I'm sure a shit ton of our money is spent there and if they expect to feel the impact they may reconsider their decision.
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It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not. -Andre Gide
"Generosity is nothing else than a craze to possess. All which I abandon, all which I give, I enjoy in a higher manner through the fact that I give it away. To give is to enjoy possessively the object which one gives."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4237702 - 05/30/05 05:33 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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No guarantees on prisoner transfer
May 31, 2005 - theaustralian.news.com.au
Indonesian has poured cold water on any hope of convicted drug trafficker Schapelle Corby getting a swift transfer to Australia under a prisoner exchange treaty.
A PRISONER transfer agreement between Australia and Indonesia was no fait accompli, a senior Indonesian official said today.
Australia will send a team of negotiators to Indonesia next week to thrash out a deal which could allow Schapelle Corby to serve part of her sentence on home soil.
The Gold Coast woman has decided to appeal a 20-year jail term for drug smuggling handed down by a Bali court last week.
If an appeal is unsuccessful, her supporters are pinning their hopes on the transfer deal to bring her home.
But Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said such an arrangement was no certainty - and nor was a one-off deal to bring Corby home.
"I must emphasise that agreement ... would be unprecedented from our perspective if we were to have one because we don't have a transfer of sentence agreement with any country whatsoever," he said on ABC radio.
"And even if we were to have one, and that's a big if, even if we were to have one that would be an instrument in general in application and not specifically designed to any one particular legal case by any one particular individual."
Mr Natalegawa said the Indonesian Government had not received a request from the Australians for a one-off interim deal to bring Corby home if the general negotiations became bogged down.
"If asked ... (our response) would be something along the lines (that) we would rather explore a generic, general type of agreement, rather than something tailor-made for one particular case, especially a case ... that is still very much in the legal processes now," he said.
"It would be prejudging the appeals process."
He could not give a time frame to negotiate a "generic" deal, but said it would probably take longer than Australians wanted.
"It's probably going to be longer than most options that are coming out of Australia," Mr Natalegawa said.
Mr Natalegawa also said calls by some Australians for a boycott on Bali or the withdrawal of aid were inadvisable.
"It will be totally alien, totally in contrast to the fact that the two governments' relations has been on a better footing, on a positive note and also the two people's relationship has been extremely close post-Bali, post-tsunami," he said.
"With the greatest respect and with the greatest sympathy to the feelings of Australians to Miss Corby's case, using the case to drive a wedge between the two peoples and the two governments is really not advisable."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4238478 - 05/30/05 10:18 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby 'doesn't want exchange'
May 30, 2005 - heraldsun.news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby would not want to serve time in an Australian jail even if the Federal Government seals a prisoner exchange deal with Indonesia, her sister Mercedes says.
Corby was sentenced in a Denpasar court on Friday to 20 years in jail after being convicted of smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into the Indonesian resort island of Bali last year.
While Corby is working on an appeal, the Australian Government has said it wants to secure a prisoner exchange program with Indonesia so she can serve her sentence on home soil.
But the family of the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman maintains she is innocent and should not have to serve time in jail anywhere.
"Schapelle doesn't want to spend one day in jail anywhere. She's innocent," Mercedes told Channel Nine's 60 Minutes program.
"What's the difference between a jail in Indonesia and a jail in Australia for an innocent person.
"She should not be in any jail anywhere."
Corby's Australian lawyer, Robin Tampoe, said he was willing to work with the QCs the Federal Government said last week had agreed to help his client on a pro-bono basis.
But he said it would have been handy if the offer had been made last October when Corby was arrested.
"We're hearing lots of things about prisoner exchange programs, all these things are out there now, but again my understanding is even if that was available to her she would still need to spend some years in Indonesia," Mr Tampoe said.
"So I don't know if there's any fast fix to this situation."
Despite Corby being handed a 20-year sentence, her family insist they do not feel defeated in their fight to prove her innocence.
"We're not defeated," Corby's mother Rosleigh Rose said.
"Schapelle is changing the world. This will not happen again, it won't, it can't."
Corby's father Michael said he had still not come to grips with the possibility his daughter could spend the next 20 years in jail.
He said he believed Schapelle was paying the price for someone else's crime.
"For some keystone cops from the Australian Federal Police," Mr Corby said.
"They're hiding something."
The program also broadcast more of an interview it filmed with Corby last November, when she denied ever having used drugs or carrying them to Bali.
She said for the first five days after her arrest she could not eat and spent most of her time vomiting.
"I couldn't understand it," Corby said, fighting back tears.
"It's like I'm living someone else's horrible life.
"All I can try is just try to adapt as best I can, try to keep healthy, mentally and physically.
"I shouldn't be here and it's just really, really hard to sit in that cell for three days straight and not (get) let out of the cage once.
"It's really hard to keep strong and not think ... am I ever going to find out who did this."
Fellow convicted Australian drug dealer Chris Parnell also told the program Corby would be better off confessing to her crime to ensure she was released earlier from jail.
Parnell served 11 years in five Indonesian jails for importing marijuana, a crime he maintains he never committed.
"Schapelle's pleading not guilty and the Indonesians won't like that," he said.
"So she'll have to decide for her own benefit and her own piece of mind if she's going to stick to her guns it will come at a cost.
"If she ... pleads for mercy and says I've done the wrong thing, please forgive me, then they will."
Parnell said Corby would need plenty of money from her family to ensure she stayed alive in jail and got the right food.
"The girl that is Schapelle Corby now will die in prison and the girl that comes out will be a very, very different girl," he said.
"Her heart will be different, her spirit will be different and her soul will be different."
Another couple who claim they found marijuana in their suitcase when they arrived in Bali eight years ago, also told Nine that they were angry about Corby's sentence.
Melbourne tourists, who named themselves as Steve and Dee, said they could easily imagine being in Corby's place if it weren't for the advice they received from an Australian consulate official to destroy the drugs in their bag.
"I feel a lot of anger when I look at and see Schapelle and I just think how that could have been Steve and I and I feel so sorry for her," Dee said.
Another man, Fabio Macy, told the program his mother had endured a similar experience, finding what was believed to be cocaine or speed in her bag when she returned from Bali.
He said he and his brother destroyed the three containers of white powder their mother found in her suitcase.
"If she had been searched on that particular day, she would have been done and I mean who knows what would have happened," Mr Macy said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4239730 - 05/31/05 10:32 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Indonesian hackers attack Corby website
May 31, 2005 - australianit.news.com.au
INDONESIAN hackers are circulating virus emails about Schapelle Corby, a website publisher says.
Daniel Pocock, who created the domain www.dontshootschapelle.com and is a friend of Corby's cousin Shonnea Nicol, said the website had come under "constant attack" from hackers.
"The people circulating virus emails using our domain dontshootschapelle.com have tried to abuse the trust of the Australian people, misuse Schapelle's good name and discredit this campaign," Mr Pocock said.
"Some of the hackers have been traced to Indonesia, where computer criminals and Bali bombers walk free while Schapelle is left to rot in prison."
The website has received 696,449 hits since it was launched two weeks ago, peaking at 26,517 hits in one hour.
"These statistics are phenomenal for a single-issue campaign - many businesses don't get as many hits in a year as Schapelle gets in one hour," Mr Pocock said.
"These figures show how strongly Australians feel about the issue."
Corby, a 27-year-old Gold Coast woman, last week received a 20-year jail sentence after she was caught with 4.1kg of cannabis in her bodyboard bag at Bali airport last year.
Corby's second cousin Lyn Lack, from Jimboomba, south-west of Brisbane, said the hackers exacerbated her family's misery.
"It's pretty upsetting - we are just trying to help her," Ms Lack said.
She urged supporters to download a petition at www.dontshootschapelle.com that would be forwarded to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in a bid to set Corby free.
Mr Pocock said the website would continue to weather the storm from hackers.
"Some websites have been forced to close down by these constant attacks but for every site that closes down, it appears five more will be put up," he said.
"This demonstrates the willingness of Australians to take action and not just sit around talking about Schapelle over a beer."
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CptnGarden
fuck this site
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4239753 - 05/31/05 10:39 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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I hate everyones reign for power. I wish everyone would just smoke a joint and chill out, theres too much tension and worry and paranoia. This worlds turning for the worse, and authority is only helping it.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4242585 - 05/31/05 10:51 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby lawyers formally file appeal
June 1, 2005 - theadvertiser.news.com.au
DEFENCE lawyers for convicted Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby today formally launched her appeal in Indonesia against her conviction and 20-year jail sentence.
Lawyer Lily Lubis filed preliminary papers in Denpasar District Court where Corby was found guilty last Friday of smuggling 4.1kg of cannabis into Denpasar airport last October. She was sentenced by the three judges delivering the verdict to 20 years in a Bali jail.
The defence papers simply told court authorities Corby had authorised her lawyers to mount an appeal.
Among the documents handed to the court registrar was a statement to that effect signed by Corby.
Under the Indonesian justice system, the defence team has another two and a half weeks to complete and lodge its appeal with the Bali High Court.
Appeal judges in that court then have 60 days to consider the appeal which will be challenged by prosecutors.
With the launch of Corby's appeal, the prosecution is now mounting its own appeal to have her sentence increased to life imprisonment.
Ms Lubis said she was still waiting for an official transcript of last Friday's judgment and until then could not finalise the grounds on which the defence would challenge Corby's conviction and sentence.
However, she said that among some basic points was the fact that the three-judge panel overseeing the trial had dismissed out of hand evidence and testimony given by all defence witnesses.
Ms Lubis said there were grounds to challenge the verdict on the matter of whether Corby knew there was cannabis in her body board bag when it was opened by customs staff at Bali airport last October.
The judges had been following an 1997 anti-drugs law which had left this question of intent ambiguous but Ms Lubis said she had expert legal advice suggesting the judges should have established whether Corby knew as general legal principle.
At the weekend, the defence team brought in two Perth QCs, Tom Percy and Mark Trowell, as consultants.
Today a legal adviser in the Indonesian team, Vasu Rasiah, said it was now searching for a heavyweight lawyer in Jakarta to also help.
An Indonesian academic law expert would also be recruited as the defence explores several avenues of appeal, both legal and constitutional, and hopes new evidence comes to light.
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booboomagoo
Stranger
Registered: 05/31/05
Posts: 1
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial updates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [Re: veggie]
#4242607 - 05/31/05 10:56 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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*troll*
Edited by Seuss (06/01/05 03:56 AM)
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4242927 - 06/01/05 12:48 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Indonesian embassy in Australia closed
June 1, 2005 - seven.com.au
An envelope containing a biological agent has been sent to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra in an apparent reprisal for Schapelle Corby's jailing in Bali.
The embassy has been shut down and its 22 staff will remain in isolation for at least 48 hours after the envelope tested positive for an as-yet unidentified biological agent.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer condemned whoever had sent the package and said it would not help Corby's case.
"Further analysis of the powder has tested positive as a biological agent so further testing will need to be carried out to find out what that substance actually is," Mr Downer told parliament.
"As such there is a possibility that the Indonesian embassy will need to be shut down for quite some period of time and the 22 staff will remain in isolation for the next 48 hours."
Fire, ambulance and police officers raced to the embassy after staff discovered the package about 10.30am (AEST) on Wednesday.
Staff were ordered to stay inside while a sample was taken away for testing, an Australian Federal Police (AFP) spokesman said.
When AAP contacted an embassy staff member by phone, the worker said staff had not been told of the initial test results revealing the presence of a biological agent.
Nor had they been told staff would be kept at the embassy for 48 hours, the worker said.
Mr Downer pleaded with the Australian public to stop attacking Indonesia over Corby's 20 year jail sentence for drug trafficking, handed down in Denpasar last week.
Talkback radio has been swamped by angry callers and some aid agencies have reported calls from donors to the Boxing Day tsunami asking for their money back.
Others have called for a boycott of travel to the archipelago.
"I know a lot of people in Australia are upset by the Corby verdict," Mr Downer said as he revealed the incident at the embassy.
But denigrating Australia's northern neighbour would not help, he said.
"To continually attack Indonesia and denigrate its institutions and leaders will build up a good deal of anti-Australian sentiment in Indonesia and it will make it very difficult to conclude (prisoner transfer) agreements of this kind, particularly through public institutions like the Indonesian parliament."
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley slammed those who sent the package to the embassy.
"This is a disgraceful act, to be condemned by all Australians," he said.
"It's very necessary, I think, to learn from this, that people should view the circumstances now surrounding the particular case which may have generated this with a bit of calm, dispassion and commonsense.
"There is no doubt at all that this is a very serious thing to have happened."
Mr Beazley said if it proved to be a dangerous biological agent, it would be the first time in Australia that this had occurred.
"There should be absolutely no doubt in the public mind that the house is of a combined and united view that this sort of outrageous behaviour must not be encouraged, an atmosphere which encourages it must not be sustained," he said.
Wednesday's incident followed death threats made last month to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra, and the sending of bullets to the Indonesian consulate in Perth in April.
Both incidents were linked to the Corby case.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4243702 - 06/01/05 09:32 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Indonesia condemns attack on its embassy
Prime Minister John Howard apologises
June 1, 2005 - abcasiapacific.com
Indonesia has condemned as "cowardly" a threat to its embassy in the Australian capital, Canberra.
However, foreign ministry spokesman, Marty Natalagewa, says Indonesia will not allow the incident to affect the relationship between the two countries.
The embassy has been evacuated and staff placed in isolation after a biological agent was sent to the mission in an envelope.
The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, says the powder mailed to the embassy is a type of bacillus bacteria, the same family that contains the anthrax bacteria.
Police are testing the powder.
Mr Howard says it would be a remarkable co-incidence if the incident was not related to the 20-year jail sentence given to Australian Schappelle Corby by an Indonesian court, following her conviction for smuggling drugs into Bali.
"If it is, can I say to those responsible you will not achieve your objective," he said.
"Quite apart from the murderous criminality of doing something like this, and the indifference and contempt for human life that it displays, it won't achieve the objective, it will have the opposite effect."
Mr Natalagewa says Indonesia will step up security at its diplomatic missions in Australia but will not close them down.
"Some individual perhaps think that by doing so we will be intimidated into a certain course of action, but on the contrary," he said.
"This sort of act I think is cowardly, it is irresponsible and it certainly doesn't reflect what Australia is all about and what Australia continues to be all about in terms of its government, in terms of its people, of which we have a great sense of close relationship with."
Mr Howard has apologised to Indonesia over the incident.
"This is a deeply distressing incident it is quite appalling and I condemn it unreservedly," he said.
The Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer, has telephoned his Indonesian counterpart to express Australia's concern.
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LiveByFreedom
Catalyst
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4244527 - 06/01/05 01:49 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Maybe not the best way to go about it, but i'll just turn my head and act like i didn't see it.
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"Everything is not as it seems." Eye
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qwerty
Stranger
Registered: 06/01/05
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Re: Schapelle Corby.her dumb fuck lawyers refused d.n.a testing on inside of plastic bag!see the age [Re: veggie]
#4245406 - 06/01/05 05:19 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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see "the age "re d.n.a testing refusal by inbreed advertising hungry lawyers.they refused q.c's assistance see the age 28/05 29/05 get your facts straight.if your dumb enough to take it in.......her looks are gunna get her shot re;embassy shit poor dumb blonde/brown let this be a lesson kiddos take it easy .everyone knows the asians love pinching wasp tourists .the poor bitch.the lure of the lucre
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CptnGarden
fuck this site
Registered: 05/12/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby.her dumb fuck lawyers refused d.n.a testing on inside of plastic bag!see the age [Re: qwerty]
#4246047 - 06/01/05 08:29 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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...
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4246240 - 06/01/05 09:34 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Embassy parcel 'was no threat'
June 2, 2005 - seven.com.au
The bacteria sent in a suspicious package to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra is not believed to be dangerous, police say.
"It looks very unlikely that the substance contains any bacteria of any significant pathological significance," ACT chief police officer John Davies told reporters.
Mr Davies said the findings were revealed in an interim report and an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
"The sending of that particular letter was designed to cause major disruption and instil fear," he told reporters.
Mr Davies said a team of investigators was working in Victoria on the case and being assisted by Victorian police.
The government has confirmed the suspect letter was sent from Victoria with an accompanying note written in Indonesian.
Prime Minister John Howard earlier refused to detail the contents of the letter but said he had no reason not to believe the attack was linked to Corby's conviction for drug smuggling in Bali.
Mr Davies said he was not sure if final test results would be available on Thursday.
He would not speculate on the motive behind the threat but said the Schapelle Corby case could not be ruled out.
Meanwhile, Labor says Australia's relationship with Indonesia is strong enough to survive the fallout from the incident in Canberra.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said he had spoken to Indonesian Ambassador Imron Cotan, who reported embassy staff were in "good spirits".
Mr Rudd said the incident was not likely to ruin relations between the two countries.
"There is a degree of depth and balance to this relationship now (between the two countries) that I think it can sustain these sorts of problems and challenges when they arise," Mr Rudd told ABC radio.
But Mr Rudd said some people would always be critical of Australia.
"There are folk in Jakarta both in politics and the press who will always whack Australia for good reason or for bad," he said.
"The problem with this (incident) ... it simply provides them an opportunity to whack a bit harder."
Mr Rudd complimented the Howard government's handling of the incident, saying Labor would not play opposition politics.
"I think Foreign Minister (Alexander Downer) and the prime minister have handled it entirely appropriately so far," he said.
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Bendavis2005
Stranger
Registered: 06/01/05
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Re: Schapelle Corby Found Guilty [Re: veggie]
#4246508 - 06/01/05 11:02 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Regardless of guilt, the media have ignited the Australian population through sensationalist journalism. There whole coverage of the Corby case has been to gain a few extra ratings points. What has happened to unemotive, impartial, facts-driven journalism. Frankly, I am starting to trust journalists as much as politicians. We need to re-establish faith in this incredibly influential industry. I propose boycotting Channel 9 for their appallingly irresponsible, emotional reporting. I believe they must be made accountable for their coverage, which has created an environment where an individual in Australia believes in undertaking a terrorist act against the Indonesian embassy. We have lost the moral high ground, and have undermined any good faith we developed in Asia since the Tsunami. If you agree with bringing back accountability and responsibility to the Australian journalistic profession, please visit http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/Channel9Boycott
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero
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Re: Schapelle Corby Found Guilty [Re: Bendavis2005]
#4247030 - 06/02/05 04:04 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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> Frankly, I am starting to trust journalists as much as politicians.
You are just now figuring this out? Welcome to the brave new world...
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Just another spore in the wind.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4247995 - 06/02/05 11:43 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Australia bracing for backlash
June 2, 2005 - theaustralian.news.com.au
AUSTRALIA is bracing for a backlash as Prime Minister John Howard warned the nation's reputation had been damaged by the terror threat targeting the Indonesian embassy in Canberra.
As he revealed bacteria sent in an abusive letter to the embassy was unlikely to be harmful, Mr Howard said the act was one of evil that had done deplorable damage to the perception of Australia in Indonesia.
A water cannon has been set up outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta and security is being reviewed amid fears extremists will seek revenge.
Indonesian authorities have also promised to boost security for Schapelle Corby at her Bali jail after the terror threat was linked to community outrage over the 20-year jail term she received for drug smuggling.
Tests continued today on bacteria detected in a powder sent with the letter, which was posted from Victoria after Corby's sentencing last Friday.
The incident sparked a security shutdown at the site, forcing about 50 staff to be quarantined before decontamination experts were called in to process them.
Tests have shown the bacteria is not anthrax – which caused at least four deaths in a terror campaign in the United States shortly after the September 11 attacks.
Mr Howard said the letter, which was written in Indonesian, appeared to be linked to Corby's 20-year jail sentence for drug smuggling.
"It's hard to escape the belief that there was a connection, let's put it that way," Mr Howard said.
He said there was a chance that terrorists could hit Australian interests in Indonesia in revenge for the intimidatory action.
The Australian embassy in Jakarta was hit by a car bomb last September, killing nine Indonesians.
"Insofar as possible retaliatory action in Indonesia is concerned, there is always a danger of that," Mr Howard told Parliament.
"Just as we cannot guarantee that a random act of stupidity with an evil intent from amongst our 20 million people will not occur, equally I cannot expect a guarantee from the Indonesian Government that some evil act of retaliation will not occur in that country."
The fallout from the incident is already being felt.
Indonesian legislator Joko Susilo, who sits on Indonesia's House Foreign Affairs Committee, today urged his Government to issue travel warnings advising Indonesians not to travel to Australia.
Vice-President Jusuf Kalla rejected the call, despite Mr Susilo warning the incident proved Australians were capable of committing their own acts of terrorism.
Three Indonesian National Police officers and an Indonesian agriculture ministry official have joined the hunt for the hoaxer, who could face up to 10 years in jail for the crime.
"The sending of that particular letter was designed to cause major disruption and instil fear," ACT chief police officer John Davies told reporters.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd meanwhile visited Indonesian ambassador Imron Cotan today and said the relationship between the two countries was strong enough to survive the fallout from the incident.
But he said some people would always be critical of Australia.
"There are folk in Jakarta both in politics and the press who will always whack Australia for good reason or for bad," Mr Rudd told ABC radio.
"The problem with this (incident) ... it simply provides them an opportunity to whack a bit harder."
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer described the letter as abusive and said it was "more likely than not" linked to the Corby case.
"My plea to Australians is really, whatever you think about the Schapelle Corby case ... to remember that abusing and denigrating Indonesia is not likely to be helpful," Mr Downer said.
"A whole lot of invective and abuse of Indonesia is just going to get their backs up."
Mr Howard dampened suggestions the incident would cause lasting damage to bilateral relations between the countries.
"I think it's important that we don't throw up our arms in horror and say the relationship is destroyed," he said.
The Government is reviewing security for Australian diplomats and staff in Indonesia and is promising to upgrade it if necessary.
A parliamentary delegation will meet senior Indonesian ministers next week to express Australia's regret.
Corby's legal adviser Vasu Rasiah said nothing positive had or could come from the threat.
"She (Corby) is very upset because it is all not positive, this can't help the case or help Australians or help Indonesians," he said.
"Whichever way you look at this incident, it is a negative incident, there is not one positive impact."
The terror scare made headlines across Indonesia, with Jawa Pos Daily News reporting that Indonesia's embassy had been terrorised by anthrax in the wake of Corby's 20-year sentence for trafficking 4.1kg of marijuana.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4251106 - 06/03/05 12:29 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Suspicious White Powder Mailed to Australian Minister
June 3, 2005 - LA Times
CANBERRA, Australia - A suspicious powder was found today in a package addressed to the foreign minister, but a government laboratory analysis "found it does not contain any dangerous materials," the Australian Federal Police said in a statement.
The package contained white powder and arrived two days after a mysterious powder was sent to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra, forcing it to close for two days.
The embassy scare follows a backlash over the 20-year sentencing of an Australian woman in Bali for smuggling drugs.
The loading dock at Parliament House was temporarily shut after the package was discovered during a routine screening, Department of Parliamentary Service head Hilary Penfold said in a statement.
"The package was addressed to the minister for foreign affairs and trade, the Hon. Alexander Downer," she said. "With the authorization of the intended recipient, the package was opened in a secure area and found to contain a sealed plastic bag of white powder."
Firefighters took the substance to the laboratory.
Police said the staffer who came into contact with the powder underwent a precautionary decontamination procedure.
The security scare followed the closure of the nearby Indonesian Embassy on Wednesday because of a suspicious powder found in a parcel sent to the ambassador.
A preliminary report found that substance was probably harmless.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4251127 - 06/03/05 12:38 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Bombings planned at Jakarta hotels, warns US
June 3, 2005 - news.com.au
The US says extremists are planning to bomb the lobbies of Jakarta hotels in attacks targeting westerners.
The warning, posted on the website of the US embassy in Jakarta today, said the bombings were to happen around noon on an unspecified date.
"There is no additional information on the timing for the attack(s), or the method of attack," the warning said.
The US told its citizens in Indonesia to register with its Jakarta embassy or its missions in Surabaya in East Java province and Bali.
The US reopened its diplomatic offices in Indonesia just three days ago after shutting them last week because of a security threat.
Security experts said website tips on the best ways to attack the US embassy in Jakarta and movements by violent Islamic groups were factors in the closures.
A militant web site had suggested that firing a grenade into the Jakarta embassy would be more practical than a suicide bomber trying to get inside the facility, which is protected by walls, wire, concrete barriers and armed guards.
Indonesian police had linked Jemaah Islamiah, a group seen as the regional arm of al-Qaeda, to the website.
Attacks against western targets blamed on Jemaah Islamiah include blasts at Bali nightclubs in October 2002 that killed 202 people, and one last September outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta that killed up to 11.
Australian diplomats in Jakarta are bracing for a violent backlash. The Australian embassy in Jakarta is already on heightened alert following the posting of an abusive letter and white powder to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra.
The incident followed the sentencing last week of Gold Coast woman Schapelle Corby to 20 years in prison for drug-smuggling after her trial in a Bali court.
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LiveByFreedom
Catalyst
Registered: 03/21/05
Posts: 652
Loc: Mountains
Last seen: 5 years, 6 months
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4251829 - 06/03/05 09:21 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Looks like this is turning into something much bigger! Holy shit...now why would Indonesia want be in an offensive position, after THEY sentenced Corby to 20 years. Meh
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"Everything is not as it seems." Eye
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moog
Stranger
Registered: 02/15/05
Posts: 1,296
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4252106 - 06/03/05 11:19 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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This whole thing makes me incredibly angry and sad. I don't even know what to say about such ignorance. Regardless of whether she was set up or not, no one should go to jail for taking fucking pieces of plant on an airplane.
This world is utterly, hopelessly insane.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4252253 - 06/03/05 12:12 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Fight to free Corby switches back to Australia
June 4, 2005 - smh.com.au
Schapelle Corby's legal battle moves to Australia this weekend as her defence team officially joins forces with the QCs provided by the Federal Government to help prepare an appeal against her drug-smuggling conviction.
The Corby team has a little over a week to complete the appeal and yesterday announced a publicity ban, saying the relentless public interest in the case was drawing too much time and energy from the defence effort.
An adviser, Vasu Rasiah, flew to Perth yesterday to brief three QCs: Tom Percy, Mark Trowell and Jonathan Davies. The barristers have been offered to Corby by the Australian Government.
Mr Rasiah said Corby's Gold Coast lawyer, Robin Tampoe, and her financial backer, Ron Bakir, would also be asked to join the weekend discussions in Perth. Corby was jailed for 20 years on May 27, but preparation of the appeal has been delayed because there was no written copy of the judgement available.
Her defence team got the documents only late on Thursday, and they still have to be translated into English. Mr Rasiah said he would provide the Perth QCs with copies of the ruling, as well as the defence and prosecution closing statements.
The Australian lawyers, Corby's Indonesian team, and a top legal firm from Jakarta, Hotman Paris, would then spend the week preparing the appeal. It would be fine-tuned next weekend before being lodged with the Bali High Court by the June 14 deadline, Mr Rasiah said.
Mr Rasiah said Corby was "absolutely shocked" when told of the scare at the Indonesian embassy in Canberra, and asked her defence team to say on her behalf: "If it's an Australian, please refrain from doing those things."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4254849 - 06/04/05 12:40 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby protesters call for death sentence
June 4, 2005 - theage.com.au
About 40 people picketed in Jakarta today to demand the death sentence for Australian woman Schapelle Corby, in jail for drug trafficking in Bali.
The protesters also condemned a security scare at the Indonesian embassy in Canberra.
A powder sent to the embassy on Wednesday sparked fears of an anthrax attack and was linked to outrage in Australia over Corby's 20 year jail term for trafficking marijuana.
Carrying signs reading "Corby, drug dealer, must die", the protesters outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta urged the Bali courts to reject her appeal and sentence her to death, as allowed under Indonesian law.
Another placard read, "Intervention no! Australia is supplier of drugs".
A leader of the protest, Beathor Suryadi, said the feared attack on the embassy "deeply pains" many Indonesians.
"What happened in Canberra is an insult to our integrity," he told the crowd.
The embassy was closed and isolated for two days after white powder spilled from a letter addressed to ambassador Imron Cotan. It resumed activities on Friday.
Australian police said the powder contained a bacteria belonging to the same family that hosts the deadly disease anthrax but it was harmless.
Construction work is still under way at the Australian embassy in Jakarta eight months after a suicide bomber killed nine people outside the mission last September.
Protection at the mission has been heightened since the attack, which was blamed on the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah organisation.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4258777 - 06/05/05 02:53 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Downer plays down Corby death call
June 5, 2005 - thecouriermail.news.com.au
A PROTEST in Jakarta during which about 40 people demanded the death sentence for convicted Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby would have no impact on her appeal, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.
The protesters gathered outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta yesterday, carrying signs reading: "Corby, drug dealer, must die." Another placard read: "Intervention no! Australia is supplier of drugs."
Mr Downer said he did not think the protest would have any implications on Corby's appeal.
"It's an endeavour by some people, I don't know who they are, to try to put a counter view to the view that's been expressed very strongly in Australia," he said on Channel 9.
"But I wouldn't draw any conclusions from it one way or the other, I don't think it will have any impact."
Mr Downer also said a package containing white powder sent to Parliament House and a package that sparked a major terror scare at the Indonesian embassy last week could be linked to the Corby case.
He said commonsense pointed to a connection between the two packages and anger over Corby's 20-year jail term for drug smuggling in Bali.
Asked if there was a connection between the two packages of white powder and Corby, Mr Downer said: "There could be, yes, there could be.
"I'm not 100 per cent sure, of course, as is the case with the package that was sent to the Indonesian embassy.
"But the two packages could be connected with each other, and they could be connected with the Corby case.
"Commonsense leads you to conclude that these incidents are connected with that case."
Indonesia's Canberra embassy was locked down on Wednesday following the delivery of a threatening letter containing white powder, while a package containing white powder addressed to Mr Downer forced officials to isolate mail room staff at Parliament House in Canberra on Friday.
Mr Downer said police had some indication about where the package sent to him had come from, but he wouldn't elaborate.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4259813 - 06/05/05 11:20 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Flashy Jakarta lawyer joins Corby team
June 6, 2005 - theaustralian.news.com.au
A GUNSLINGING Jakarta lawyer, who reportedly owns 60 houses and 15 luxury cars and often wears a diamond necklace worth $200,000, has joined the Schapelle Corby defence team.
Hotman Paris Hutapea was retained on Friday following checks by Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Vasu Rasiah, an adviser to Corby's Indonesian legal team.
Mr Hutapea originally approached the department with an offer to work on the Corby case pro bono. It is understood he offered not only his services for free, but to cover all his own expenses.
West Australian lawyer Mark Trowell QC, who was asked by the Howard Government to work on Corby's appeal, said the DFAT checks on Mr Hutapea were "basic" and confirmed his status as a senior lawyer.
Mr Trowell, along with fellow Perth QC Tom Percy, was approached by Attorney-General Philip Ruddock to work on the Corby case. The Perth QCs, like Mr Hutapea, will be working for free.
Mr Trowell, who met the Corby family in Bali yesterday, tried to hose down reports of a rift between the jailed 27-year-old's Australian and Indonesian lawyers.
After his meeting with the family, Mr Trowell admitted there had been "prickly relations" between the Perth QCs and the Indonesian team.
"They perhaps (thought) we were trying to muscle in on their case," he said.
The Indonesian lawyers had declared they would not work with any of her legal supporters who used the media to criticise one another.
Without naming the Perth QCs, who publicly criticised Ron Bakir, Corby's main financial backer, Mr Rasiah warned that any lawyers or backers whose criticisms were quoted in the media would be dropped from the case.
"If there's any slanging match in the media, we won't work with them any more," the lawyer said.
Unsure yesterday whether Mr Hutapea's appointment had been finalised, Mr Trowell said either Mr Hutapea or another top-flight Jakarta lawyer would handle the substance of Corby's appeal.
Mr Trowell said neither he nor Mr Percy were legally permitted to practise law in Indonesia, and admitted they had little direct experience of the Indonesian legal system.
His meeting with the Corby family yesterday was successful, Mr Trowell said, and he had managed to allay the fears of Schapelle's father, Michael Corby, and her elder sister Mercedes.
Flashing jewels on both hands, the high-profile Jakarta lawyer said John Howard had to do some serious lobbying on Corby's behalf, but quietly, the way Indonesians would.
"They don't have to do it openly, they can do it in a very hidden way," he said.
"Under the law, the judiciary and executive are totally separate, but the reality of life is they still appreciate each other."
Asked whether money would be a factor in the appeal, Mr Hotman baulked for a moment and then explained. "It's unethical if I say something bad about my court, although you know the answer. Everything is possible."
Edited by veggie (06/06/05 10:51 AM)
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4262609 - 06/06/05 01:32 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Prisoner exchange not easy for Indonesia
June 6, 2005 - smh.com.au
Officials from the foreign affairs and attorney-general's departments are expected to arrive in Indonesia today for talks on a prisoner transfer agreement.
Indonesia may have to change its domestic laws to enable agreement with Australia on a prisoner-exchange treaty, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says.
Officials from the foreign affairs and attorney-general's departments are expected to arrive in Indonesia on Monday and will be closely followed by a parliamentary delegation.
The treaty would allow Australians convicted in Indonesian courts, such as jailed drug smuggler Schapelle Corby, to serve their time in Australia.
Mr Ruddock said Australia already had laws in place to allow for prisoner exchange, but Indonesia did not.
"The final implementation ... of any agreement in relation to prisoner transfer requires domestic laws to enable the implementation not only of the agreement but of the arrangements to give effect to such an agreement," Mr Ruddock told reporters.
"In Australia we have laws dealing with prisoner exchange and so we don't have to pass any legislation if we enter into a new agreement.
"More challenging for Indonesia is that they will still need to put in place, I suspect, legislation to implement any agreement."
A draft treaty had already been sent to Indonesian officials, but there was "no certainty" they would respond immediately to it, the attorney-general said.
"I would like that to be the case, but I suspect that in relation to the advice that's been given to me, that it will be discussions that will canvass the range of issues you can include in such agreements and clarify ... what are the implications of the draft," Mr Ruddock said.
Meanwhile, QC Mark Trowell flew to Bali to meet Corby's family and legal team this week and advise them on appealing against her sentence.
Mr Trowell met Corby in her jail cell this morning and discussed the legal options she has for an appeal.
He says Corby gave him several messages for the Australian public.
"She asked all Australians to think very carefully about how they responded to her situation," he said.
"She said that adverse criticism or anti-Indonesian hysteria made life very hard for her inside prison.
He added: "The Indonesians are a very proud race and they take offence at comments they think are calculated to offend them and that doesn't help her at all.
"It makes life very difficult for her inside. They see her, she's there, she becomes the focus of their criticism."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4267210 - 06/07/05 08:56 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby deal 'possible, months away'
June 7, 2005 - heraldsun.news.com.au
INDONESIA may agree to a prisoner swap that will allow convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby to serve time in Australia, but any deal is months away, the Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Trade said after talks in Jakarta today.
Corby could be repatriated, along with 14 other Australians, if the deal went ahead, Bruce Bilson said after talking to Indonesian officials.
The agreement, which would also result in the transfer of 30 Indonesians, could help to cool tempers in Australia, where there has been a huge outcry at Corby's plight, sparking threats against Indonesia's diplomatic missions.
"It is too early to pre-empt what the nature of that agreement may be, but the discussions are proceeding and we think that a bilateral prisoners exchange arrangement is in the interests of both Indonesia and Australia," Mr Billson said.
The possibility of an exchange treaty was floated at the height of Corby's trial for smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali – a crime for which she was sentenced to 20 years.
Mr Billson said he held "brief" talks with Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirayuda, on the Corby case.
"At this stage it is a discussion between officials to see how to best carry forward our shared hope of having a prisoner exchange agreement into the earliest opportunity," he said.
"I would not suggest it would take years but it would take a good number of months."
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Starter
Stranger
Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 965
Loc: Australia
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4270578 - 06/08/05 01:30 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Schapelle's song...
Don't blame it on the sunshine
Don't blame it on the airline
Don't blame it on the Bali Nine
Blame it on the Boogie
--------------------
Convert Metric and Imperial.
Do not request for seeds, spores, cuttings ect - I will not reply PM's.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4271057 - 06/08/05 08:19 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Prisoners' testimony crucial for Corby
June 9, 2005 - smh.com.au
The flamboyant new Jakarta lawyer recruited by Schapelle Corby's legal team says his first move will be to send an appeal for help to the Prime Minister, John Howard.
Hotman Paris Hutapea said support from the Australian Government was essential to persuade Bali's High Court to order an extra hearing into Corby's case. This, he said, was Corby's best hope of being acquitted of her drug smuggling conviction on appeal.
Lawyers for Corby decided on Tuesday night to retain Mr Hutapea, who is famous for a string of legal victories that have brought him vast wealth and close contacts with Indonesian leaders.
Mr Hutapea said the letter to Mr Howard would also be sent to the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Bali High Court, where Corby's appeal will be held, and the Indonesian Supreme Court, which could hear a second appeal.
After reading the court documents, Mr Hutapea said he wanted the Australian Government to find two prisoners, known only as Paul and Terry, whom a third prisoner, John Patrick Ford, has said he heard discussing the real owner of the marijuana found in Corby's luggage. These prisoners must be brought to Bali and appear at a special extra hearing, or be allowed to give evidence by video link, for Corby to have a chance of winning her appeal.
"John Howard has to get the men to Bali … We need the support of the Australian people to put pressure on the Prime Minister to make sure Paul and Terry, and airport officials, are allowed to testify," Mr Hutapea said.
The Government should indemnify the prisoners from prosecution if they needed to give evidence that incriminated them, he said.
If these unidentified prisoners did not testify, Mr Hutapea said Corby was in serious danger of having her sentence increased. "This is the only chance … this is a matter of life or death," he said.
To help convince the High Court to hold an extra hearing, Mr Hutapea said he had recruited Osman Simanjuntak, a former senior director in the attorney-general's office who now trains public prosecutors, and Albert Nadeak, a former prosecutor now working for a law firm.
A senior lawyer on Corby's team, Erwin Siregar, confirmed the decision to write to Mr Howard to bring "Paul and Terry" to the court, along with baggage handlers from Brisbane and Sydney airports who were on duty on October 8, when Corby flew to Bali.
Corby's legal team will also ask Mr Howard to support their request to send the check-in staff who were on duty when Corby left Australia.
Mr Siregar said the letter was expected to be sent last night.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4274715 - 06/09/05 01:42 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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The "tit for tat" embassy scares continue to escalate...
Australia scare closes embassies
June 9, 2005 - BBC
Several embassies in the Australian capital closed on Thursday, after they received suspicious packages.
The British High Commission, and the US, Japanese, Italian and South Korean embassies were shut down, but the UK mission has now reopened.
Part of the parliament was also closed for the second time in a week after a package of white powder was received.
The Indonesian embassy has twice received such packages, but tests showed that the material was harmless.
"ACT (Australian Capital Territory) policing has received reports of suspicious packages at a number of foreign missions and parliament house... the packages have been secured," a police spokesman told Reuters.
The BBC understands that the powder sent to the British High Commission was harmless.
Last week, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer received a similar package addressed to him at parliament.
Tests revealed the powder to be non-toxic.
Australian authorities have linked the packages sent to the Indonesian embassy with public anger at the jailing of a 27-year-old Australian woman for smuggling drugs into Bali.
The case of Schapelle Corby, who was given a 20-year sentence, generated huge public sympathy in Australia, with many people convinced of her innocence.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4275355 - 06/09/05 09:13 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Schapelle Corby Tragedy Resounds Around the Globe
June 9, 2005 - Drug Policy Alliance News
The world has joined Australians in the outcry over the recent 20-year sentence handed down to Schapelle Corby, a 27-year-old Aussie woman arrested after Indonesian airport officials found 9 pounds of marijuana in her bag. Since Corby's arrest in October 2004, Australian investigations have confirmed reports of a drug-smuggling operation at one airport and Corby's defense presents this as explanation as to why the drugs were found in her bag. Yet Corby's lawyers were unable to introduce this and other evidence in the Indonesian court where she was tried - information that many think would have absolved her of a guilty verdict as a victim of trafficking gone awry. Indonesian prosecution pushed for the death penalty according to the Southeast Asian country's strict drug laws, but the three-judge panel instead gave a then-hopeful Corby 20 years in prison.
Irrespective of her innocence or guilt, many have questioned Corby's stringent term that places her in the same prison as a convicted terrorist serving only two years for his crime of murdering 202 people in a bombing. The Alliance and other organizations are outraged that someone would be imprisoned for 20 years for transporting marijuana, which hundreds of millions of people consume with little or no ill effects, is used for medicinal purposes for people suffering from life-threatening ailments, and is practically legal in some countries.
What happened to Schapelle Corby is a tragedy, and it's been heartening to see the Australian and international community's mobilization around reforming draconian drug laws, but this case is not unique. Indonesia is not much different from other countries in which harsh, inhumane sentences are handed down for nonviolent drug offenses. An extreme example is China, where once a year a public execution of people convicted of drug offenses takes place marking the UN’s International Anti-Drug Day. And right here in the U.S., where half of all drug arrests are for marijuana, there are between 50,000 and 100,000 people behind bars at this moment for marijuana related offenses. As a specific example, in Alabama, people can spend 15 years in prison for a third marijuana conviction.
The statistics are outrageous and Corby is not alone in her disproportionate punishment. But the international community's focus on her case serves to draw attention to the need for reform in drug policy. As the world watches her unjust condemnation unfold from afar, let her story and the unheard stories of hundreds of thousands of other people affected by the drug war incite people to action.
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Trav
Stranger
Registered: 06/09/05
Posts: 1,823
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4277989 - 06/09/05 09:14 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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The whole situation is fucked. I just read a lot of these articles for the first time although I had heard about the incident to a certain degree. Thanks for keeping the latest news in one spot Veggie.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4282915 - 06/11/05 08:33 AM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Winning appeal unrealistic
June 12, 2005 - theage.com.au
Schapelle Corby's Indonesian lawyers appear to have based their hopes for winning an appeal against her 20-year drug conviction on an unrealistic request.
It seems they want the Federal Government to find the person they claim is the real owner of the drugs.
Sources told The Sunday Age that letters sent by Corby's team to Justice Minister Chris Ellison had also asked for substantial financial assistance on top of the $100,000 already given.
One of the letters, signed by defence team co-ordinator Vasu Rasiah, asks the Government to "produce the owner of the marijuana", and to "produce the person who put the drugs in Corby's bag".
Sources said the request was "not realistic", as an investigation by Queensland police and the federal police had failed to find any evidence to support the existence of either person.
Tensions have also flared in the Corby camp between the Perth QC, Mark Trowell - recommended by the Government to help - and the Indonesian team.
Mr Trowell said yesterday he had been handed an unsigned "draft" letter as he got on the plane to leave Bali last Monday after visiting Corby in jail, but said it was not in a form he could give to the Government.
He expressed his frustration that it took until Friday afternoon, when Mr Rasiah and mobile phone salesman Ron Bakir unexpectedly turned up at his Perth office, for him to receive a formal letter, which he immediately passed on.
"It was on the eve of a long weekend, and the appeal is due to be lodged on Tuesday," he told The Sunday Age. "I expressed my frustration with the slowness of it to Vasu.
"As yet, I've not seen any grounds of appeal, nor have I seen an English translation of the judges' decision or a transcript of the trial."
Corby's lawyers have also asked the Government to help them bring to Bali the airport staff who were working on October 8 last year, the day she was arrested.
They have also asked for the names of baggage handlers on duty in Sydney and Brisbane.
Among other requests, they want closed-circuit TV film from customs, Qantas and the airports, and the baggage weights of Corby's luggage.
They have also asked for a copy of the secret customs report leaked two weeks ago that said baggage handlers with high-security clearance were involved in airport drug smuggling.
One letter from lawyer Lily Lubis arrived at Senator Ellison's office last Wednesday, and the second letter, from Mr Rasiah, arrived two days later.
Senator Ellison has told Ms Lubis that the Government would assist where possible, and indicated he was likely to support any request from the Indonesian Government to bring airport staff to Bali to testify.
The Government arranged in March for a Victorian prisoner, John Patrick Ford, to go to Bali. He had claimed to know who owned the drugs, and said Corby was an innocent victim of a drug-smuggling syndicate.
Senator Ellison said customs did not have any tapes of Corby, but he had asked them to check again.
In relation to the secret customs report, he said it was classified, but a private briefing would be given to Mr Trowell.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4289145 - 06/12/05 08:52 PM (6 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby's legal team recruits soap star
June 13, 2005 - stuff.co.nz
Schapelle Corby's legal team has recruited one of Indonesia's best-known television soap starlets in an effort to get Indonesians to support the Queensland woman the way many Australians have.
The latest recruit to the Corby defence team, Anisa Tri Hapsari, was unveiled to a media conference yesterday packed with reporters from the television stations best known for their celebrity gossip and soap operas.
Corby's Jakarta lawyer, Hotman Hutapea, said he had employed Hapsari because the view of the Indonesian public would be critical in determining the outcome of Corby's appeal against her 20-year sentence for drug smuggling.
"The public's view will affect the decision of the court," Mr Hutapea said as he explained Hapsari's job would be to work as an information officer who could convince ordinary Indonesians of the huge doubts about Corby's guilt.
"The public's view is important because usually Indonesian judges are reluctant to give a decision that's contrary to the public's view," Mr Hutapea said.
Corby's Balinese lawyer, Lily Lubis, agreed it was important to get the public onside if they were to convince the judges to acquit her client.
As well as her roles in numerous television dramas, Hapsari is known around the country for her broken marriage and bitter child custody dispute with a grandson of former president Soeharto.
Mr Hutapea said he planned to go to Bali to visit Corby today or tomorrow and then file the Gold Coast woman's appeal sometime before the end of business tomorrow.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4290359 - 06/13/05 06:52 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Bali prosecutors lodge Corby appeal
June 13, 2005 - abc.net.au
Prosecutors in Bali have formally asked for an increase in the sentence handed to convicted Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby.
Corby was sentenced to 20 years jail and fined for carrying 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Indonesia in her bodyboard bag.
The prosecutors have appealed to the High Court of Denpasar against the leniency of the sentence, saying Corby has having been involved in a "transnational crime".
The appeal in part states that drug importation is a great danger to life, the community and the nation, and that the perpetrators of this form of transnational crime have to be punished with a severe penalty.
The defence team is expected to file its appeal tomorrow.
Unless it succeeds in its planned request for hearings to be reopened, the appeal could be resolved behind closed doors within a month or so.
The defence has added an Indonesian soap star, Anisa Tri Hapsari, to its team.
Working under recently hired Jakarta commercial lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea, she will act as an information officer to try to persuade ordinary Indonesians of Corby's innocence.
Mr Hutapea says the Hapsari campaign may help persuade the judges, who are usually reluctant to go against public opinion.
"Her high-profile label will be to help convince people that Corby is not guilty," he said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4294592 - 06/14/05 08:33 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Corby's lawyers lodge appeal
June 14, 2005 - abc.net.au
Lawyers for Schapelle Corby have lodged their appeal to the Denpasar High Court, asking that the convicted drug smuggler be freed and her human rights and dignity restored.
Corby's defence team has requested new hearings so that the judges can hear from a range of witnesses before making a decision.
The lawyers have sought an interim decision from appeals judges on their request for an opportunity to produce further evidence in court.
Attached to the appeal lodged today by Jakarta commercial lawyer Hotman Hutapea is a list of requests.
The defence team wants a Bali court to hear from airport check-in staff, security and Customs officials, as well as Bali's top drugs policeman.
It also wants to present men named only as 'John' and 'Terry' by Victorian prisoner John Ford.
The list also includes Ronny Vigenza, the man Ford says owned the marijuana in Corby's bag but who has already denied the claim.
Beyond that, the 20-page appeal offers little that was not argued at the original trial.
It instead insists that judges and prosecutors erred because they did not prove ownership of the drugs in the bag, did not properly consider defence witnesses and failed to prove any intent on Corby's part.
The appeal comes a day after prosecutors lodged their own appeal against Corby's 20-year jail term and fine.
The prosecutors are hoping to have the sentence increased to a life term.
Although Corby's appeal has been lodged, Australian QCs enlisted by the Federal Government to help prepare it say they have not seen the document.
Mark Trowell QC says the Indonesian legal team never really gave the Australian lawyers a part to play in the preparations.
But the head of Corby's defence team, Vasu Rasiah, says the Australian lawyers were given a role to play in trying to obtain information they want from the Australian Government.
Mr Rasiah says the Indonesian legal team is capable of preparing the appeal and he does not want to get involved in petty politics.
"We are not interested in responding, we are only interested preparing the appeal for Schapelle Corby and doing what is best for her," Mr Rasiah said.
Mr Trowell has also questioned the professionalism of the Indonesian team, after it enlisted the help of a soapie star.
"It wouldn't work here and I don't think it's going to work in Indonesia," he said.
"It's insulting to the Indonesian judges to think that they would be affected by public opinion rather than basing their decision on the actual evidence."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4297725 - 06/14/05 11:34 PM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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How I'll save Schapelle
June 15, 2005 - dailytelegraph.news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby's lawyers yesterday issued a list of 12 witnesses and pieces of evidence they want to call to show she is innocent.
In a 21-page appeal lodged in Bali yesterday, celebrity Jakarta lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea said the case relied on the Australian Government getting the witnesses to Bali.
The defence team's appeal asked the Denpasar High Court for what is known as Putusan Sela – or for the case to be re-opened in the District Court, where it was originally heard.
The extra evidence they want includes two Victorian prisoners who were overheard in jail allegedly saying the drugs were planted in Corby's unlocked body board bag by mistake and that the owner of the 4.1kg of marijuana is Ronnie Vigenza.
Prisoner John Patrick Ford was brought from Australia to recount this conversation at the original trial, however the three judges disregarded his evidence.
The two unnamed prisoners, and Mr Vigenza, have already told Australian police they know nothing about the claims.
People the defence wants made available include:
THE officer in charge of luggage check-in at Brisbane airport and the officer in charge of CCTV cameras at Brisbane and Sydney airports;
THE customs chief from Brisbane airport;
THE chiefs of baggage handling at Brisbane, Sydney and Bali airports and with Australian Airlines;
A CCTV officer and the results from Bali airport on the day;
BALI'S drug squad chief; and
A LEGAL expert who was has said in the Indonesian press that, just because the drugs were in Corby's bag, it did not mean the law of importation kicked in.
The defence also wants the plastic vacuum-sealed bags which contained the drugs to be fingerprinted – something which was never done at the time of arrest.
Mr Hutapea said Corby's fate now rested with the Australian Government: "The fate of Corby right now is very much depend on the co-operation of the Australian Government.
"If your Government promise that they can bring the witnesses, I don't see any reason for the High Court to say no."
Asked if these demands were realistic, he replied: "Ask John Howard, not ask me."
The Denpasar High Court now has 150 days to make a decision on the appeal.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4297739 - 06/14/05 11:39 PM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Tourists defy Bali boycott call
June 15, 2005 - theaustralian.news.com.au
AUSTRALIAN tourists appear to be ignoring calls for a boycott of Bali in protest at the 20-year jail sentence handed out to Schapelle Corby for smuggling marijuana.
Garuda Indonesia today announced an extra flight from Sydney and Brisbane to Denpasar, bringing the weekly total to five and increasing weekly seats by 146 to 1318.
A total of 20,960 Australians visited Bali in April, with nearly 80,000 during the first four months of the year.
Figures for May - the month in which Corby was sentenced, followed by Bali boycott calls from her supporters - are expected to continue to rise and Garuda said 2005 promised to be a record year.
"Consistently strong bookings demonstrate the continued affection that Australians have for Bali," the general manager of Garuda Indonesia Australia/USA, Suranto Yitnopawiro, said today.
"Australian high-end and budget travellers alike are holidaying in Bali in record numbers and reaping the benefits of a strong Aussie dollar, which buys 7,300 rupiah in Bali."
Apart from the beach attractions at Kuta and elsewhere, Bali shops offered great bargains especially in clothing, restaurant meals and taxis, he said.
Garuda's new flight, using a wide-bodied A330 jet, departs Sydney on Fridays at 8am, flying via Brisbane to arrive at Denpasar at 2.40pm local time.
The extra southbound flight leaves Denpasar for Sydney at 11.05pm on Thursdays, arriving in Sydney at 6.35am.
Lawyers for Corby yesterday lodged a 21-page document with the Bali High Court calling for her conviction and 20-year jail sentence to be cancelled and for the 27-year-old to be be freed from Bali's Kerobokan prison.
Three high court judges now have 60 days to decide her appeal, but can extend that by another 30 days.
If they agree to reopen her trial, new evidence would be heard by the same Denpasar District Court that last month sentenced Corby to 20 years in jail.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4299332 - 06/15/05 11:34 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Silks 'at odds' with Corby's legal team
June 16, 2005 - theadvertiser.news.com.au
RELATIONS between Schapelle Corby's Indonesian legal team and two Australian silks referred to the case by the Government have collapsed.
Celebrity Jakarta lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea, who recently joined the Indonesian team, said yesterday the two Australians had done nothing to help.
"If they really want to help they should come to Bali and sit together with the local lawyers because criminal cases are so complicated," Mr Hutapea said.
Perth QC Mark Trowell hit back, saying the Indonesian team should concentrate on the case, not soap operas.
He rejected criticism from the Indonesian team that he and fellow QC Tom Percy had not done enough for Corby, saying they had been severely constrained in what they could do because they had been given little information.
"It would seem the only person being forgotten in all of this is Schapelle Corby," Mr Trowell said.
"We don't give a hoot about her Indonesian lawyers but we do care for her."
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SuperD
Lophophiend
Registered: 10/05/03
Posts: 4,982
Loc: My stash box
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4299630 - 06/15/05 12:48 PM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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<<"The public's view is important because usually Indonesian judges are reluctant to give a decision that's contrary to the public's view," Mr Hutapea said.>>
Wow..yeah..let's forget all about evidence and everything relevant to any given court case. Why can't our government think along the same lines as some of these judges do?
--------------------
I'd like you to meet my local drug dealer
Bruce Campbell for a day! said: Go misidentify a mushroom please.
"Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young, 1988
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4304761 - 06/16/05 04:25 PM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Corby appeal doomed - prosecutors
June 16, 2005 - theaustralian.news.com.au
INDONESIAN prosecutors are confident Schapelle Corby's appeal against her 20-year sentence for drug trafficking will fail and that judges will reject the defence team's demand that her trial be reopened.
The wish list of new witnesses and evidence in the defence appeal was irrelevant to the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman's case, lead prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu said.
"I think their request won't be fulfilled by the High Court judges because there's nothing different to what was put forward in the first trial," he said.
Mr Wiswantanu also revealed he was receiving hate mail from Australia almost every day, saying he was surprised at the indignant reaction to the verdict by the Australian public, which he saw as the result of trial by media.
"I think the people sending these letters are part of a syndicate of Corby's supporters, they are trying to intimidate me," he said.
"The Australians are angry with me, I get letters every day," he said, pointing to three unopened envelopes bearing Australian stamps on his desk that were waiting to be sent to a forensics laboratory to be tested for biological agents.
So far, none has tested positive.
Mr Wiswantanu said the witnesses sought by the defence would add nothing new to dispute the facts of the case.
"I think the judges will at least support the current decision, or increase it if they see the impact drugs have on Indonesian society," he said.
Corby's lawyers lodged their appeal on Tuesday, demanding a reopening of the trial to hear testimony from several new witnesses, including two Victorian prisoners identified during the trial only as "Terry and Paul".
Victorian remand prisoner John Patrick Ford testified in the trial that he had overheard the two joking about how the marijuana found in Corby's boogie board bag had been stashed in the bag by airport baggage handlers in Australia.
The court dismissed Mr Ford's evidence as hearsay.
The defence also wants to summon airport close circuit TV staff, Qantas check-in staff, Australian and Indonesian baggage handlers and Bali's top narcotics officer.
However, Mr Wiswantanu questioned why these testimonies had not presented during the original trial if they were so crucial to helping Corby prove her claim that 4.1kg of marijuana was planted in her luggage after she checked in at Brisbane airport last October 8.
"The Australian police and Government helped Corby a lot, and did their own investigations," he said.
"If they found an airport officer who put the drugs in her bag, there must be a verdict in Australia before he can be summoned here to give evidence."
Asked about his reaction to the defence team's recruitment of a soapie star and hotshot Jakarta lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea to lead the appeal, he laughed and said he did not expect anyone could disprove Corby's guilt.
Mr Wiswantanu, who has lodged his own appeal calling for Corby to be sentenced to life behind bars, expects to submit his response to the defence appeal by early next week.
Three High Court judges have an initial 60 days to make a decision but can extend this deadline if needed.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4305811 - 06/16/05 09:09 PM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Police uncover Corby breakout plan
June 17, 2005 - heraldsun.news.com.au
AUSTRALIAN Federal Police are investigating a plan to recruit ex-soldiers to break Schapelle Corby out of jail in Bali.
A South Australian man is offering to pay crack ex-soldiers for weapons, false passports and expertise to bust Corby out of Indonesia and spirit her away to a secret location.
The man, Mark Streater, says he has the resources to fund the operation and has already secured recruits.
Mr Streater said the operation was "100 per cent do-able" and insisted it was genuine break-out plan.
"I have no doubt someone will get her out of the country," he said.
An AFP spokeswoman in Canberra said agents were now aware of the plan and were "assessing its implications".
Rumours of an attempted jail break first surfaced days after Corby was sentenced on May 27 to 20 years' jail for smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali.
Security was tightened around the grim Kerobokan Prison at Kuta, where the 27-year-old former Gold Coast beauty student is serving her sentence.
Mr Streater said he had nothing to do with those rumours and had, until now, managed to keep his campaign a secret.
He had placed an advertisement on a website for guerillas and mercenaries, asking for people interested in a rescue mission to contact him.
Corby is not mentioned by name.
But a would-be mercenary who responded to the advertisement said Mr Streater had told him it was a plan to release a woman called Schapelle Corby and take her to another location, probably in Asia.
He said it would not be possible to keep her in Australia because of extradition arrangements between the countries.
The would-be mercenary, who does not live in Australia, contacted the Herald Sun with details of the plan, unsuccessfully seeking payment for his story.
It is believed the organisers of the campaign toyed with the idea of hiring a plane but decided instead to look for a more discreet fishing vessel.
The plan was to get Corby out of Indonesia, by whatever means possible, then take her to Darwin and transfer her to Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia or Malaysia.
When asked by the Herald Sun, Mr Streater said he was the man behind the campaign.
He said he was motivated by a belief that Corby was innocent.
Mr Streater said he had also had problems with Customs and Australian Federal Police officers, some of whom he believed were responsible for smuggling drugs through Australian airports.
He would not say who his financial backers were, saying only that it was a businessman but not Gold Coast mobile phone re-seller Ron Bakir.
Mr Streater said his antipathy towards Customs and the AFP came after he was involved in a dispute when a collection of CDs he imported into Australia were damaged on their arrival.
He said Australia Post had agreed to pay 50 per cent of the damage but Customs had refused.
Mr Streater said he had later been convicted of making threats against a senior Customs official through abusive telephone messages, and had spent 10 days in the Alfred hospital's psychiatrist ward.
He said he had been contacted several times by an anonymous man who said some Customs and AFP officers were involved in drug smuggling through airports.
"I had recruited a couple of intelligence officers and some special forces," Mr Streater said.
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ivi
Registered: 01/30/03
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4306272 - 06/16/05 11:20 PM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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This thread 10 pages in the future:
Operation Corby Storm: Australian Troops Invade Indonesia
June X, 2005
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4310627 - 06/18/05 09:57 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Bizarre wish list hinders Corby
June 19, 2005 - news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby's chances of winning her appeal have slumped after the Federal Government has been unable to meet a list of bizarre demands by her new defence team, headed by the bejewelled Indonesian lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea.
At the same time, the two Australian QCs offered by the Government to help Ms Corby without charge have been sidelined by her Indonesian advisers, leaving Mr Hutapea to front her defence along with a paid Jakarta starlet.
Justice Minister Chris Ellison has responded to a series of letters from Ms Corby's Indonesian lawyers beginning with one to Prime Minister John Howard on June 8 from her team at the original trial.
Senator Ellison has informed Ms Corby's new legal team it is not possible to meet what is being described by Australian officials as an unreasonable wish list.
Incredibly, that list included a demand for the Australian Government to immediately produce "the owner of the (4.1kg) of marijuana" found in Ms Corby's boogie board bag at Denpasar Airport, along with "the person who put the marijuana" in the former Gold Coast beauty student's luggage.
These requests, characterised by Australian officials as totally unrealistic, were contained in a letter sent to the Australian Government on June 10.
This was followed on June 16 by another letter from Mr Hutapea in similar terms.
Ms Corby's Indonesian lawyers also demand that:
* The Government produce two Victorian jail inmates allegedly overheard by another inmate as saying the drugs were planted on Ms Corby. (The third inmate, John Patrick Ford, had already testified at Ms Corby's first trial. The Judges rejected his evidence as hearsay.)
* The Government produce the officer in charge of luggage check in at Brisbane airport and the officer in charge of CCTV cameras at Brisbane and Sydney airports, the Customs Chief from Brisbane Airport and the chiefs of baggage handling at Sydney and Brisbane airports.
Senator Ellison responded but most of the demands had been made by Ms Corby's original legal team prior to her initial hearing.
"They were just repeating demands that they already knew could not be met," one senior Government source told The Sunday Telegraph.
Senator Ellison informed Ms Corby's new Indonesia lawyers the Victorian jail inmates could not be sent to Bali without a formal request from the Indonesian Government under an international "mutual assistance" agreement.
Despite Mr Hutapea's reputation in Jakarta as a top flight lawyer, the Australian Government is concerned he apparently does not understand this basic fact of law.
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Vulture
Pursuer ofWisdom
Registered: 06/18/02
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4313782 - 06/19/05 12:18 PM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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wow this is crazy.
im glad to see that people didnt accept this and are trying to do something about it.
--------------------
Work like you dont need the money.
Love like you never been hurt.
Dance like nobody is watching.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4316731 - 06/20/05 10:07 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Australia 'not doing enough' for Corby
June 20, 2005 - theage.com.au
The flamboyant Indonesian lawyer recruited to head Schapelle Corby's appeal against her 20-year jail sentence says the Australian government is not doing enough to help her.
Hotman Paris Hutapea today voiced frustration over a lack of progress in identifying new witnesses in Australia.
He said Canberra has so far only paid lip service to Corby's calls for help to prove that someone stashed 4.1kg of marijuana in her luggage after she checked in at Brisbane airport last October.
He said a letter received today from Justice Minister Chris Ellison informed him that Australia could not help bring new witnesses to Indonesia without a formal letter of request from the Indonesian government.
But such a request may not be forthcoming any time soon, he warned.
"The Indonesian government may say why should I bother, you (Australians) attacked my embassy," Hutapea said.
He said Australian government could try to persuade the witnesses to give evidence voluntarily, thereby negating any requirement for official approvals.
"We need the Australian government first to give us the complete names and addresses of all witnesses," he said.
"The second thing that we have asked is for the government to at least try to approach them to see if they will voluntarily be witnesses here, or in Australia by video-link.
"Of course, the last choice is the letter (from Indonesia) they requested, but that will take time and without a political approach from Australia our government probably won't issue it."
Hutapea said he had attached Ellison's letter to a letter he was sending today to Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as well as Indonesian Justice Minister Hamid Awaluddin and the court.
He said the chances of Corby's trial being reopened on the orders of a higher court would be very low if witnesses in Australia were not identified soon.
"I'm disappointed because your government is not showing any initiative to do something to help in a meaningful way," he said.
"The (Bali) High Court could decide any time now to reject our appeal," said Hutapea, a high-profile Jakarta-based lawyer who has worked and studied in Australia.
The defence appeal calls for an additional hearing to hear testimony from new witnesses including Qantas check-in personnel, customs officers, baggage handlers and closed circuit TV staff on duty in Brisbane, Sydney and Bali the day Corby flew to the resort island.
The defence is also seeking testimony from two Victorian inmates identified during the trial only as Terry and Paul, who allegedly joked about how the marijuana in got into Corby's bodyboard bag.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4319672 - 06/21/05 02:55 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Bakir asks Corby for money, mother says
June 21, 2005 - theage.com.au
Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir has told convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby she owes him $500,000, her family says.
Mr Bakir denies the claim, saying if he is not repaid any money for his role in Corby's defence, "so be it".
Mr Bakir has been regarded as Corby's "White Knight", but the convicted drug smuggler's mother Rosleigh Rose has now questioned the motives and labelled him a "Black Knight".
Ms Rose said the family was unaware the Australian government had paid for the Indonesian lawyers at her daughter's Bali trial, because Mr Bakir took credit for bankrolling the case.
"Schapelle goes (to Ron), `All that money?'," Ms Rose told Wednesday's edition of the The Bulletin magazine.
"He goes, `Don't worry. You'll have plenty of time to pay me back when you get out'.
"We didn't even ask him to come on board. He just offered. And now she owes him money?"
Corby was sentenced to 20 years in a Bali prison last month after being found guilty by a Denpasar court of trying to smuggle 4.1kg of cannabis into Indonesia last October.
Both the defence and prosecution have lodged appeals, with the prosecution saying the sentence was too light.
Ms Rose said she feared Mr Bakir had tried to trademark the Schapelle name, after registering the company name Schapelle Corby Pty Ltd without informing Corby or her family.
"It's makes me cranky ... people are trying to make money out of Schapelle in that hellhole," Ms Rose said.
"He (Bakir) might have good intentions but he's thinking dollar signs".
Mr Bakir, who has repeatedly said Australian government inaction prompted him to financially assist Corby's defence team, denied he asked Corby to pay him $500,000.
"No, that wasn't said," Mr Bakir told the magazine.
"There was a discussion that took place between myself and the family.
"I said if I can recoup any money, then thanks. If I can't, so be it."
He said he would soon disclose the figure of his financial contribution to Corby's defence.
Mr Bakir also denied any trademarking attempt and said Corby was the only beneficiary of Schapelle Corby Pty Ltd.
Ms Rose said she was also furious Mr Bakir posted Corby's personal bank account details on www.schapellecorby .com, a website he set up before the family even knew who he was, so people could make direct donations.
Ms Rose said she had approached a lawyer to protect her daughter from numerous parties seemingly out to rob Corby of a "potential goldmine".
The Bulletin alleges company DAG International has lodged an application to trademark the words "Schapelle Corby" in relation to rights to produce and sell books and movies, without approaching her family.
Allan Hawley-Jacobs, who runs a small Gold Coast business, is attempting to trademark the name "Schapelle" in association with a raft of products from antiperspirant to nautical equipment, The Bulletin says.
Mark Trowell, one of the two Perth QCs appointed by the federal government to Corby's defence, told The Bulletin Corby had been forced to sign documents giving away 50 per cent of any earnings she might make from films and book rights, and payments from film and television studios.
However, Corby's sister Mercedes said nothing had been signed.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4324051 - 06/22/05 07:56 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Govt won't seek legal costs from Corby
June 22, 2005 - theage.com.au
Convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby won't have to repay the government for covering her legal costs but she may not be allowed to profit from her story.
Corby's family says Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir, who maintains he bankrolled much of her defence, has told her she owes him $500,000.
The allegation emerged in an article in The Bulletin magazine, in which Corby's mother Rosleigh Rose questioned the motives of the mobile phone entrepreneur.
"He goes (to Corby), 'Don't worry. You'll have plenty of time to pay me back when you get out'," Ms Rose told the magazine.
"We didn't even ask him to come on board. He just offered. And now she owes him money?"
Mr Bakir denies the claim, saying he will cope if he is not repaid any money for his role in Corby's defence.
After Corby's conviction last month, the government revealed it had helped pay some of her legal costs and would consider any request for further financial assistance.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says there will be no requirement for Corby to pay back what she's received in legal aid.
"There's never been a requirement in relation to legal aid generally that people who are eligible at the time when the grant is made, pay it back if their circumstances change," he said.
But Mr Ruddock suggested that Corby may not be permitted to benefit financially from her story, as she could be subject to proceeds of crimes law.
Under federal proceeds of crime laws, criminals are not able to benefit from selling their story, with the money being split between the commonwealth and the states.
In this way roundabout way she may end up repaying the government.
"If convictions remain afoot and stories are sold, ... the proceeds of crime legislation might apply," Mr Ruddock said.
The latest twist in the Corby case came as her Indonesian lawyer urged the government to convince airport baggage handlers to give evidence in her appeal against her 20-year sentence.
Hotman Paris Hutapea told the Seven Network he accepted the government could not force people to give evidence to the Bali court, but urged it to persuade corrupt baggage handlers to help his client.
Mr Hutapea called on the government to do more to help Corby so that the Bali High Court in Denpasar would grant her defence an additional hearing.
Justice Minister Chris Ellison said the government only received the lawyer's request on Tuesday and would do whatever it could.
"Certainly we'll provide whatever information we can within the bounds of the law," he said.
"But there have been some requests made which are really beyond our remit, requests such as finding the person who put the marijuana in the bag is really a request of government that we really can't meet."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4327292 - 06/22/05 11:54 PM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Corby team 'sought to bribe judges'
June 23, 2005 - theage.com.au
Schapelle Corby's lawyers tried to get the Australian Government to give them $500,000 to bribe the Indonesian judges overseeing her appeal, two Perth lawyers claimed yesterday.
Mark Trowell, one of two QCs asked by the Government to help her case, said the request was made earlier this month at a meeting he attended in Bali.
Corby's Indonesian lawyers also requested in a written document that $500,000 be forwarded to them from the Australian Government for "lobbying".
Mr Trowell said Corby was unaware of the request, which was rejected immediately.
Mr Trowell and fellow Perth lawyer Phillip Laskaris were initially sounded out about a bribe over dinner in Bali three weeks ago with the head of Corby's defence team, Vasu Rasiah, and her lawyer, Lily Lubis.
Mr Trowell confirmed yesterday that an approach had been made, saying that at first he thought it was a joke. "I kept pushing, pushing them to tell me what they saw as the best grounds of appeal," he said.
"Vasu said: 'Forget the merits of the appeal, all you have to do is put in the appeal and if you have got money to bribe the judges, you win the appeal.'
"I told him the Australian Government would never provide money to bribe judges.
"He said: 'There are no lawyers in Indonesia, only negotiators'."
Mr Laskaris backed up Mr Trowell's account.
It is understood that a letter to the Australian Government handed to Mr Trowell by Mr Rasiah a few days later included, among its requests, an amount of $500,000 for "lobbying".
"There was no doubt in my mind what it [the $500,000] was referring to because he had discussed it at dinner," Mr Trowell said. "It would be an understatement to say that I was shocked … I thought it was insulting to the Indonesian judiciary."
Mr Rasiah yesterday admitted that he had made a written request for $500,000 but said it was to mount a PR campaign to create support for Corby.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4331120 - 06/24/05 12:09 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Lawyer fears Corby case in ruins
June 24, 2005 - smh.com.au
The Jakarta lawyer helping with Schapelle Corby's appeal has called for a Perth QC to be sacked for comments he believes will ruin Corby's chances.
Hotman Paris Hutapea said he warned Mark Trowell - who had recommended him as defence lawyer for Corby's appeal - against making any public comments alleging Corby's case co-ordinator, Vasu Rasiah, had suggested bribing appeal judges.
Mr Hutapea said Mr Trowell's remarks were a "disaster", with three judges from Bali's High Court now considering her appeal against a 20-year sentence for smuggling 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Indonesia.
There was now a serious risk the court would increase the sentence for her offence which carries a maximum penalty of death.
"I told him not to say that. If it goes to the Indonesian papers the judges will increase the decision to show they are clear of corruption … everything is a disaster," he said.
"Sack him, that's all," Mr Hutapea recommended as the best way to proceed.
Amid mounting signs of Corby's team unravelling, he also suggested sacking Mr Rasiah.
Mr Trowell told a newspaper on Wednesday that Corby's case co-ordinator had requested him to ask his Australian government connections for $500,000 to bribe the appeal judges.
"Vasu said this: 'Forget the merits of the appeal, all you have to do is put in the appeal and if you have got money to bribe the judges, you win the appeal'," Mr Trowell told The West Australian.
He had no doubt Mr Rasiah intended the money be used for bribes, a claim Mr Rasiah strenuously denied yesterday. "I did not use the word bribe, I never said it."
His request for $500,000 was to run a "public relations campaign" to lobby and pay Indonesian journalists to write sympathetic articles about Corby's case, Mr Rasiah said. He had never suggested bribing the judges in the appeal.
Mr Trowell dismissed the outcry over his remarks, saying: "I'm more concerned that [Mr Rasiah's] shenanigans will damage Corby's case."
Mr Rasiah was "not a lawyer [and had] done nothing but cause trouble in this case … he's a Sri Lankan-born Australian citizen so he's not even an Indonesian."
"The only lawyer I respect over there is Erwin Siregar."
However, it seems that respect may not be mutual. "Such statements are surely damaging," said Mr Siregar, a member of the Corby legal team. "It makes what we have done useless."
At the Australian Government's suggestion, Mr Trowell and another Perth QC, Tom Percy, approached the Corby family last month, although their role in the case remains unclear.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4331369 - 06/24/05 03:35 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Corby sacks Indonesian legal team
June 24, 2005 - theage.com.au
After increasingly bitter infighting this week among her family, legal advisers and supporters, Schapelle Corby has sacked her Indonesian lawyers.
And the businessman Ron Bakir, who had backed Corby financially, now says he is cutting all ties with her and her family.
Lily Lubis, the Bali lawyer who had represented the Queensland woman since her arrest on charges of smuggling 4.1 kilograms of marijuana in October, said Corby phoned her from jail and told her she had appointed new lawyers.
"She said, 'Thank you for what you have done. I have a new team,"' Ms Lubis said.
She said she asked Corby why she had decided to change lawyers, and she said, "Because it's already a mess now."
She said Corby had sacked her, the case co-ordinator Vasu Rasiah, Erwin Siregar, Haposan Sihombing and the Jakarta lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea, who joined the case only to work on the appeal after Corby was convicted of drug smuggling last month.
"I am happy. At least I don't have to resign now," Ms Lubis said. She said it had become impossible to work on the case after the arrival four weeks ago of two Perth lawyers whom the Federal Government had asked to help Corby.
Corby's Queensland lawyer Robin Tampoe had predicted the events of recent days when the QCs arrived on the scene after Corby's conviction, Ms Lubis said.
"He said the QCs will ruin this case and make us look bad," she said.
One of those lawyers, Mark Trowell, QC, this week accused Mr Rasiah of asking him to get $500,000 from the Australian Government to bribe judges in the Corby case, a claim Mr Rasiah denies.
Mr Hutapea, appointed to the case on Mr Trowell's recommendation, said the public comments by the Perth lawyer had destroyed Corby's appeal chances and poisoned the atmosphere in which the appeal would be decided.
He said Mr Trowell appeared to be determined to criticise the lawyers in the team to take the heat off the Australian Government, which has been consistently criticised by Corby's lawyers.
Indonesia's leading newspaper, Kompas, reported Mr Trowell's bribery allegations on its front page yesterday, prompting Mr Hutapea to accuse him of sabotaging the case.
Ms Lubis said she did not know who was in the new legal team and had not asked Corby.
The furore over the bribes follow accusations made by Corby's mother, Rosleigh Rose, this week that Corby's financial backer, Mr Bakir, had told Corby she owed him $500,000.
Mr Bakir has denied this and challenged Ms Rose to state the dates when she claims the two of them met Corby in prison and discussed the matter. He said he had never been inside the prison at the same time as Ms Rose. Mr Bakir now says he has severed all ties with Schapelle Corby and her family.
Mr Bakir, who says he stepped forward to help raise the profile of the Corby case in Australia, said he was no longer able to work with Corby or her family.
"I thought about it long and hard. I've done everything in my power not to try and give up on Schapelle Corby," he told Radio 2GB. "I don't want to, but it's sad for me to say that I can no longer be involved with the Corby family at all."
Edited by veggie (06/24/05 10:23 AM)
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4338252 - 06/26/05 12:16 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Former Corby lawyer lashes out
June 27, 2005 - theage.com.au
Schapelle Corby's former Australian lawyer has accused her family of profiteering from her drug smuggling conviction.
Gold Coast-based lawyer Robin Tampoe quit Corby's camp yesterday after falling out with her mother Rosleigh Rose, and over allegations Corby's team had sought $500,000 to bribe Indonesian judges.
He says Ms Rose accused him of trying to profit by gaining a profile out of the case and the bribe allegation was the last straw.
The Sunday Telegraph today reported that Corby's sacked legal team wanted $800,000 from the Australian government for "lobbying" and to engage a high-profile lawyer for Corby.
Perth Barrister Mark Trowell, QC, reportedly believes $500,000 of that money was intended for bribes rather than lobbying.
Mr Tampoe's departure follows that of Gold Coast business man Ron Bakir.
Mr Bakir quit the Corby camp on Friday after Ms Rose called him a gold digger who stood to personally benefit from the case.
Mr Bakir had organised media deals for the family which had earned them substantial amounts of money, Mr Tampoe said.
"I know for a fact that Ron Bakir hasn't profited one cent from any of those monies," Mr Tampoe told the Nine Network today.
"The only people that I've seen who are profiting from Schapelle Corby being in jail is the Corby family."
Ms Rose has pocketed more than $100,000 from a media deal with the Nine Network, and her sister Mercedes Corby made $30,000 in one deal with New Idea magazine, Mr Tampoe said.
"The Indonesian lawyers have not received any money from the funds they've earned from interviews," Mr Tampoe said.
But he says $200,000 contributed by Mr Bakir has been spent by Corby's legal team.
Mr Tampoe alleged that after Corby was sentenced to 20 years in jail for importing 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali, Mercedes ran from the court and later gave an interview to New Idea for which she was paid $30,000.
Earlier, she had told Mr Tampoe she would not be able to cope if a harsh sentence was sought and asked him to see Schapelle, he said.
"I went to the holding cell amongst all the chaos to see Schapelle - I was holding her hand while she was crying," Mr Tampoe said.
"I find out down the track that she (Mercedes) ran out of there to do a live interview for $30,000 with New Idea.
"I'm holding her sister's hand while she is making $30,000 with New Idea and that, from my point of view, sickens me."
The Nine Network says Mercedes Corby told them she did do the New Idea interview that day.
But she is adamant she was very upset for her sister contrary to any impression Mr Tampoe might have gained.
Mercedes also jeopardised the defence by lying when asked if anyone in the family had a criminal conviction or connection with drugs, Mr Tampoe said.
He said Mercedes had denied any such history involving the family.
But just before the verdict in the Corby case was delivered, news broke that stepbrother Clinton Rose had a lengthy criminal history, Mr Tampoe said.
Mr Tampoe said Corby was being kept in the dark by her family about what was going on outside her Bali jail cell.
"I think she probably knows very little about how much has been earned by the family," Mr Tampoe said.
On Friday, Corby sacked the Indonesian legal team preparing her appeal against her conviction and 20-year sentence for drug smuggling.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4338901 - 06/26/05 09:31 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Corby rehires most of her legal team
June 26, 2005 - smh.com.au
Two days after she sacked her entire Indonesian legal team, Schapelle Corby has rehired all but two of them.
In the latest twist to her trouble plagued appeal, Corby has reappointed Jakarta-based celebrity lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea, respected Bali-based criminal lawyer Erwin Siregar and junior counsel Hoposan Sihonding.
Corby also has terminated any future role in her appeal by Australian academic and entrepreneur Walter Tonetto who was only hired as a strategist on Friday - hours before Corby sacked her legal team.
The 27-year-old dismissed the Indonesian lawyers after allegations by Perth QC Mark Trowell that her main Bali lawyer Lily Sri Rahayu Lubis and case coordinator Vasu Rasiah planned to bribe the judges considering her conviction and 20-year jail term for drug smuggling.
Mercedes Corby confirmed the reappointments, saying her sister made the decision after realising she may have acted too hastily.
Lubis and Rasiah were the only members of the team not to be reappointed.
"She just thought she might have decided too hastily before," Mercedes said after earlier visiting Corby at Kerobokan prison.
"She was very torn and agonised about letting them go.
"Even though she's hoping this appeal will get her home, she thinks that if she has to go to the next appeal in Jakarta, Hotman's the best person for that."
Mercedes said she had called Tonetto to inform him of the change.
But Tonetto said he could not accept the news.
"I'm in charge of the team, he said.
"Mercedes is her sister, but I was appointed by Schapelle so I cannot accept this news at the moment.
"She (Schapelle) is acting in a state of great confusion and appears under pressure from Mr Hotman."
Hotman said he was glad to resume work on the case, but said it would be on the condition that Tonetto step down and that Mercedes attend a press conference in Jakarta to clear his name.
"Media reports in Jakarta say I'm the one behind the $500,000 bribery allegation," he said.
He said he understood how confused Corby must be at the chaotic implosion of her legal team.
"I know they were under stress and anybody would be confused. They are just a bit immature," he said.
News of the reappointments came as Corby's former Australian lawyer, Gold Coast-based Robin Tampoe, accused her family of profiteering from her drug smuggling conviction and concealing a family history of criminal convictions.
Tampoe quit Corby's camp, following soon after Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir's departure.
Both men had fallen out with Corby's mother Rosleigh Rose, who accused them of trying to profit by gaining a profile out of the case.
Tampoe said he knew nothing about a bribery plot.
"In light of what has happened over the last couple of days, in relation to comments being made, I no longer want to be involved in this case," Mr Tampoe told the Nine Network.
"From where I'm sitting the only people who are profiting from Schapelle Corby being in jail is her family."
He said Corby's original lawyers have not received one cent for their work, while Ms Rose has pocketed more than $100,000 from a media deal with the Nine Network and Mercedes made $30,000 in one deal with New Idea Magazine.
Mr Tampoe said Corby was being kept in the dark by her family about what was going on outside her Bali jail cell.
"I think she probably knows very little about how much has been earned by the family," he said.
Mercedes denied Tampoe's claims but declined to comment further.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4345624 - 06/27/05 11:53 PM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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I'm no crazy Australian, Corby says
June 27, 2005 - theage.com.au
Schapelle Corby has admitted she may appear to be acting like a "crazy Australian" but blames the stress of imprisonment for the chaos surrounding her legal team which ended today with the rehiring of her Indonesian celebrity lawyer.
Just hours after Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer described the case as a "soap opera", Corby's sister Mercedes handed over a letter from Schapelle to pistol-packing counsel Hotman Paris Hutapea in Indonesia.
Writing from her jail cell, 27-year-old Corby indulged in some word play and asked Hutapea to continue her appeal against a 20-year sentence for drug trafficking.
"You, Mr Hutapea, are a Hotman and are very much needed to work your expertise, to do the best you possibly can to help me to be a free woman," she wrote.
The Gold Coast woman also reappointed two other lawyers Haposan Sihombing and Erwin Siregar - the only survivor of her original trial team.
"You must think I'm a crazy Australian, but no I'm not, just confused and disorientated," she said in a letter to Haposan.
"But I know what I want now and that's for you to help free me from this horrible cage I'm trying so hard to survive in."
Mercedes Corby, appearing bewildered and continually interrupted by Hutapea at a press conference in Jakarta, read a signed statement from the family to judges and the Indonesian government following allegations of attempted bribery, apologising for any offence.
Requests by Corby's former case coordinator Vasu Rasiah for $500,000 to Perth QC Mark Trowell - and which led to Rasiah's sacking along with Bali lawyer Lily Lubis - were unauthorised, she said.
Hutapea angrily rejected the foreign minister's "soap opera" jibe.
"Mr Alexander Downer, he is talking bullshit," he said. "He doesn't even call us."
Mercedes also said the government had offered little support.
"That's damaging, but where has the government been for help with the lawyers?" she asked.
"How do we know who to choose? ...we've been thrown in this.
"We had a list of lawyers and they told us this and that.
"I think now we have the good team (and) we've had no guidance."
In a fiery outburst, the diamond-wearing Hotman attacked criticism of his motivations for taking on the case by Australian academic and entrepreneur Walter Tonetto who was hired as a strategist on Friday and then dismissed at the weekend.
"I don't know who Walter is, whether he is from the jungle of Borneo, but I ask Mr Walter not to do it again," Hutapea said.
Tonetto said he hoped to work alongside Hutapea and vowed to keep working for Corby until he was formally sacked.
Pressed by Hutapea, Mercedes Corby confirmed Tonetto had been sacked.
"I say whatever you say," she told the high-flying lawyer.
The diamond-wearing Mr Hutapea attacked criticism of his motivations for taking on the case by Australian entrepreneur Walter Tonetto.
Patting a pistol holstered around his waist, he said: "I hate him."
Hutapea, who has admitted giving judges "thank you" payments in the past, said he was taking on the Corby appeal case free of charge for the challenge, warning the process could be longer than the Bali bomb trials and take years.
"I am not Mr Clean, but for this case, temporarily I am clean," he said.
Meanwhile, Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir said today he had severed all ties to Corby's family despite spending "an enormous" amount of money on the defence, because he could not work with them any more.
Mr Bakir quit the Corby camp on Friday after her mother Rosleigh Rose called him a gold digger who stood to personally benefit from the case. Mr Bakir said he had not profited one cent from it.
Ms Rose, in an interview published last week, said Mr Bakir had asked Schapelle for $500,000.
"I've done everything in my power to try and help and I just don't think I can be of any help any more, I think it's a matter for the Australian government now," Mr Bakir told Southern Cross radio.
A LETTER with white powder sent from Australia to Indonesia's foreign ministry in Jakarta was harmless but was related to the Corby case, Indonesian police said yesterday.
The letter was delivered on Friday, apparently sent from Victoria and with Australian stamps. It was not addressed to anyone.
Foreign ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin said the envelope was a disturbing development.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4346354 - 06/28/05 08:53 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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No pardon for drug smugglers: Indonesia
June 28, 2005 - seven.com.au
Indonesia's president vowed never to pardon drug smugglers, saying there was no point campaigning for the release of foreigners held in his country's jails.
The remarks apparently referred to Australian Schapelle Corby, sentenced last month to 20 years in jail for trying to smuggle 4.1kg of cannabis into Bali.
Her conviction and sentencing in a Bali court triggered protests in Australia, where many believe Corby, a 27-year-old former beauty school student, is innocent.
Supporters have been running a media campaign to get her freed.
"Both Indonesians and foreigners must serve out their sentences," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in a speech to police narcotics officers and social workers on Tuesday.
"I call on all parties to respect Indonesia's legal system. There is no use in campaigning to change public opinion to free an individual found guilty of drugs offences."
Corby's Indonesian layers recently said they planned a media campaign to convince the Indonesian public she was innocent ahead of her appeal.
After exhausting all appeals, prisoners can ask the president for a pardon.
However, Yudhoyono said: "I will not hand out pardons to drug convicts. Throughout the history of our country, the president has never granted a request for a pardon."
Both Corby and the Indonesian prosecutors have launched appeals: Corby against her conviction and sentence - which she says is too long, and prosecutors against the sentence - which they believe is too short.
The Australian government has also stepped in on Corby's behalf, recommending two Perth QCs to help with the case, and having talks with Jakarta on a prisoner transfer agreement that may allow Corby to serve her sentence at home.
A decision on her appeal is expected later this year.
Meanwhile, Corby, 27, has written a letter to Australian lawyer Robin Tampoe from her prison cell in Bali, begging him to continue to work on her defence.
The latest twist in the Corby saga followed days of conflict between Corby's mother Rosleigh Rose and Mr Tampoe and mobile phone entrepreneur Ron Bakir.
Mr Tampoe, whom Mr Bakir financed to be part of Corby's defence, last week withdrew from all involvement in the case.
The letter to Mr Tampoe follows Corby's reappointment of flamboyant Jakarta-based lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea and Bali criminal lawyers Erwin Siregar and Haposan Sihombing after sacking her entire Indonesian legal team last Friday.
In the letter, obtained by the Philip Clark Drive Program on 2GB, part of the Macquarie Radio Network, Corby said she "needs" Mr Tampoe but will "understand" if he does not accept her offer.
"I want to thank you for everything you have done for me, all the energy, all of the sleepless nights, all the time away from your family and all the enemies you have made along the way, I'm so thankful to you, also so sorry for all the emotional bashings you have endured," her letter said.
"It's not over yet, because the 20 years is not final ... we will not accept this.
"I need you; If you feel you can't do this any more, I understand. But please know that if you don't mind, please stay with the Corby defence."
Corby also said she was "doing fine".
Mr Tampoe could not be reached for comment, but has previously accused the Corby family of profiting from her ordeal.
At the weekend he said some aspects of their behaviour had "sickened" him.
The argument between Mr Tampoe and Mr Bakir on one side and Ms Rose on the other was exacerbated by Ms Rose's comments in The Bulletin magazine last week accusing Mr Bakir of demanding $500,000 from Corby for his involvement in the case.
Mr Bakir has denied the claim.
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer labelled the situation a "soap opera", to which Mr Hutapea responded he was "talking bullshit".
Ms Rose has appealed to Australians to continue to support her daughter amid the chaos.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4350208 - 06/29/05 10:05 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Corby's Mr Fixit says bribery out, for now
June 29, 2005 - smh.com.au
With allegations of bribery prompting Schapelle Corby to sack her legal team on Friday, her latest lawyer has admitted he is no stranger to the corruption in Indonesia's legal system.
"As a lawyer I am not clean, I have to confess that - but for this case I am temporarily clean," Hotman Paris Hutapea said yesterday. He would not deny that he had sent money to judges in the past, he said, but in Corby's case there would be no funny business with the judges. However, journalists are a different matter. Mr Hutapea's staff handed out the customary envelopes of "transport money" to local reporters.
With two other lawyers Corby sacked on Friday, Mr Hutapea was rehired on Sunday, and yesterday had Corby's sister, Mercedes, at his side as he sought to get Corby's appeal back on track. He said he had sent many letters to the Australian Government requesting its help in getting the names of customs officers and other airport employees he wanted to bring to Bali for a special hearing, and had received no help at all.
Mr Hutapea said Mark Trowell, a Perth barrister, had deliberately damaged Corby's appeal by publicly claiming Corby's case co-ordinator, Vasu Rasiah, had proposed paying a $500,000 bribe. Asked if he would still work with Mr Trowell, whom the Government had asked to help in the case, Mr Hutapea said: "He's out. He's in the past - there are hundreds of QCs in Australia."
When Mercedes Corby was asked if she agreed with her lawyer's view that Mr Trowell should be sacked for his comments, he dug his elbow into her sides and muttered "yes" into her ear. She tried to avoid answering directly, but a few elbows later she said: "I say yes. I say what you say."
When Mr Trowell's comments were published on the front page of Indonesia's main newspaper, Kompas, Corby was forced to sack her lawyers and Mr Rasiah, and Mr Hutapea has been in damage control ever since.
Mercedes Corby read a statement she said was from her family that included a line from Mr Trowell saying Mr Hutapea and the other rehired lawyers, Erwin Siregar and Haposan Sihombing, were "clean".
The statement apologised to the Indonesian Government and to people and "especially to the head and judges in Denpasar High Court" who will decide Corby's appeal in the next two months.
Mr Hutapea said "this case may take years" but vowed he would never ask for money for his services.
Mercedes Corby said she would remain in Bali as long as her sister was in jail. She refused to confirm her mother's claim to The Bulletin magazine last week that Corby's financial backer Ron Bakir had told Schapelle she owed him $500,000.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4368220 - 07/04/05 12:04 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Indonesian judges reopen Corby trial
July 4, 2005 - ninemsn.com.au
A dramatic turn of events will see Schapelle Corby's trial reopened a month after she was sentenced to 20 years jail for smuggling more than four kilograms of marijuana into Bali last year.
Indonesia's High Court has ordered Bali's District Court to reopen the trial into the 27-year-old Gold Coast student, and allowed up to 12 new witnesses to appear.
Chief Judge Made Lingga said that while he thought the original hearing in Bali's District Court was sufficient, in any case the judges would agree to calls by Corby's defence team to reopen the hearings. No date has been set yet.
Australian customs officials, airport staff and Qantas baggage handlers will be called to testify, along with the two inmates Victorian prisoner John Ford allegedly overheard talking about the drug racket in jail.
Judges said they expected the defence team to present the witnesses themselves, and anticipated that would include a person in custody who would admit to owning the marijuana.
Corby's Indonesian lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea told Sydney radio the new witnesses must be produced for trial by the end of the month.
Mr Hutapea says he also wrote to the trial judges to apologise for comments by Perth QC Mark Trowell, who claimed he was asked for money to help bribe them for Corby's acquittal.
The same judges who presided over Corby's original guilty verdict are expected to sit for the retrial.
Corby has claimed to have been the victim of a drug-smuggling ring involving baggage handlers and denied all charges.
Corby's mother, Rosleigh Rose, told ABC Radio she was thrilled by the news.
"Mercedes just said 'mum, we're not sure 100 per cent but we're pretty sure the judges are open for it to be opened up again'," Ms Rose said.
"So I don't know how that works or whatever but it's just excellent news, really good."
Perth QC Mark Trowell, who was asked by the Australian Government to help in Corby's appeal, says he is delighted the Indonesian judges will hear new evidence.
Mr Trowell has been at the centre of a dispute between Corby's Australian and Indonesian legal teams. At one stage, he accused the Indonesian legal team of suggesting judges hearing the case could be bribed.
He says he has only just heard about the development in the Indonesian High Court but he has been in contact with some of Corby's legal team.
He says it is now up to others to determine what involvement he will have in the case.
"I don't know but I can just say I'm delighted and it's good to see that a lot of hard work has paid off for her," he said.
When asked if he had been involved in some of the work that might have led to the decision, he said it was for others to judge.
"I'm not going to try to claim credit for this decision - a lot of people have worked towards this and it's just a wonderful thing to see," he said.
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ZippoZ
Knomadic
Registered: 06/17/03
Posts: 12,024
Loc: Pongyang, North Korea
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4368514 - 07/04/05 01:28 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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personally i think that she did it... it really looks that way imho... but i think that she might get off if this other dude takes the fall... i wonder what is in it for him....
--------------------
PEACE
zippoz
"in times of widespread chaos and cofusion, it has ben the duty of more advanced human beings - artists, scientists, clowns, and philosophers - to create order. In such times as ours however, when there is too much order, too much m anagment, too much programming and controll, it becomes the duty of superior men and women and women to fling their favorite monkey wrenches into the machinery. To relieve the repression of the human spirit, they must sow doubt and disruption"
"People do it every day, they talk to themselves ... they see themselves as they'd like to be, they don't have the courage you have, to just run with it."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4370751 - 07/04/05 10:29 PM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Immunity under consideration
July 5, 2005 - news.com.au
THE Federal Government has raised the possibility of granting immunity to anyone who admits putting drugs in Schapelle Corby's luggage.
The Bali High Court agreed yesterday to hear new evidence backing the former Queensland beauty student's claims she did not know anything about the 4.1kg of marijuana found in her luggage at Bali airport last October.
Corby's lawyers want at least a dozen witnesses to appear, including Australian prisoners and Qantas baggage handlers and check-in staff.
Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison today described the reopening of the case as a "significant development".
Australia's mutual assistance scheme with Indonesia could provide an opportunity for immunity granted to anyone who came forward to admit they had placed the drugs in Corby's bag, he said.
"Under the mutual assistance legislation and the agreement we have in place, there are provisions for immunity but that would need to be negotiated," Senator Ellison said at the launch of the New South Wales Customs headquarters today.
Senator Ellison later rejected criticism by Corby's lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, that the Government had not done enough to help his client.
The Government's willingness to fly Australian prisoner John Ford to Bali to give evidence was an example of the help it had already provided, he said.
Ford told the court he had overhead a jail conversation about Corby being used as an unwitting drug mule for a gang.
"I totally reject the notion that the Australian Government has been unwilling to help," Senator Ellison said.
"I mean John Ford was a case in point."
The Australian Federal Police was now searching for two Australian prisoners, mentioned by Ford during Corby's initial trial, who were wanted by Corby's lawyers to give evidence, Senator Ellison said.
"They are the two prisoners that were mentioned in John Ford's evidence and certainly they are the people we are ascertaining the whereabouts of," he said.
Senator Ellison said he had written to Qantas and Brisbane and Sydney airports passing on requests from Corby's lawyers in relation to the witnesses they were seeking to have come forward.
In May, Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said he could not rule out a link between corrupt baggage handlers implicated in a cocaine-smuggling racket and claims by Corby that handlers had planted drugs in her luggage.
Senator Ellison said Qantas had provided the names of some of the baggage handlers to Corby's lawyers, and a meeting about the information had taken place in March.
Qantas had recently indicated it was willing to speak directly to Corby's lawyers again, he said.
The Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) doubts it can produce evidence to help in the appeal of convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby.
BAC corporate relations manager Jim Carden said the corporation would be as co-operative as possible.
"But we will probably find ourselves where we were a month ago – unable to speak on behalf or explain systems of airlines ... we are just a ground facility," he said.
Mr Carden said baggage handler responsibilities belonged to airlines.
He said the BAC could not deliver on the long-standing call for security video footage and a record of the weight of her bag at Brisbane Airport because the footage did not exist, and the onus was on Qantas to produce evidence on the weight of the bag.
"We've been at pains to do what we can ... but what we can do is very limited," Mr Carden said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4371804 - 07/05/05 09:01 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Key Corby witness 'knows nothing'
July 5, 2005 - news.com.au
The man named as a key witness in the retrial of Schapelle Corby says he has no information that can help free her.
Ronnie Vigenza, who was named as the owner of the 4.1kg of marijuana found in Corby's bodyboard bag, says he is wrongly accused.
"I was glad for her that she got a retrial," Mr Vigenza said in a television interview tonight.
"(But) I find that strange that there are baggage handlers and there's other people involved and I'm still No.1 suspect, it's strange.
"I've tried to prove my innocence ... as best I can." Mr Vigenza was asked, on Channel 9's A Current Affair program, if he could say anything to help Corby.
"No ... I have no information whatsoever," he replied. "People have asked me 'why have they accused you Ronnie?' and I don't know to this day."
Mr Vigenza said he had been feeling like a prisoner in his own home since he was named by inmate John Ford as the owner of the drugs, in evidence given by Ford during Corby's trial earlier this year.
He said he did not remember Ford from prison, but he felt threatened and had faced abuse in the street since his claims became public.
"I can't even walk down the street without people yelling out to me ... 'it's all your fault, if you had of told the truth everything would be alright'," Mr Vigenza said.
"A bloke yelled across the street 'You're a dog because, you know, you put an innocent girl in jail'."
Mr Vigenza did agree that he was a user of marijuana. "I smoke a little bit a marijuana and that's it ... certainly not 4.1 kg."
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sander
learning
Registered: 10/04/04
Posts: 394
Loc: MA and IA
Last seen: 1 year, 9 months
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4372586 - 07/05/05 02:10 PM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
veggie said:
he replied. "People have asked me 'why have they accused you Ronnie?' and I don't know to this day."
this keeps getting weirder and weirder...
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4375515 - 07/06/05 10:36 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Corby given two weeks to prepare defence
July 6, 2005 - theage.com.au
Schapelle Corby has been given just two weeks to find new witnesses to back her claims of innocence after Bali's High Court set a date in late July for the reopening of her trial.
Corby's celebrity Indonesian lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, said he had written again to the Australian government in a last-ditch plea for help after the High Court named July 20 as the date when Corby would get her fresh shot at freedom.
"The High Court has already said the additional hearing will be on July 20 so we have only a week and a half to prepare," Hutapea told AAP.
He said the High Court had informed another of Corby's lawyers, Erwin Siregar, about the date on Wednesday afternoon.
Siregar would break the news to Corby at Bali's Kerobokan Prison on Thursday.
Bali's High Court has agreed to hear testimony from new witnesses backing Corby's claims she did not know about 4.1kg of marijuana found in her luggage at Bali airport last October.
Corby's legal team and the government clashed over the role Australian authorities should play in her reopened court case.
The defence want at least a dozen witnesses to appear, including Australian prisoners, Qantas baggage handlers and check-in staff.
Corby made a personal plea in a handwritten letter to Prime Minister John Howard asking for his help to release her from her "nightmare" 20-year jail term.
Mr Howard is expected to respond in the next few days.
But Hutapea said the court date had placed new pressure on Canberra and he would now write to Senator Ellison repeating the defence team's requests for more aid in tracking down new witnesses, including immunity for anyone testifying in Australia.
Hutapea said he was not hopeful of the government's backing after Attorney General Philip Ruddock said Corby's legal team had placed unrealistic expectations on the government.
"I am pessimistic about getting help from the government judging from their previous behaviour and comments in the media," he said.
Mr Ruddock said the Australian Federal Police had already done everything they could.
"There have been high levels of expectation which I think may be a little unrealistic in terms of the government's ability to identify particular individuals which it is alleged may have been complicit in putting drugs in her luggage," he said.
Mr Ruddock defended the government's efforts, saying it had asked anyone with information relating to the case to contact Corby's defence team.
"We have informed public servants in situations where it is suggested they may have evidence that if they do, they should get in touch with the Corby team," he said.
"There are issues of privacy about whether or not you can give out people's names but employees have certainly been informed."
Hutapea said Senator Ellison must at least decide on the immunity issue immediately.
"I and even the old defence team have been asking this plenty of times, but your government refused," he said.
"Now he (Senator Ellison) is saying he may consider it.
"That also means maybe not, and no stupid person will take the risk to testify.
"The government must make a drastic change to promise immunity for our witnesses."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4378370 - 07/06/05 11:45 PM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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We can't generate witnesses for Corby: Howard
July 7, 2005 - smh.com.au
The Federal Government will try to help convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby but cannot generate witnesses and evidence for her reopened case, Prime Minister John Howard says.
The former Gold Coast beauty student this week wrote to Mr Howard asking for help.
Bali's High Court has agreed to hear testimony from new witnesses backing Corby's claims she did not know about 4.1 kilograms of marijuana found in her luggage at Bali airport last October.
But Corby's legal team say the success of the case depends on Australian Government help because, at present, they have no new evidence.
Mr Howard said "over the next day or so" he will prepare a response to Corby's letter.
"I am preparing a detailed reply which will outline all of the things the Government has done," he told reporters today.
"We will do anything we can to help them but we cannot generate witnesses that might not exist.
"We cannot force people, and we should not force people, to do or say things that they don't wish to do or say. That would not be right and we have no intention of doing that."
Mr Howard rejected claims by Corby's lawyers that the Government was indifferent to her case.
"We are not, but we have to respect the justice system of another country," he said.
"If there is evidence around and there is some way that we can facilitate that evidence being sent either personally by the people who want to give it or otherwise then we are happy to do that.
"But in the end, this case must stand or fall on its merits.
"We cannot generate outcomes and people and evidence and opinion that do not exist."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4382352 - 07/07/05 11:49 PM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Bali court sets new hearings in Corby appeal
08 July 2005 - stuff.co.nz
BALI: An Indonesian court will hear new witnesses on July 20 in the case of an Australian beauty therapist appealing a 20 year jail sentence for smuggling marijuana to the resort island of Bali, a judge said yesterday.
The Denpasar District Court will hold the additional hearings in the appeal by 27-year-old Schapelle Corby, convicted on May 27 of importing 4.1kg of marijuana in a case that gripped and infuriated much of the Australian public.
"We have decided to hold a trial to examine additional witnesses...on July 20," Linton Sirait, the chief judge who sent Corby to jail, told reporters.
Corby's lawyers want to present new witnesses to the court, including some whom the lawyers say have been convicted of drug crimes in Australia, arguing they could help her case.
The court declined a further request by Corby's defence team to delay the hearings until August 5 to allow for expected difficulties in getting the witnesses on time.
"I'm having problems to bring the additional witnesses because...(their) status is prisoners. Therefore it needs bureaucracy between the Indonesian and the Australian governments to bring them," one of Corby's lawyers, Erwin Siregar, told reporters.
The same team of Bali judges from the previous trial will preside at the hearings, and Corby is required to be present.
The prosecution sees the case as open-and-shut drug trafficking because Corby told Bali customs the bag was hers.
Legal experts say that to overturn the conviction, Corby's defence must provide hard evidence Australian airport luggage handlers put the cannabis into the bag without her knowledge.
Australian media have reported that judge Sirait has never acquitted a defendant in some 500 drugs trials. Corby, of the Australian state of Queensland, could have faced a death sentence.
Meanwhile, Schapelle Corby will be spend her 28th birthday inside the whitewashed walls of Bali's Kerobokan prison, without a visit from family or friends. Visits are banned on Sunday when Corby's birthday occurs.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4383640 - 07/08/05 10:30 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Hotman's world of smoke and mirrors
July 9, 2005 - theage.com.au
The lawyer who is master of the theatrical gesture gets his results behind the scenes.
Just before he asked the Bali High Court to re-open Schapelle Corby's case, Paris Hotman Hutapea warned how difficult it would be to get the judges to agree to his request. Despite the obstacles, the brash Jakarta lawyer flew to Bali, met his client and lodged his documents with the appeal court in a blaze of television lights.
Then bingo. Three weeks later, the court not only agreed to his request, but the chief judge, Made Lingga, held a news conference announcing the decision, delivering the widespread coverage Hutapea wanted.
Getting a criminal case like Corby's re-opened might be unusual in Indonesia, but getting the chief judge to call a news conference to discuss it is unheard of.
As long as Hutapea, with his whatever-it-takes approach, is on Corby's case, it's impossible to predict what will happen next, and you won't get many clues by watching what goes on in public.
He's a behind-the-scenes operator. While Corby's new lawyer spends much of his time on the phone convincing journalists to run his deliberately provocative comments, he keeps the real information to himself, like what it took to get the judges onside.
"I can't disclose, it's not open for the public," he said when asked if he had met the High Court judges on his Bali visit.
Anyone who has watched him operate would take that as a "yes", given his candid admissions he meets judges privately to get the result he wants and has sent them money in the past as thank-you gifts.
As well as strings of diamonds, Hutapea reportedly owns 60 houses and 15 cars, including a Hummer that he used to ferry around Schapelle Corby's sister, Mercedes, when he brought her to town a few weeks ago. He doesn't pretend he has won a bunch of highly lucrative commercial cases just by being a good lawyer.
In Indonesia's notoriously corrupt court system you have to pay, to cut a deal, although he prefers not to use language quite as blunt as that: "I live in Indonesian courts every day, it's unethical if I say something bad about my court, although you know the answer. Everything is possible."
For Corby's case, though, he promised to change his ways. "As a lawyer I am not clean, I have to confess that . . . but for this case I am temporarily clean."
Temporarily clean or not, Hutapea has already shown he gets things done.
On face value, his appeal to the High Court against Corby's conviction and sentence appears doomed. He asked the court to re-open the case to bring a dozen new witnesses, including a person who supposedly placed a bag of marijuana in Corby's luggage.
But so far he's got no one to come forward, although he will probably get an Indonesian academic, Professor Indriyanto Seno Adji, to talk about the principle of reasonable doubt.
And if the judges agree, he may also produce the head of the Bali drug squad, Colonel Bambang Sugiarto, and the officer in charge of closed circuit TV at Bali airport, although it's hard to see how this group will say anything to save Corby.
Hutapea admits there is no more prospect now of getting a person who might have planted the marijuana than there was during the original trial, but that hasn't slowed him down.
What he is trying to do is create a climate of activity where there's a sense of new information being disclosed and mounting discontent with an unco-operative Australian Government.
Even a few wobbly witnesses might give the judges something to hang their hat on, enough of a reason for them to succumb to Hutapea's entreaties and give Corby a favourable verdict without being accused of corruption.
Unlike her previous lawyers, Hutapea doesn't claim the Queensland woman is innocent; he just says there is reasonable doubt over her guilt.
With no witnesses who will back up Corby's version of events, he is busy blaming the Australian Government.
Since he took on her case a month ago, he has been firing off angry letters to Justice Minister Chris Ellison and anyone else he can think of, demanding they help find customs officers and baggage handlers on duty the day Corby flew to Bali.
He has never really explained just what evidence he really expects from baggage handlers, if he had the chance to quiz them about a bodyboard bag they might have loaded nine months ago.
The evidence, though, is less important than the atmosphere Hutapea is hoping to create as he fights to give the judges a sliver of a reason to acquit Corby or reduce her sentence.
As the hearing, scheduled for July 20, gets closer, his letters and their distribution list are getting longer. His latest, to Prime Minister John Howard on Thursday, was also addressed to Senator Ellison, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and a Qantas lawyer, as well as Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the ministers for Foreign Affairs and Justice. Among other things, it added Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty to the witness list.
And while Hutapea's letters might go in the bin in Australia, it would be foolish to underestimate his influence at home. His office wall carries a framed photograph of himself with Mr Yudhoyono (well clear of the one of two G-string-clad women getting well acquainted) nestled among the magazine and newspaper stories detailing his past triumphs.
The six-page letter has also been cc'ed to 13 others, including the top four people at Indonesia's Supreme Court, which Hutapea is already leaning on in preparation for another appeal if he can't get the result he wants from the Bali High Court.
Although efforts have been made to reduce the corruption in the Supreme Court, its decision in the Tommy Soeharto case three weeks ago has convinced many Indonesians there is no sign of success yet.
A panel of judges lead by the head of the whole court, Professor Bagir Manan, cut by five years the 15-year sentence imposed on the son of the former president, who was convicted in 2002 of murdering a judge who had found him guilty of corruption.
With generous remissions and a law allowing his release after serving two-thirds of his sentence, Soeharto is now due for release next year, just five years after he ordered the judge's murder.
Despite such judgements, a Perth QC who was asked by the Federal Government to get involved in Corby's case said the decision to re-open her trial was evidence Indonesia's legal system was honest.
"You see people, I think, were too cynical about the Indonesian legal process," Mark Trowell said. "The judges are competent, they are honest in the way they discharge their duty, and that's been proven by today."
Few lawyers in Indonesia would agree with him.
The Perth lawyer has continued to comment publicly on the Corby case even though Hutapea says he sacked him a fortnight ago, after Trowell ignored his instructions and publicly claimed Corby's then legal team wanted to bribe the judges.
Hutapea, who himself was recommended for the job by Trowell, says the Perth QC sabotaged Corby's case with his claims of bribery.
One of the reasons he keeps attacking Canberra for not doing enough is that he is hoping to make Corby a political issue again so that Australian Government ministers will be forced to lobby on her behalf and make his job easier.
The one real mystery is why Hutapea is doing all this, and for free. He says he always does 10 per cent of his work for no charge and that his only motivation is to help a woman in trouble so that he will be able to look his maker in the eye when the time comes.
Like so much of what Hutapea says, this explanation cannot easily be taken at face value.
A very different take on Corby's fate
While Australians were stunned at the severity of Corby's 20-year jail sentence, Indonesian legal experts can't believe how well she did. "It's a miracle," said Riza Afrizal Hasby, a Jakarta-based lawyer who has handled 10 drug cases, including a number involving foreigners.
"It's without precedent, getting only 20 years for 4.1 kilograms," he said.
Other lawyers The Age spoke to were all unable to name a drug smuggler with a similar quantity of drugs who had received a lighter sentence than Corby. "If she was tried in Tangerang Court (in Jakarta), Corby would be dead," Hasby said.
One of his clients, Zulfiqar Ali, is on death row for allegedly owning 300 grams of heroin, even though he was not caught with drugs in his possession. The man who did have the drugs has also been sentenced to death. Both were sentenced at Tangerang Court.
Hasby, like all Indonesian lawyers dealing with drug cases, says money usually decides the sentence more than the quantity of drugs.
"In general, in drug cases, if you don't give money the court will give you the maximum sentence, but if you have money they will give you a lighter sentence."
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veggie
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4395048 - 07/12/05 04:13 AM (6 years, 7 months ago) |
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Govt can't give Corby witnesses immunity
July 12, 2005 - theage.com.au
The Australian government says it cannot give immunity to witnesses who could testify they put drugs in Schapelle Corby's luggage bag because it would violate national laws.
Justice and Customs Minister Chris Ellison said the request, from the lawyers of the convicted drug smuggler, was a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and not the government.
It came as Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty also shot down a request to give evidence at Corby's appeal.
Bali's High Court has agreed to hear testimony from new witnesses backing the former Gold Coast woman's claims she did not know about the 4.1kg of marijuana found in her bag at Bali airport last October.
Corby was sentenced to 20 years in a Bali prison in May.
Her Indonesian lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea said he wanted at least a dozen witnesses to appear before the court via video link, including Australian prisoners, Qantas baggage handlers and check-in staff.
Unless the Australian government gave immunity to the witnesses, Corby's name would not be cleared, he said.
"The only solution now ... if possible under Australian law, give immunity under Australian law to the witness in Australian territory," Mr Hutapea told the Nine Network.
"That's the only solution, no other solution."
Senator Ellison said the Australian government did not grant such immunity.
"That is a role for the DPP ... and it would be inappropriate for the government to involve itself in granting witnesses immunity as such," he told AAP.
"It would be a transgression of our criminal justice system."
Senator Ellison said immunity could be arranged for witnesses in Indonesia under a "mutual assistance request".
He said Mr Hutapea's request for names of possible witnesses had been passed on to Qantas and Sydney airport, but the government could not compel a person to give evidence.
Meanwhile, Mr Keelty, whom Corby's lawyers requested give evidence at the appeal, said he had no further useful information about drug smuggling between Australian airports.
"The AFP is not in position to provide evidence that will assist in the matter," he said on ABC radio.
"We've provided the material that we've gathered in respect of the investigation that we conducted and if you put it in domestic terms within Australia it's very rare, almost unheard of, that a commissioner would actually give evidence in a court case."
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veggie
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4402322 - 07/14/05 01:10 AM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Corby lashes out at prison inspection
July 13, 2005 - smh.com.au
An angry and distressed Schapelle Corby struggled and swore at male prison guards who manhandled her when Indonesian human rights officials, followed by a media scrum, inspected conditions at Bali's Kerobokan prison.
The outburst happened soon after the team of 14 officials arrived at the prison where the 28-year-old Gold Coast woman is serving a 20-year sentence for trying to smuggle 4.1kg of cannabis into Indonesia.
Corby became agitated and screamed at guards and the media as she was pushed and dragged through the prison grounds.
A clearly furious Corby was led away by the guards after a scuffle.
She repeatedly called on them to let her go.
Corby's sister, Mercedes Corby, said later the fracas started when the media entered the jail alongside the inspectors.
"The guards were dragging Schapelle out into an area where she could be filmed and she was pleading with them to stop" Mercedes said. "Schapelle just freaked out."
The scene contrasted with media pictures earlier this week of Corby smiling during a prison yard aerobic session.
Corby's family has been worried for some time that media attempts to get access to Corby in jail might prompt officials to curtail some privileges, such as exercise time.
The human right inspectors were concerned about the prison's food, with meat served only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, TV reports said.
Corby's mother, Rosleigh Rose, has been supplementing her daughter's diet with food brought from outside the prison.
Bali's High Court has agreed to hear testimony from new witnesses backing Corby's claims that the marijuana found in her luggage at Bali airport last October was put there by someone else.
Her hearing before the Denpasar District Court is scheduled to start on July 20.
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veggie
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4410525 - 07/16/05 12:02 AM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Schapelle Corby 'an escape risk'
July 16, 2005 - news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby is considered an escape risk by jail authorities, and guards at the Bali prison have been told to stay alert and monitor her movements.
Prison governor Bromo Setyono said he was concerned about the convicted drug-smuggler escaping from Kerobokan prison, which has a history of successful breakouts. "We are very worried," he said.
"We are trained to have that instinct, especially because she is a celebrity. That should always be instinctive. We must be alert. That (desire to run) can emerge in them."
One prisoner who escaped recently is still on the run from the overcrowded and understaffed prison.
Meanwhile, the 28-year-old may have damaged her chances of serving some of her sentence in Queensland. She dodged a delegation of parliamentarians who will consider the merits of a prisoner-transfer program with Australia.
The MPs, from a parliamentary law and human rights committee , visited the prison on Thursday with a group of journalists, but Corby hid in an empty room and later wrestled with wardens.
The famous inmate had tried to dodge the lenses because she was extremely sensitive about the press, Dr Setyono said. "I received a call from the director-general of prisons - 'why did you provide a special place for Corby, why has there been discrimination?"' he said.
"Actually she was just trying to take evasive action."
The parliamentary committee's deputy chief, Akil Mochtar, said the MPs had wanted only to ask her about her life in prison: whether she was being treated well and was allowed to pray, and whether her relatives were allowed to visit regularly.
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veggie
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4414752 - 07/17/05 11:39 AM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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New boost for Corby
July 18, 2005 - heraldsun.news.com.au
Schapelle Corby's lawyers have been given new evidence implicating corrupt Australian airport staff in domestic drug smuggling.
Schapelle's sister Mercedes said yesterday the evidence would greatly assist Corby when her trial reopened on Wednesday.
The evidence involves a former Victorian policeman with a history of suspected marijuana growing who works in security at Melbourne airport.
One of his associates, Jeffrey Robert Milne, was in charge of baggage handlers at the airport until his arrest in June 2000 on drug trafficking charges. Milne, 41, was an Ansett employee at the airport for more than 10 years.
Police who arrested him found he was managing a drug warehouse for slain drug boss Mark Moran. A Victoria Police source claims the former officer -- who the Herald Sun will call Mr X for legal reasons -- is a long-term associate of members of the notorious Moran drug empire.
The source alleged a supergrass, who police hope will help convict accused drug boss Tony Mokbel, also claims to have evidence against Mr X. The source claimed the supergrass told police in a taped statement that Mr X, who left the police force in the 1980s, provided a Moran drug courier with amphetamines smuggled through Melbourne airport to Perth in 2000.
Corby's lawyer Erwin Siregar said yesterday he would try to use the evidence in the trial.
The new evidence doesn't relate directly to the 4.1kg of marijuana Corby was convicted of carrying into Bali. But Mr Siregar said it backed up the argument corrupt airport staff were involved in domestic drug smuggling in Australia.
Bali's High Court has agreed to hear testimony from new witnesses in relation to domestic drug smuggling at Australian airports.
The defence team has been given names of several serving and former Victoria Police officers with knowledge of the evidence. They are expected to be asked to testify.
"This is exactly the sort of stuff Schapelle needs right now, evidence of domestic drug smuggling by airport staff," Mercedes told the Herald Sun from Bali yesterday.
Police were first alerted to Mr X's alleged activities in 1996 by a fellow officer who claimed Mr X tried to involve him in setting up a hydroponic marijuana crop in Euroa.
Mr X later drew the suspicion of drug squad detectives investigating the Moran clan after the arrests of two Moran drug couriers in 1999 and 2000. Both were picked up in Perth after smuggling drugs through Melbourne Airport, where Milne was employed at the time.
One of the couriers, Pasquale Barbaro, was shot dead with drug boss Jason Moran in June 2003.
Corby's celebrity Jakarta lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, did not mince words yesterday over his deep discontent with the Australian Government, claiming it was nowhere to be found when its help was needed. He said he had also been in communication with Qantas but that had also been fruitless.
Mr Hutapea said Qantas provided names of two check-in staff on duty the day Corby travelled but Qantas' legal counsel conveyed that they could not remember anything.
And it seems plans have stalled in getting several Australian prisoners to Bali to testify since the Government announced it could not grant immunity from prosecution.
"Your Government didn't approach them, basically nothing, they didn't do anything," Mr Hutapea said angrily.
He said Customs had also responded that since Corby was leaving Australia, her luggage was not subjected to checks and it too had no useful evidence.
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scatmanrav
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4418970 - 07/18/05 12:04 PM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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I do not believe she did it at all. I think this is very very sad, and the first I've heard of it. Read through the thing over the last hour and a half though, and just had to leave you some feedback veggie, I just found this forum a few days ago and I love you for keeping all this up to date..keep up the great work!
I'll be hoping for this girl, but right from the start it looked bleak as all hell...I mean, as bad as the US is, at least it isnt Indonisia, apparently. I can tell you for sure, I will be doing everything in my power to not support them.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4422096 - 07/19/05 01:47 AM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Corby team to seek two-week extension
July 19, 2005 - theage.com.au
Schapelle Corby's lawyers will request a two-week extension so they can continue their search for fresh witnesses, including Australian police, when her drug trial reopens this week.
Bali's High Court is scheduled to start hearing new testimony on Wednesday backing Corby's claims that 4.1kg of marijuana found in her luggage at Bali airport last October was put there by someone else, possibly baggage handlers at Brisbane airport.
Defence lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea said the extra time would allow Corby's team to try to find more witnesses, including an unidentified Australian police officer.
The defence team needed more time to get him to Bali to testify about alleged drug trafficking involving baggage handlers at Australian airports, Hutapea said in Bali after meeting with Corby's sister Mercedes and mother Rosleigh Rose.
"The Australian policemen might testify how terrible is the law enforcement in Australian airports, especially for recent months when one or two persons (have been) already arrested and taken to trial for (alleged) drug trafficking," he said.
So far the defence team has managed to lock in only two witnesses - an Indonesian legal academic and the head of the Bali police anti-drug squad, Bambang Sugiarto, who will be cross-examined about alleged failings in the police case.
Both will testify at this week's hearing, Hutapea said.
But he said the defence would then formally request a two-week extension to buy time to produce more witnesses, including at least one unidentified police officer and possibly more.
Junior counsel Haposan Sihombing had already delivered a letter to the High Court judges informing them of their intention.
Hutapea blamed the Australian government for failing to help find more witnesses, admitting the police witnesses did not have any direct evidence to clear Corby's name.
"Right now, we only have proof in relation to how dirty is your airports, that's all," he said, tapping a copy of what he said was a 2001 internal police report entitled 'Policing Organised Crime at Airports'.
Mercedes said the family was talking with "a few" Australian police who were willing to testify about investigations and arrests they had made relating to airport drug trafficking.
She would not say whether they were still serving officers.
Rose said the family did not want to identify them for fear the Australian government would try to stop them testifying.
"They (the government) want everything all hushed up," she said.
Mercedes said the family had received hundreds of offers of help from people in Australia claiming to have information to help clear Corby's name.
"There's a lot of people who have come forward, writing letters to us, we've heard so many things about what goes on," she said.
Mercedes earlier visited Corby and collected a suitcase of supportive mail sent to her at Kerobokan prison, where she is serving a 20-year term for drug smuggling.
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veggie
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4427463 - 07/20/05 08:08 AM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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This is your last chance, judge tells Corby
July 20, 2005 - smh.com.au
Convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby's legal team has been given another two weeks and a final chance to find new evidence to back her claim of innocence.
The chief judge presiding over Corby's reopened trial in the Denpasar District Court, Linton Sirait, gave the defence team until August 3 to bring witnesses from Australia.
"This is the last chance," Sirait told Corby's celebrity counsel Hotman Paris Hutapea. "We conclude that this will be the last chance for the lawyers to bring witnesses."
The three-member defence team had initially planned to produce as many as 11 witnesses to support Corby's claim she did not know about 4.1kg of marijuana found in her unlocked baggage at Bali Airport last year.
One of the people who Hutapea hopes to bring now includes a mystery witness - someone who allegedly is willing to admit that he put the drugs in Corby's bag in Australia.
But this person will only testify if the Australian government grants immunity from prosecution, Hutapea said.
Earlier today, Corby's drugs trial reopened with an Indonesian law professor raising doubts about the case against her.
Indriyanto Seno Adji of Jakarta's University of Indonesia said police and custom officers should have found out how the marijuana got inside Corby's luggage.
"According to our law, you need witnesses who can prove who put the marijuana in the bag," he told the court.
Corby, 28, has consistently denied owning the drugs.
She claims she was the unwitting courier for a drug gang operating in airports in Australia.
Corby was caught in a media crush as she arrived at the Denpasar District Court today.
Her sister Mercedes lashed out at local and international television crews who almost pulled her sister to the ground in the melee.
But Mercedes Corby denied hitting anyone.
Hutapea warned the family yesterday to restrain their emotions at today's hearing,
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veggie
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4436911 - 07/22/05 01:47 AM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Corby backer splits
July 22, 2005 - news.com.au
Ron Bakir has closed down the official Schapelle Corby website as he severs his final ties with the Corby family.
Mr Bakir confirmed yesterday he had stripped the site from the internet and closed down the business he had registered in Corby's name.
"That's it for me," the high-flying Gold Coast entrepreneur said yesterday.
"We shut down the website and deregistered the company. It's been in interesting ride."
Schapellecorby.com.au was set up by Mr Bakir to showcase media reports on Corby, who has been sentenced to 20 years' jail for smuggling drugs into Bali.
The site also solicited donations and lobbied for Corby's freedom.
At the height of Corby's sensational trial, the site received tens of thousands of hits a day.
Mr Bakir set the site up and registered the business without the knowledge of Corby or her family, but said all proceeds went to the family.
He said he had been left with substantial debts from his involvement in the case.
The relationship between Mr Bakir and the Corby family soured in recent months.
In June, Corby's mother Rosleigh Rose described Mr Bakir as a "black knight" who had not helped her daughter's cause. Mr Bakir responded by ending his relationship with the family, and has now severed his financial and legal ties.
His friend Robin Tampoe, Corby's former lawyer, has hit out at Corby's family, saying they had profited from her jailing.
Mr Bakir made a name for himself as a mobile phone retailer, trading as Crazy Ron.
A court case spurred by business rival Crazy John forced him to change his business name to Mad Ron, and left him with significant debts.
Three former companies of Mr Bakir's have gone into liquidation in recent months, and he reportedly has creditors chasing him for up to $1.5 million.
The Bali High Court has ordered the Corby case be reopened to explore evidence that someone other than Corby placed 4.1kg of marijuana into her bodyboard bag.
The Corby camp has two weeks to produce new witnesses to back their claims that corrupt baggage handlers may be to blame.
A second major website dedicated to Corby, schapellecorby.com, has also been closed down by its Brisbane owner.
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veggie
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4437290 - 07/22/05 07:07 AM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Corby lawyer threatens to quit
July 22, 2005 - theage.com.au
Schapelle Corby's Indonesian lawyer has threatened to quit her case saying Australian prosecutors are refusing to offer an immunity deal for witnesses that may help her.
Hotman Paris Hutapea said the defence team was being given a legal run-around by various levels of Australian governments.
Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison says immunity for criminal witnesses was a matter for state and federal public prosecutors.
But Hutapea said the NSW public prosecutor's office had written to him saying it was not within its power but a matter for the federal government.
"I am bloody sick of this, I have to say," he told AAP.
"I am the most expensive lawyer in this city (Jakarta) and I am not getting anywhere with pro-activity from the Australian government.
"I am going to resign this case - I am thinking about quitting tomorrow - if they do not start helping. I am serious."
Bali's High Court has given the defence team until August 3 to secure new testimony backing Corby's claims that 4.1kg of marijuana found in her luggage at Bali airport last October was put there by someone else, possibly corrupt baggage handlers at Brisbane airport.
Hutapea has said a mystery witness in Australia is willing to admit to putting the drugs in Corby's bag, but only if the government grants immunity from prosecution.
In Perth, Senator Ellison said he was happy Corby's lawyers had approached the director of public prosecutions in NSW and Queensland requesting an immunity deal.
"We have advised Mr Hutapea that he approach the DPP at both state and federal level if he is seeking immunity for any witnesses to give evidence in relation to Schapelle Corby's hearing," he said.
"The question of whether immunity is given to a witness in a trial is one for the DPP and so it should be.
"We are pleased to see Mr Hutapea has taken this course of action.
But Hutapea said the letter had been almost immediately dismissed by the NSW DPP.
"I am sick of this. I think this Senator Ellison should go back to law school," he said.
A spokeswoman for Senator Ellison said the defence team had repeatedly been advised that an immunity deal depended on the type of crime for which it was sought.
"We have told them it depends on whether it is a Commonwealth matter or a state matter," she told AAP.
Corby is serving a 20-year jail term in Bali's Kerobokan prison.
Defence lawyers have been warned they have only one more chance to secure witnesses and present new evidence to the Denpasar District Court on August 3.
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veggie
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4443604 - 07/23/05 02:38 PM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Corby drug 'accused' is bashed
July 24, 2005 - heraldsun.news.com.au
The Melbourne man accused of owning the drugs found in Schapelle Corby's bag has been bashed by a gang of thugs.
Ron Vigenser said he was savagely beaten and taunted about the Corby case, during a vicious attack on Thursday evening.
The convicted criminal yesterday told how he was battered with a plank of wood, kicked and punched, after being set upon in the underground carpark at Warringal Shopping Centre in Heidelberg.
"I was putting my shopping in the car when I was tapped on the shoulder and hit with a lump of wood," Vigenser said.
"They were punching and kicking and holding me down and saying things like 'you f---ing dog, get over there and help out Schapelle Corby'.
"I was on the ground and there was blood streaming from my head."
Vigenser, who was also robbed of his wallet and mobile telephone, said he did not know how many attackers were in the gang or who they were.
The beating left him temporarily unable to see out of his left eye, he said.
"I was in shock, I had concussion -- I went home and I virtually went straight to sleep," he said.
Vigenser, who yesterday sported a large gash and lump on his forehead, was named by Victorian prisoner John Ford as the person who owned the 4.1kg of marijuana found in the Corby's boogie-board bag when she was arrested in October.
Vigenser, who was in jail at the time of the arrest, has vehemently denied the claims.
He said Thursday's attack coincidentally occurred hours after he had met with an intermediary sent by Corby's lawyers to see if he would give evidence to the re-opened trial in Bali.
"They wanted to know what I was willing to do and not do and if I was willing to go to Bali," Vigenser said.
"I said 'yes, I'd be prepared to go to Bali, that's not a problem, but I don't have any evidence to help (Schapelle)'."
Vigenser, who reported the attack to police on Friday, said his life had become a living hell since he was named as owning the drugs
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veggie
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4443611 - 07/23/05 02:41 PM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Secret Corby witness denied immunity
July 24, 2005 - news.com.au
THE NSW Director of Public Prosecutions has refused to grant immunity to a secret witness who claims to have planted marijuana in Schapelle Corby's bag.
Her defence team fears the decision could dash the Gold Coast beauty student's chances of winning her upcoming appeal against her 20-year sentence for drug trafficking.
Corby's flamboyant Jakarta lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea claimed the man rang him to admit to his role and was prepared to testify provided he received immunity from prosecution in Australia and Indonesia.
But in a letter to the defence, NSW DPP Nicholas Cowdery said he could not agree to the request because he did not have the power.
He said the identity of the proposed beneficiary of the immunity was unknown and the Commonwealth had responsibility for extradition cases.
The Queensland DPP has also rejected immunity for another anonymous witness the Corby defence team claims could prove Corby was not responsible for drug trafficking.
Mr Hutapea criticised the decisions and said Corby was being given the runaround because of disagreement between the Commonwealth and the states. A spokesman for NSW Attorney General Bob Debus said the decision was entirely a matter for the DPP.
Corby faces a new hearing on August 3 in the Denpasar District Court at which her defence team has a chance to produce new witnesses to clear her of drug trafficking.
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veggie
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4447048 - 07/24/05 01:28 PM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Corby's postal plea
July 25, 2005 - news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby's lawyers will today write to the Federal Government and prosecution authorities in a bid to seek immunities from prosecution for two new witnesses.
The witnesses, from NSW and Queensland, have separately contacted the Corby legal team by telephone claiming to have information about the origin of the 4.1kg of marijuana found in her boogie board bag.
The legal team believes they could hold the key to unravelling the truth behind the saga but have criticised the Federal Government, who they claim is sending them in circles on who has authority to grant immunities.
Yesterday Corby's Jakarta lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, was annoyed by comments from Justice Minister Chris Ellison.
Mr Ellison told Channel 7 the Corby team had failed to approach the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions regarding the immunity issue despite the Government's advice to take this path.
However, Mr Hutapea denied this, claiming the Government had informed him he needed to direct his requests to the state DPP's office.
He subsequently wrote to the DPP in both QLD and NSW, both of which, he said, had provided negative responses.
Now, with just 10 days before Corby's case resumes in the Denpasar District Court, time is short for the team to secure witnesses for their "last chance" to present defence testimony.
Another Corby lawyer, Erwin Siregar, has spoken by telephone with the two potential witnesses, who it is understood have no relationship to each other.
Mr Siregar said a man from NSW had told him during a telephone conversation late last week that "the marijuana in Schapelle's bag, actually this is for him [the man] in Sydney".
"In the discussion he told me that if there is immunity from the Australian Government he will [give evidence] by video link," Mr Siregar said.
It is understood the man from Queensland has proffered that he can testify about who put the marijuana in the bag but, likewise, would only do so with immunity.
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veggie
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4453843 - 07/26/05 12:30 AM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Australian prosecutors want name of Corby witness
July 26, 2005 - seven.com.au
Australian prosecutors won't consider granting legal immunity to a potentially key witness for Schapelle Corby until they get his name, her Indonesian lawyer said.
Corby's counsel Hotman Paris Hutapea said the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is insisting that the witness - a Sydney man who is allegedly part of a drug ring operating in Australian airports - must reveal his identity as well as details of his criminal activities before an immunity deal can be made.
Comment was being sought from the DPP.
Hutapea said the man has said he is willing to testify via videophone link to Bali's Denpasar District Court that Corby was the unwitting mule for the gang that stashed 4.1 kg of marijuana in her bag before she flew to Bali last October.
But the witness will only give evidence if he is granted immunity from prosecution in Australia beforehand.
Hutapea said that revealing the man's identity would jeopardise Corby's attempt to overturn a 20-year sentence for drug smuggling.
"The DPP letter that I received today says in order (for the DPP) to even consider immunity, I must disclose the name of the witness and specify his offences - what criminal laws he has broken in Australia," Hutapea said.
"If I disclose his name, he will run away. And, then what happens if immunity is rejected? We need your government to guarantee immunity first."
Calling the DPP's letter "bureaucratic", Hutapea said he was perplexed as to why he was expected to know Australian criminal law better than Australia's top prosecutor.
"The DPP is the expert on Australian criminal law, he should know what offences the man has committed if I say he is the one who was meant to receive the drugs (found in Corby's bag)," Hutapea said.
The Denpasar District Court will reconvene on August 3 to hear new evidence from Corby's defence team.
Hutapea said there was no time to get caught up in bureaucratic wrangling.
He said the mystery witness has said that the drug stash was planted after Corby checked-in at Brisbane airport and was supposed to be collected in Sydney during transit to Bali.
Hutapea said he had no doubts about the man's claims or his motives for coming forward.
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veggie
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4455709 - 07/26/05 12:26 PM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Corby 'witness' emerges
July 27, 2005 - smh.com.au
A man labelled by his own lawyer as a "total bullshit artist" claims the drugs in Schapelle Corby's luggage were meant for him.
The man has told News Limited newspapers he was offered $50,000 to collect the 4.1kgs of marijuana from Sydney Airport in October last year.
The plan fell apart when a Sydney airport baggage handler did not pass on the package and it ended up in Corby's body board bag, the man who had demanded $250,000 for his story told the newspaper.
Corby was convicted of smuggling the cannabis into Bali and sentenced to 20 years jail.
"I was supposed to make a quid out of picking up the package but it never went ahead," the man said.
"I got a call telling me to forget it because the package had ended up with the Corby girl."
Corby's Indonesian lawyer, who is urging the federal government to grant the witness immunity from prosecution, says the man, who lives in Sydney's western Suburbs, is vital in saving her.
But the man refuses to testify if he is not granted the immunity and enough money to leave the state, the newspaper said.
The man's Kings Cross solicitor Michael Croke said his client was "a total bullshit artist who had tried this before".
"He will say anything to make a buck and this will devastate the Corby family," Mr Croke said.
"The bloke sits around reading newspapers and concocting false stories so he can try to sell them to the media."
The man approached Corby's former backer Ron Bakir in an attempt to cash in on the $1 million offered for information.
"He told me the reward didn't stand, so I had to look elsewhere," the man said.
The Corby case resumes in the Denpasar District Court next week.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4458463 - 07/27/05 12:05 AM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Corby family sells shop over case
July 27, 2005 - news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby's mother has sold her Gold Coast takeaway business to meet crippling costs from the convicted drug smuggler's second shot at freedom.
Rosleigh Rose today said proceeds from the Southport fish and chip shop sale would pay for her and ex-husband Michael to stay in Bali during their daughter's reopened trial, starting next week.
"We didn't have it up for sale – we were approached and it's come at a good time," said Ms Rose, who bought the business two years ago.
"It's mainly to pay for her father to be there with her and hopefully we won't have to be over there for long ... her father spent all of his money and his super on lawyers the last time."
She said the family would be sad to leave loyal customers after the shop changed hands on August 12, but "helping Schapelle" was a much bigger priority.
Ms Rose said she was optimistic Corby, 28, would successfully appeal against her 20-year jail sentence handed down after she was caught with 4.1kg of cannabis in her bodyboard bag at Denpasar Airport in October last year.
"When Schapelle comes home we would have had to have closed the shop for some peace and quiet and we would have been paying rent while it was not open," she said.
"We also need the money for living expenses."
Ms Corby said she was confused by media reports that Sydney lawyer Michael Croke did not believe a male client's claim to being involved in putting drugs in Corby's bag.
"I haven't heard that but if he said he was involved, why would (Croke) say that?" Ms Rose asked.
Mr Croke's client, reportedly named William Miller, alleged he was offered $50,000 to pick up the drugs from Sydney airport but the plan fell through.
Corby has continually said she was an unwitting drug courier of a botched drug trafficking operation between Brisbane and Sydney airports.
Corby's celebrity lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, has said an alleged member of a drug ring operating through Australian airports had offered to testify at next week's appeal provided he was granted immunity from prosecution in Australia beforehand.
However, Australia's federal Director of Public Prosecutions wants the name of the potential witness before it considers bowing to the demand.
"It would make things easier if the Government would allow staff to talk – we have had people ringing us up offering help and then not following up and saying they are scared to lose their jobs," Ms Rose said.
Bali's High Court is scheduled to start hearing new testimony next Wednesday backing Corby's claims the marijuana was put there by someone else, possibly baggage handlers at Brisbane airport.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4463710 - 07/28/05 07:11 AM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Second prisoner claims knowledge of Corby drugs
July 28, 2005 - seven.com.au
A new last-minute witness for Schapelle Corby's case has come forward in a Victorian prison, her Indonesian legal team says.
In a signed statement to the Australian Federal Police, the witness - identified only as Paul - recalled a conversation he overheard earlier this year in Port Phillip Prison between two other inmates, Corby's defence counsel Hotman Paris Hutapea said.
One of the prisoners, allegedly identified as Ronnie Vigenser, was angry that 4.1 kg of marijuana he claimed belonged to him ended up in Bali after a bungled attempt to smuggle it from Brisbane to Sydney, Paul said in the statement, according to Hutapea.
In the past Vigenser has flatly denied being involved in the Corby case.
A spokesman for Justice Minister Chris Ellison confirmed a statement had been passed from the Attorney-General's Department to Corby's lawyers.
He could not provide any further details about the letter because it may identify the person who provided the information.
According to Paul's statement, Vigenser said: "F*** Schapelle Corby, she f****** cost me four kilos of smoke," Hutapea said.
In the statement, Paul said he would refuse to give evidence in Bali, but agreed to testify via videophone link from Australia.
To arrange Paul's testimony, Corby's defence will apply for another extension when her trial reopens at Denpasar District Court on August 3, Hutapea said.
Corby is appealing against a 20-year sentence for drug smuggling, claiming someone must have planted the stash in her luggage after she checked in at Brisbane airport last October.
Paul's statement might corroborate evidence given by another Victorian prisoner, John Patrick Ford, at Corby's original trial earlier this year.
Ford told the court that he overheard two prisoners - Paul and another man named Terry - talking about how Vigenser was angry that his drugs had ended up in Bali and thought it was funny that Corby was taking the blame.
At the original trial, a three Indonesian judge panel dismissed Ford's testimony as hearsay.
The same three judges have since reopened the trial to hear new evidence.
Hutapea called on the AFP to use Paul's statement to arrest Vigenser.
Hutapea said he received a copy of Paul's statement from the federal Attorney-General's Department on Thursday morning.
He had lobbied the Australian government earlier this month to track down Paul and Terry to see whether they could confirm Ford's story.
Federal agent GD McLeod from the AFP's Melbourne office had interviewed Paul, Hutapea said.
In the statement, Paul said he was standing three or four metres from Vigenser in a big yard at the prison one morning when he overheard Vigenser talking to another prisoner, Hutapea said.
Paul could not remember the exact date of the conversation, but said it was about three months after Corby's arrest in October last year, Hutapea said.
Paul also said he had known Vigenser for a long time and could easily identify him if needed.
He was too scared for his safety to publicly reveal the name of the other prisoner with Vigenser, but had given it to police, Hutapea said.
Corby's defence will submit the statement, signed by Paul and McLeod, as evidence at the August 3 hearing.
They will also apply to the Bali High Court via the district court for another extension to facilitate Paul's testimony via videophone link.
Under Indonesian law, at least one public prosecutor, judge and defence lawyer would have to travel to Melbourne to be present with Paul when he delivered his testimony via videophone link to the court, Hutapea said.
An AFP spokeswoman confirmed the police had spoken to a man named in Ford's earlier evidence.
"We have re-interviewed a man who was named in Mr Ford's affidavit," she said.
"The statement (this man) provided, he granted permission for this to be forwarded to Ms Corby's defence team."
The AFP and Senator Ellison's office were unable to provide a copy of the statement.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4477229 - 07/31/05 12:28 PM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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New Corby fiasco
August 1, 2005 - dailytelegraph.news.com.au
A BREAKDOWN in communications between Schapelle Corby's legal team and the Federal Government has plunged her hopes of freedom back into doubt.
Corby's legal chief Hotman Paris Hutapea yesterday dismissed the last-minute efforts of Justice Minister Chris Ellison, who is jetting in to Jakarta to offer assistance.
"I won't be there," Mr Hutapea said. "I'll be in Bali preparing for the trial."
The trial is due to be re-opened on Wednesday but the defence case has already been rocked by a failure to secure new witnesses.
Of more than a dozen named earlier by Mr Hutapea, only two will appear.
Bali's drug squad chief Lieutenant-Colonel Bambang Sugiarto has not committed to attending.
Australian Federal Police chief Mick Keelty has refused, saying he has nothing new to offer.
A Victorian prisoner who claims he overheard fellow inmates saying who owned the drugs - effectively clearing Corby - has offered to give evidence, but only by video from Australia and if he receives immunity.
However, immunity talks have stalled and he will not be giving evidence.
Two other new witnesses - Qantas baggage handlers who checked in Corby's bags at Brisbane airport last October - are due to arrive in Bali today.
They're expected to say there was nothing suspicious about Corby's behaviour, luggage or travel companions.
Senator Ellison is due to arrive in Jakarta tomorrow night, saying he hopes to hold talks with Corby's legal team and fast-track any assistance.
Mr Hutapea yesterday said he would have left for Bali by then and derided Senator Ellison's effort as a cynical political ploy.
"He knows I will be in Bali preparing for the trial, not in Jakarta. He should come to see me. He knows we are in Bali," he said. "Maybe is he coming to pretend to do something, to show to the public they are trying to do something.
"He himself can't help in his own country, he himself can't do anything in Australia so maybe he is coming just to pretend he is doing something."
Meanwhile, Senator Ellison said he had repeatedly requested "urgent advice" on the state of the case.
The last communication was an e-mail copied to an Federal Government official last Thursday.
"It has been frustrating, in the sense that we don't want to be rushing around at the 11th hour," Senator Ellison conceded.
"Leaving it to the last minute makes it more difficult to render the assistance we've offered."
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OneMoreRobot3021
punky jewster
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 60,497
Loc: new york city
Last seen: 6 days, 8 hours
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4477251 - 07/31/05 12:36 PM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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--------------------
Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake.
-Erik Davis
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4479824 - 08/01/05 01:02 AM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Ellison rejects Corby lawyer's criticism
August 1, 2005 - theage.com.au
Criticisms of the Australian government by convicted drug trafficker Schapelle Corby's Indonesian lawyer were unfair and misleading, Justice Minister Chris Ellison said.
Senator Ellison said he had not received any reply to important questions he had put to Corby's lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea, including whether the Indonesian courts would allow video-link evidence from any Australian witnesses.
"We do understand that there is a person in custody that is willing to give evidence but only by video-link and that is why it is so important," he said.
With the Corby trial due to reopen in Bali this week, Mr Hutapea said neither government ministers, nor representatives from the Australian embassy in Jakarta, had rung him to offer assistance.
He said he was fed up with the government's entire handling of the 28-year-old Gold Coast woman's case.
"Your government makes me sick, makes me crazy, and I don't understand how come a government like this exists," he told Southern Cross radio.
However, Senator Ellison rejected the criticisms, saying the government has always been prepared to offer whatever assistance possible within the law.
"I fail to understand how what I have been doing would cause Mr Hutapea any concern," he told reporters in Perth.
Senator Ellison said he had promptly answered all Mr Hutapea's letters, had provided witness statements, and made arrangements to facilitate video-link conferencing.
"I really don't know how much more we can do and I think that for Mr Hutapea to criticise the Australian government is really unfair and quite misleading," he said.
Senator Ellison will travel to Jakarta on Tuesday to meet his Indonesian counterpart but his offer to also meet with Mr Hutapea has been rejected.
"I understand that publicly he has rejected that and my office is still endeavouring to make contact with his office to see if he wants to talk to me on the telephone," Senator Ellison said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4485257 - 08/02/05 11:27 AM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Schapelle's hopes for another adjournment
August 3, 2005 - dailytelegraph.news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby's last hope of calling the witnesses who her lawyers believe can set her free now lies with the judges and whether they will grant yet another adjournment.
When her drug smuggling trial resumes today the team has only two witnesses - a Qantas check-in officer and an officer from the oversize luggage counter at Brisbane airport.
They are expected to say there was nothing suspicious about Corby or her baggage on the day she checked in for her flight to Bali, with her lawyers hopeful that this can go toward showing reasonable doubt.
Their presence was secured yesterday after a two-hour meeting in Bali between the witnesses, Qantas officials from Sydney, the Corby legal team and her family.
But the fate of the other witnesses is now uncertain, with relations between the lawyers and the Federal Government testy and the court appearing reluctant for any further delays.
Lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea claimed yesterday he had never received a letter from Justice Minister Chris Ellison offering to meet in Jakarta. He pointed out that such a meeting was impossible because he is in Bali, inviting Senator Ellison to meet him in Bali last night.
"OK, if I go to Jakarta can he send someone to replace me to attend the hearing?" Mr Hutapea asked.
Brandishing a huge folder of his numerous missives to the Federal Government, Mr Hutapea continued his attack, urging Government ministers to remember that Corby was an Australian citizen.
"Remember again, remember, that Corby is your citizen and Government is paid a huge salary by citizens by way of tax so therefore they have the obligation to help," Mr Hutapea said.
"This is all my letters to your Government so if they said we haven't done much, that's bulls . . . . This is all my letters because all we want is the witness," he said.
Corby's mother Rosleigh Rose visited her daughter at Kerobokan Jail for 45 minutes and said the 28-year-old was faring better yesterday than she had on the eve of any other court appearance.
"I don't know why. Probably just more confidence, more positive and better lawyers," Ms Rose said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4488289 - 08/03/05 12:06 AM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Judges shut down Corby trial
August 3, 2005 - heraldsun.news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby has dealt another shattering blow, with three Balinese judges shutting down her reopened drugs trial and refusing to grant her Indonesian lawyers more time to find new witnesses.
Another judge ruled out the possibility of Australian witnesses linked to drug trafficking giving evidence by video link.
The judge insisted witnesses must testify in Bali in person, even though that might mean they could be prosecuted under Indonesian law.
Corby broke down in tears in the packed Denpasar District Court after the rulings were handed down.
She was distraught as she was taken back to her cell at Kerobokan prison.
Corby's defence team must now lodge a new appeal and ask for a time extension from the Bali High Court, to keep alive her hopes of freedom.
The High Court last month ordered her trial to be reopened for promised new defence witnesses to testify.
With no witnesses lined up, the court is far from certain to grant another extension.
"The hearing will be closed, but it is not impossible it can be reopened," Denpasar District Court Chief Judge Linton Sirait said.
"It depends on the higher court."
The Gold Coast woman, 28, was sentenced to 20 years in jail on May 27 for trying to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali last year.
Mr Sirait, who reopened Corby's trial on the High Court orders, said he would not allow more time for the defence team to produce either the people it claimed owned the drugs or those who allegedly stashed them in her bag before she arrived at Bali airport last October.
Separately, High Court chief judge I Gusti Made Lingga wrote to Messrs Sirait and Hutapea, saying defence plans to produce videolink testimony for key Australian witnesses would be unacceptable, and all testimony must be made in court in person.
Mr Lingga singled out possible evidence from former Victorian jail inmate Ronnie Vigenser, who has been accused of, but denies, being the owner of the drugs.
"Vigenser must be heard directly because aside from being a witness he could be charged for his actions in smuggling the marijuana into Indonesia," Mr Lingga wrote.
The defence had also hoped to produce videolink testimony from another Victorian inmate, identified only as Paul, who has implicated Vigenser in a statement to Australian Federal Police.
Adding to the complications of today's aborted hearing, defence lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea accused the prosecution of losing more than 500g of the 4.1kg drug stash.
As judges and lawyers from both sides crowded round, the defence team produced a set of bathroom scales that appeared to show the bag of drugs had dropped in weight to 3.6kg.
"Is it possible ... evidence disappeared just like that?" Mr Hutapea asked the court, accusing police again of vital failings in their investigation.
Mr Sirait ordered the drugs be officially examined again by police specialists.
Another of Corby's lawyers, Erwin Siregar, said confusion over the weight would only strengthen the defence's planned new High Court appeal.
"This is about the credibility of the process," he said.
Earlier, two Qantas staff told the court they had checked in Corby's baggage at Brisbane airport and had noticed nothing unusual.
But both admitted they could not remember the bag and were relying on computerised records.
"I'm not a security officer, only a check-in agent," Brisbane airline staffer Howard John Parr, 44, said.
Another Qantas staffer, Ricky Leigh Clark, 27, said he had accepted Corby's bag in oversized luggage and did not notice any smell of marijuana.
If there had been such a smell, the luggage would have been rejected, Mr Clark said.
Faced with the major setbacks, Mr Hutapea criticised Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison's handling of the case.
Canberra had not done enough to clear the way for new witnesses to testify in Australia under the umbrella of immunity, he said.
Mr Hutapea hopes to meet Senator Ellison soon in Jakarta, where the minister is on an official visit.
But he admitted such a meeting might be "already too late".
The Australian Government seemingly did not want Corby to go free, Mr Hutapea told reporters.
"Your country, your people, always think you are the best human beings on the Earth, but in fact your bloody airport (is) sending all marijuana to my own country," he said.
"So don't say anymore that Australians are the most human law-abiders, in fact your front yard is very dirty."
Senator Ellison was worried by reports that a distressed Corby believed the Government was not doing enough to help her.
He indicated he might try to inform Corby directly about the Government's actions.
"I don't know whether she's being told all that's going on," he told Macquarie Radio.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4497896 - 08/04/05 11:03 PM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Corby's legal team seeking 'miracle'
August 5, 2005 - thecouriermail.news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby's Bali lawyer yesterday admitted it would be a miracle if the High Court allowed her trial to be re-opened yet again.
Erwin Siregar admitted a trial had never been re-opened twice on appeal in Indonesia.
Mr Siregar was speaking after a 40-minute meeting with the Denpasar High Court chief and vice-chief judges in which he lodged a new application for another hearing. But Mr Siregar said he remained 60 per cent optimistic the legal team could pull it off.
The Australian Government agreed to support Corby's legal team in its efforts to have her drug trial re-opened for a second time. The decision followed a tense, fence-mending meeting between Justice Minister Chris Ellison and Corby's lawyers yesterday in Jakarta.
That meeting also revealed Corby's high-profile lead lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, was considering quitting the case if the High Court appeal failed and the case moved to the peak Supreme Court in Jakarta.
"At the High Court yes. At the Supreme Court, let's see," Mr Hutapea said. "I am not sure. I have other commitments. I have already spent too much time here."
Senator Ellison said he had asked Mr Hutapea to tone down his criticism of the Australian Government.
He said his office would write to the Bali High Court to support Mr Hutapea in an application to have the case re-opened to hear video link testimony from witnesses in Australia.
"We will be saying that the Australian Government can facilitate that video link conferencing and that we will render assistance for that to take place," Mr Ellison told journalists.
In court yesterday, Mr Siregar also delivered a three-page letter setting out the reasons why another hearing of Corby's case was necessary and a list of witnesses they hoped to call.
Some familiar names are on the list of 12 potential witnesses along with five new ones - staff monitoring X-ray machines at Sydney airport the day Corby flew to Bali last October.
Corby's lawyers also want to call former jail inmate William Miller. He has claimed he was to collect the 4.1kg of marijuana - the bag Corby was convicted over - from Sydney airport.
Miller's claims have been rubbished by his own lawyer.
The Bali judges have also been told that a Victorian prisoner, known only as Paul, has now agreed to testify by teleconference and has dropped his earlier demands that he wear a mask so as not to be identified.
Paul claims that the heard a fellow Melbourne inmate called Ronnie Vigenser say the drugs found in Corby's bag belonged to him. Paul alleges Vigenser had complained that Corby cost him 4kg of "smoke". Vigenser has denied the claim.
Corby's lawyers also argued teleconference evidence could be permitted and was not banned under Indonesian law. They pointed out there was precedent with teleconference testimony taken during trials of the Bali bombers.
Mr Siregar said he hoped the High Court would make its decision within a few days.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4514619 - 08/09/05 01:02 PM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Corby lawyers ask court for help
August 9, 2005 - seven.com.au
Lawyers for convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby have asked Indonesia's highest court to push for a new reopening of her drugs trial.
Corby's lead lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea wrote to the Supreme Court in Jakarta, asking its chairman Judge Bagir Manan to provide "guidance" to the lower Bali High Court.
The High Court last week refused permission for the defence team to have a second trial re-opening to allow witnesses in Australia to give evidence by video link on who was behind a 4.1kg drug stash found inside Corby's unlocked baggage at Bali airport last year.
Since then, the Australian government has written to the court to support the defence request for another hearing.
In the letter to the Supreme Court, Hutapea said another three weeks to allow a teleconference to take place was nothing compared to the 20-year jail term Corby had been given in Bali.
"Can you imagine if there are witnesses who may provide testimony or to free Ms Schapelle Leigh Corby but those witnesses are not given opportunities to testify?" he said.
"Our country and our court will be extremely criticised."
Following widespread protests in Australia over Corby's sentence, Hutapea said the defence team had already managed to demonstrate to the Australian public that "our country and our court are not as bad as they think".
"We draw your attention that our court received a lot of protests and criticism on Corby's trial, but for the last one-and-a-half months we are able to reverse their view," he wrote.
Hutapea wrote that now the Australian public was worried about "police and baggage handlers in Australian airports who are in conspiracy with drug traffickers."
The letter was backed with newspaper clippings taken from Australian papers.
Hutapea told Judge Bagir that his approval of a teleconference would improve the "good impression" of Indonesian courts in the international community.
Letters from Australian justice minister Chris Ellison and from Corby's defence team requesting another trial hearing have not yet been handed over to the Bali High Court by the Denpasar District Court, which presided over Corby's trial.
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dblaney
Human Being
Registered: 10/03/04
Posts: 7,894
Loc: Here & Now
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4515205 - 08/09/05 04:10 PM (6 years, 6 months ago) |
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Wow...Corby's team is certainly persistent.
I hope the Indonesian government relents.
--------------------
"What is in us that turns a deaf ear to the cries of human suffering?"
"Belief is a beautiful armor
But makes for the heaviest sword"
- John Mayer
Making the noise "penicillin" is no substitute for actually taking penicillin.
"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it." -Abraham Lincoln
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4536448 - 08/14/05 11:25 PM (6 years, 5 months ago) |
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Corby team seeks video
August 15, 2005 - heraldsun.news.com.au
LAWYERS for Schapelle Corby will contact Qantas in a belated bid to get security footage from Brisbane airport from the month she left on her ill-fated journey to Bali.
One of her lawyers, Erwin Siregar, said yesterday he had no knowledge of Qantas sending a letter advising the images were even available.
Revelation of the footage comes as Corby's legal team remains hopeful the Bali High Court will this week accede to its request to reopen her hearing a second time.
It was revealed yesterday that Qantas had hired an audit firm to recover any images from the CCTV computer that would show the Brisbane domestic terminal at the time Corby and her group checked in.
While the images could not be narrowed down to October 8, the day Corby checked in, Qantas has told a federal aviation inquiry that it wrote to Corby's legal team in December last year offering to discuss the issue.
Qantas said the lawyers did not respond to the offer which was made before her drug smuggling trial even started.
The letter was sent to Vasu Rasiah, the non-lawyer case co-ordinator, on December 24.
Mr Rasiah, who has since been sacked from Corby's team, could not be contacted yesterday.
Qantas said Corby's team also failed to accept an offer to tour baggage handling areas of Brisbane and Sydney airports.
Mr Siregar, who was not engaged by Corby until January, said he had never been told by the original legal team that Qantas had even made the offer.
"If there is news like that, of course we will make a follow-up," he said yesterday.
Qantas has received about 1300 reports of theft from checked bags in the past three years.
That is an average of 36 thefts a month or a rate of 9.6 bags per million.
The figures are in a Qantas submission to a parliamentary inquiry into aviation security.
Federal Parliament's joint committee of public accounts and audit is studying claims that baggage handlers planted drugs in Corby's luggage.
The Qantas submission said there were 1293 reports of pilfering from checked bags across the airline group from July 2002 to June this year.
Melbourne was among nine domestic and international airports that accounted for over 80 per cent of incidents.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4555877 - 08/19/05 02:35 PM (6 years, 5 months ago) |
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Corby's jail term may be halved
August 20, 2005 - theadvertiser.news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby was last night hoping that her 20-year prison sentence in Bali for drug smuggling would be cut in half.
The Australian Embassy in Indonesia was working to confirm reports that Jakarta was poised to offer Corby a 10-year reduction in her sentence.
The claims of an unexpected show of clemency for Corby came after Indonesia decided to slash the already lenient sentence of the man behind the Bali bombings, radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.
The 28-year-old Corby has maintained her innocence since being arrested for smuggling 4.1kg of cannabis into Bali on October 8 last year.
Corby's sister Mercedes said one of the possibilities open to the High Court was to change her charge to the lesser offence of drug possession, which carries a maximum 10 year sentence. Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said the embassy in Jakarta was trying to confirm the reports but there had been no official word from the Indonesian Government.
Mr Downer called on Corby's supporters to remain calm until any plans to reduce her sentence became clear.
Judge Linton Sirait, who presided over the Corby trial, said late yesterday he had not been told of any decision.
The chief judge of Bali's High Court, Judge Made Lingga, said no decision had been reached and his court did not plan further hearings.
Schapelle Corby's family and lawyers also dismissed the sentence rumours, saying they could affect attempts to win her total freedom. Bali-based lawyer Erwin Siregar, who is part of Corby's appeal effort, described the speculation as "bohong" - Indonesian for a lie.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4565691 - 08/22/05 01:21 AM (6 years, 5 months ago) |
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No truth in sentence rumours
August 22, 2005 - news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby's 20-year prison sentence for drug smuggling is not about to be reduced.
The Bali High Court's Chief Judge, Made Lingga, yesterday denied suggestions that a decision had been reached on Corby's appeal.
Corby's Bali-based lawyer, Erwin Siregar, described the speculation as "bohong", which is Indonesian for "a lie".
"There is still no decision from the High Court," he said.
On Friday, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australian officials were working to confirm speculation surrounding Corby's sentence.
But Corby's sister, Mercedes, said the family had not heard anything to suggest the High Court was close to a decision.
"I think this rumour is just a way for Downer to blow his own whistle, so the Government looks like it has been doing something to help when it hasn't," she said.
Meanwhile, a federal parliamentary committee has recommended changes to the way Australian police co-operate with their counterparts in countries with cruel, harsh or inhumane punishments, such as the death penalty.
The Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee has urged the Howard Government to ensure ministerial supervision of Australian Federal Police assistance to countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and the United States.
The recommendation was prompted by the case of the so-called Bali Nine, who face the death penalty after they were arrested in Indonesia in April for allegedly trafficking heroin.
The committee heard the AFP had assisted Indonesian authorities with the investigation at a police-to-police level - with no government involvement.
Law Council of Australia president John North told the committee the AFP should only assist international police forces if there is an agreement ruling out inhumane treatment or punishment.
"I understand that, had our Attorney-General and others been involved, the Bali Nine would not be open to charges that carry the death penalty," he said.
Under current legislation, the AFP can choose to provide assistance to other nations' police agencies until charges are laid.
Ministerial approval is required for any assistance after charges are laid or if "coercive" powers, such as a search warrants or seizures, are required.
Federal Justice Minister Senator Chris Ellison last night ruled out changes to the system.
"You can't cherry-pick your relationship," he said. "When you are fighting terrorism and organised crime, you need total cooperation of law enforcement."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4574996 - 08/24/05 12:36 PM (6 years, 5 months ago) |
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Corby's trial may be reopened, lawyer hints
August 25, 2005 - theage.com.au
The celebrity Indonesian lawyer hired by convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has hinted the Bali High Court may announce today that it has agreed to reopen Corby's trial for a second time to hear new evidence.
Hotman Paris Hutapea has asked the court to order a new hearing to allow witnesses in Australia to give evidence by video link on who placed 4.1 kg of marijuana was found in her luggage last year.
Corby has maintained the stash was planted by someone else.
"All I can say is that I work very hard," Hutapea said.
In a letter to the court on Tuesday, the flamboyant millionaire lawyer said Corby's 20-year sentence was harsh considering an Indonesian couple had recently been sentenced in Sumatra to only four years' jail for smuggling 5kg of marijuana from Aceh to Medan.
"The 20 years jail punishment for Ms Corby is very and too heavy compared to other hundred similar criminal cases in Indonesia," Hutapea wrote.
The court is expected to make an announcement tomorrow afternoon.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4653504 - 09/12/05 10:59 PM (6 years, 5 months ago) |
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Corby appeal hopes fade: lawyer
September 13, 2005 - theaustralian.news.com.au
CONVICTED drug smuggler Schapelle Corby's appeal hopes are in doubt after Indonesia's highest court refused to intervene and allow potential witnesses from Australia to testify via video link.
Corby's legal team said today the Supreme Court in Jakarta has refused their request to order a lower appellate court in Bali to reopen Corby's trial to hear video link evidence on who placed 4.1kg of marijuana in Corby's unlocked luggage last year.
The Supreme Court said it was up to the lower Bali High Court to decide itself whether to accept video link evidence.
Defence lawyer Haposan Sihombing said the Bali High Court was almost certain to reject the request in a ruling expected soon.
"By my analysis, it's impossible for the teleconference to be held," he said.
"Probably the case will be decided between now and September 20, and my feeling says most likely this week."
The defence team has asked the Bali High Court to reverse a 20-year jail term given to Corby by the Denpasar District Court at the end of her trial in May.
A later trial reopening heard evidence from Qantas ground staff but failed to sway the trial judges to reverse the guilty verdict.
The defence had hoped to use a video link to allow witnesses linked to the drug trade to testify from Australia rather than in person in Bali where they would run the risk of prosecution under Indonesian law.
There had been speculation that if the Bali High Court refused to overturn Corby's conviction, it might reduce her sentence.
Indonesia appeal rulings are not announced in open court but are released on paper.
If as expected the High Court does not free Corby, the defence team has promised a final appeal in Indonesia's Supreme Court in Jakarta.
But flamboyant lead lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea has hinted he may dump Corby's case before it moves to Jakarta, because it is costing him too much in lost earnings and political headaches amid rows with Australia's government.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4693808 - 09/22/05 01:02 AM (6 years, 4 months ago) |
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Airport study backs Corby claims
September 22, 2005 - theage.com.au
Schapelle Corby's Indonesian lawyer has said an expert report that highlights poor security at Australian airports has strengthened her claims that she was an unwitting victim of drug gangs.
But he doubts it will enough in itself to get her released from a Bali prison.
The federal government said it would accept the report of a British transport expert and upgrade dysfunctional airport security with a $A200 million program.
Corby's lead lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, said he hoped to present the report to the judges who are considering the Gold Coast woman's appeal against a 20-year jail term for smuggling 4.1kg of drugs into Indonesia last year.
The flamboyant counsel told AAP the report's findings dovetailed with Corby's case.
"This is exactly my defence which I used in Bali," he said.
During her trial hearings, Corby maintained that the stash must have been planted in her bag by an Australian-based gang looking to use her as an unwitting courier to shift the drugs between Brisbane and Sydney.
Hutapea said the report seemed to back those claims, but may not sway judges because they would require hard proof.
"I can present it to the judges, but I have used the same arguments many times before," he said.
"This may not be significant, because our laws require direct evidence."
Corby is expected to hear soon the result of an appeal to Bali's High Court.
If the court rejects her appeal or lowers the sentence to a lesser jail term, her lawyers have promised an appeal to Indonesia's peak Supreme Court in Jakarta.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4713230 - 09/26/05 07:50 AM (6 years, 4 months ago) |
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Corby judges seek more time
September 26, 2005 - news.com.au
CONVICTED drug smuggler Schapelle Corby may have to wait another month to learn if she can go free from a Bali jail after judges wrote to Indonesia's highest court to ask for more time to make up their minds.
The appellant court, which could theoretically increase Ms Corby's 20-year sentence, had been due to rule by Thursday whether it would agree to quash or cut Ms Corby's sentence.
But lead lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea said today the judges had written to the Supreme Court to request another 30 days.
The request is extraordinary because a time extension is usually granted only once and the High Court has already pushed out the detention period by a month.
But Mr Hutapea said deliberations had been delayed by a legal conference currently underway in Bali.
"I don't want to speculate too much, because we could be fighting for Corby's life," he said.
"I don't want to criticise the court."
Another of Ms Corby's lawyers, Erwin Siregar, earlier said he was confident the 27-year-old would receive good news and he expected a decision by tomorrow at the latest.
He also promised to launch an appeal to the Supreme Court in Jakarta if it failed.
"We expect a good result in the court, but we will have to wait and see," he said.
The Gold Coast woman was arrested on October 8 last year after customs officers at Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport found 4.1kg of marijuana in her unlocked luggage.
Ms Corby maintains the drugs were not hers and must have been planted in her baggage by an Australian drug gang using her as an unwitting drug courier.
Her lawyers had hoped to organise a video link from Australia to allow unidentified witnesses to present new evidence about who really owned the drugs.
But they were unable to convince Bali's High Court they could find fresh witnesses.
Senior judges said the decision was up to the lower court, where the videolink request has already been rejected.
Mr Hutapea last week said he hoped to present a new report into Australian airport security measures to appellate judges to help bolster the former beauty student's claims.
Mr Siregar said without another extension order or an appeal court ruling, Ms Corby would have to be freed from Kerobokan on Thursday when the current order expired.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4726923 - 09/28/05 05:48 PM (6 years, 4 months ago) |
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Judges delay Corby appeal
September 27, 2005 - news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby's fate remains in the balance for up to one more month after the Denpasar High Court yesterday sought another 30-day extension to deal with her appeal.
The High Court's chief judge, Made Lingga, late yesterday sent a letter to his superiors in Jakarta seeking another 30 days in which to make a decision.
The court in Bali originally had until tomorrow to release its decision on her appeal against her drug smuggling conviction and 20-year sentence.
But the judges, unable to reach a decision within this timeframe, have now sought an extension which the Supreme Court in Jakarta has the power to grant.
Both Corby, 28, and the prosecution, have lodged appeals against the May verdict.
The prosecution argues the 20-year sentence is too lenient and instead asked that she be jailed for life for trying to bring 4.1kg of marijuana to the tourist island.
It seems likely the Supreme Court will accede to the Bali judges' request.
The court has already denied requests from Corby's lawyers to re-open her trial to hear further evidence from Australian witnesses who her legal team maintain could help have her spared a lengthy sentence.
The case has already been re-opened on two occasions, in July and August, but only a handful of witnesses was called.
If the Denpasar High Court turns down the former beauty student's appeal, she can lodge a further appeal with the Supreme Court, the equivalent of the High Court in Australia.
Meanwhile, prosecutors handling the cases of the so-called Bali Nine heroin gang are yet to hand the case files to the Denpasar Court and appear to be embroiled in discussions over the relevant legislation to use against them.
With their trials due to start within the next month, police and prosecutors have so far said all nine will face charges carrying the death penalty.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4734186 - 09/29/05 09:41 PM (6 years, 4 months ago) |
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Prosecutors confident Corby will get life
September 29, 2005 - theage.com.au
Indonesian prosecutors are confident that a Bali appeals court will increase Schapelle Corby's 20-year jail term to life imprisonment.
In contrast, the Gold Coast woman is praying that the judges will overturn her conviction for drug smuggling and free her.
The defence and the prosecution have filed competing appeals and both expect the Bali High Court to bring down its decision soon.
If she is not released, her defence team expects the court will cut her sentence.
However, prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu said he would not be satisfied until Corby was serving a life term for importing 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali last year.
"We are confident the High Court will increase the sentence because drug crimes have wide implications on society," he said. "If it does not, we will appeal to the Supreme Court."
Corby is waiting for the court's ruling in a cell at Bali's Kerobokan Prison.
"Schapelle is becoming more anxious each day," sister Mercedes Corby told AAP.
"I get frustrated with all the delays, but when Schapelle heard about the latest one she said: 'Hopefully it means they're going to release me and the Australian government has more time to do something to help'.
"That's how she copes.
"I hope they do (release her), but I can't get my hopes up because we have to stay strong."
The Bali High Court, which could theoretically increase Corby's 20-year sentence, had been due to rule today on whether it would agree to quash or cut her sentence.
But judges wrote to the Supreme Court in Jakarta this week requesting another 30 days to make up their minds.
It was the second extension since Corby's lawyers and the prosecutors lodged appeals following Corby's sentencing in May.
Corby's flamboyant defence lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea said he now expected the court to announce its decision next week, although public offices and most businesses in Bali will be closed on Wednesday for an annual religious celebration.
Hutapea said 20 years was extraordinarily harsh for the crime.
He said he was confident Corby's sentence will at least be cut, particularly in light of a recent report critical of Australian airport security.
"I don't expect the judges will go above 20 years, I'm optimistic that at least they will reduce the sentence," Hutapea said.
Corby's family is also prepared to take the case all the way to Indonesia's highest court.
"If she's not going home, we will appeal again," Mercedes said.
"She didn't get a fair hearing (before Denpasar District Court).
"We just hope the High Court looks at everything that happened in the first trial and the way the police handled the investigation."
Corby, who currently shares a cell with a dozen other women, was arrested on October 8 last year after customs officers at Bali airport found a stash of marijuana in her unlocked luggage.
The 28-year-old Gold Coast woman maintains the drugs were not hers and must have been planted by an Australian drug gang using her as an unwitting drug courier.
Her lawyers had hoped to organise a videolink from Australia to allow new mystery witnesses to testify about who allegedly owned the drugs.
But they were unable to convince the High Court that they had found credible witnesses with fresh information.
Corby's supporters say the Australian government has done too little to help arrange testimony from a witness known only as Paul, who allegedly knew who owned the marijuana.
Hutapea said no new witnesses would be given the chance to testify if the case goes before the Supreme Court.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4772057 - 10/08/05 03:51 AM (6 years, 4 months ago) |
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First anniversary of Corby drug arrest
October 8, 2005 - theage.com.au
Schapelle Corby's supporters have likened the convicted drug smuggler to Nelson Mandela on Saturday, exactly one year after she was first put behind bars.
On October 8 last year, Corby, 28, was arrested by Indonesian police at Denpasar Airport, where customs officers found 4.1kg of marijuana in her unlocked boogie-board bag.
She was jailed for 20 years in May this year, and is now awaiting the outcome of an appeal to the Bali High Court that could set her free, reduce her sentence or increase it to life imprisonment.
"She's said she's been there a year and she's done the year, and if she strengthens herself, she will make it through," Corby supporter Rachelle Hamilton said.
"She's strong, she's got a really strong and growing faith. She may be one of these very special people.
"Nelson Mandela was in jail for a long time and he ended up being a great leader and maybe she might have a destiny in her life of the same thing."
Supporters have made a book, called Footprints, containing words of encouragement written to her, she said.
It was written at a rally organised by Ms Hamilton for Ms Corby's birthday.
"We were able to send a book over to her last weekend with (her mother) Rosleigh.
"She will have it and we are happy about that.
"I am sure she will be encouraged by the beautiful words in this book. The letters of support she has received are really holding her up.
"I really believe that in the end there will be hope for Schapelle. She will not be forgotten by the people of Australia."
It has been reported that one of the three High Court judges hearing Corby's appeal believes she is innocent, but if the appeal fails, her lawyers plan to go to Indonesia's highest court, the Supreme Court.
Corby's sentence sparked widespread anger in Australia earlier this year, with supporters claiming the drugs were planted in her bag by corrupt baggage handlers.
The former Gold Coast beauty school student, who has repeatedly maintained her innocence, will be alone for her grim anniversary, as prison rule bans visitors on weekends.
Corby's mother, Rosleigh Rose, and sister Mercedes visited her in Denpasar's Kerobokan Jail on Friday to celebrate Mercedes' birthday.
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IgnatiusJReilly
Up From Sloth
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4772334 - 10/08/05 08:25 AM (6 years, 4 months ago) |
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Nelson Mandella? C'mon, she's a pot smuggler!
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"A Bad Day for Pants"
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4791818 - 10/12/05 07:25 AM (6 years, 4 months ago) |
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Schapelle Corby's jail term cut
October 12, 2005 - BBC
A court in Indonesia has cut the sentence being served by Australian woman Shapelle Corby, her lawyers have said.
Corby, who was found guilty of smuggling marijuana into Bali in May, will now serve 15 years in jail instead of 20, attorney Hotman Paris said.
But Corby's sister Mercedes said she was furious with the appeal verdict. "She should be free," Mercedes said.
Corby's case has gripped Australians, with many believing she is innocent.
Mr Paris said he was considering whether to appeal the ruling.
"Her sentence has been reduced by five years to 15 years, but that is still inhuman," Mr Paris said.
"This is only marijuana, not heroin. If the prosecutor appeals this case, then I will also appeal. I also will talk about the verdict with Corby."
Corby's sister said her family was devastated by the appeal court's decision.
"She didn't do it. She should be free," Mercedes Corby said. "I was expecting the Australian government to do something. We're not happy in this sentence and we will appeal immediately."
Corby insists she is innocent, and claims that the 4.1 kg (9 lb) of marijuana found in her surfboard bag were planted.
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OneMoreRobot3021
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4791977 - 10/12/05 08:49 AM (6 years, 4 months ago) |
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Big improvement...
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Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake.
-Erik Davis
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IgnatiusJReilly
Up From Sloth
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4792406 - 10/12/05 10:31 AM (6 years, 4 months ago) |
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Even if it were heroin, she wouldn't be deserving of that kind of punishment.
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"A Bad Day for Pants"
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Ekstaza
stranger thanmost
Registered: 04/10/03
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Quote:
IgnatiusJReilly said:
Even if it were heroin, she wouldn't be deserving of that kind of punishment.
In Bali, she could have been shot for what they accused her of. Since she's probably inocent this ruling sucks major ass, but she could have ended up a whole lot worse.
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YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH ANY GIVEN DRUG ISN'T THE DEFINITIVE MEASURE OF THE DRUGS EFFECTS.
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veggie
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4803964 - 10/14/05 02:49 PM (6 years, 4 months ago) |
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Prisoner swap deal sped up
October 15, 2005 - news.com.au
A PRISONER transfer deal that could bring convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby back to Australia is set to be signed within months.
Justice Minister Chris Ellison arrived home yesterday after a breakthrough in talks with Indonesia's Law Minister, Hamid Awaludin, on a draft proposal of the agreement.
Senator Ellison said the two countries were more than 80 per cent towards signing a deal.
Mr Awaludin confirmed he could sign the deal without ratification by the Indonesian Parliament, which is notoriously slow and can be unco-operative.
Australian sources said they were confident the deal would be signed early next year, not late next year as had been expected.
Senator Ellison said his Indonesian counterpart had been very supportive of the proposal.
"They believe they can implement it without legislation," he said.
"Originally they thought they had to legislate to put it in place but today they told us they didn't think it was necessary."
Corby was reportedly inconsolable after hearing this week her appeal against her conviction had been unsuccessful.
The Denpasar High Court cut the sentence from 20 years to 15 years.
But a few blocks remain before the prisoner-transfer deal is finalised.
Senator Ellison is hoping to ensure the deal is retrospective to allow prisoners like Corby, who have already been convicted, to benefit.
But Australia will have to take Indonesia's lead on this and the deal will probably be signed whether it is retrospective or not.
The deal was proposed before Corby was arrested in October last year, but Senator Ellison and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock have tried to speed up talks.
The agreement is based on a similar deal recently signed with Thailand, which allows prisoners to return home to Australia after they had served either one-third of their sentence or four years - whichever is the least - before they can be transferred home.
"I agree you've got to have a minimum period but we're not as fussed about it being as lengthy as all that," Senator Ellison said.
Another sticking point may centre around the issue of parole, which does not exist in the Indonesian prison system.
The Australian state and territory governments are also required to sign on.
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BaldCuban
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4815061 - 10/17/05 05:04 AM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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I find it interesting that sometime between January and February the amount of cannabis changed from 4.2 kilos to 4.1 kilos. That is a 100 gram difference that no one has seemed to explain or even point out. Where did it go?
My heart of hearts sincerely goes out to Schapelle Corby and her loved ones who are all victims of a worldwide war on drugs that has consistently proven to be more destructive than the substances it condemns. 
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BaldCuban
scruffy-looking
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: BaldCuban]
#4819577 - 10/18/05 03:36 AM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16933914-421,00.html
Appeal deal may not bring back Corby
From: By Glenn Milne
October 16, 2005
DRUG smuggler Schapelle Corby may be jeopardising her chances of returning to Australia by continuing appeals against her 15-year sentence.
Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison yesterday returned from Jakarta, confident Indonesia will sign a prisoner transfer agreement by the middle of next year.
Such an agreement would allow prisoners such as Corby to spend most of their sentences in Australia.
But even if the deal is signed ? and there is no guarantee it will be retrospective ? Corby will not be eligible so long as she pursues avenues of appeal through Indonesian courts. Her lawyers say they will continue right up to a plea for a presidential pardon, a process that could take up to two years.
The transfer deal is likely to be based on a similar agreement with Thailand, which lets prisoners return to Australia after serving either one third of their sentence or five years, whichever is less.
A similar arrangement with Indonesia would result in Corby spending at least four more years in jail in Denpasar, with the appeals process pushing her term out to at least six years, according to Australian Government sources.
Advertisement:
The prisoner transfer issue was discussed during a meeting on Friday between Mr Ellison, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Indonesia's Law Minister Hamid Awaludin.
Mr Ellison said he was buoyed about the prospects of reaching an agreement.
"It's fair to say Mr Awaludin is very supportive," he said.
The chances of an arrangement have increased significantly because Indonesia believes the matter will not have to be passed by its notoriously slow and sometimes unco-operative parliament.
"They believe they can implement it without legislation," Mr Ellison said.
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TastyWaves
Cool buzz!
Registered: 10/12/05
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: BaldCuban]
#4821396 - 10/18/05 03:06 PM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
BaldCuban said:
I find it interesting that sometime between January and February the amount of cannabis changed from 4.2 kilos to 4.1 kilos. That is a 100 gram difference that no one has seemed to explain or even point out. Where did it go?
Maybe it wasn't done drying out?
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Join us!! Punch and pie.
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veggie
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4874386 - 10/31/05 08:19 AM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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Corby team finds new star witness
November 1, 2005 - theage.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby's fight for freedom has gone upmarket. Now, sitting beside the gallery of rogues she wants to testify to her innocence is a knight of the realm: Sir John Wheeler, the British expert who exposed the terrible state of security at Australian airports.
Sir John emerged as a new player in the case yesterday as Corby's defence team unveiled the detail of its second appeal to the Indonesian Supreme Court, the third leg of her marathon run through the justice system.
Corby's lawyer, Erwin Siregar, said that as well as wanting long-sought testimony from several Australian criminals, the defence would ask Sir John to appear by video link to detail his findings.
"We will request Mr John Wheeler to be a witness so he can explain the conditions in the Australian airports," Mr Siregar told reporters at Denpasar District Court.
In Corby's first appeal, Bali's High Court reduced her sentence for marijuana smuggling from 20 years to 15. Mr Siregar said that if the system was "fair" Corby would be freed, but acknowledged that she may have to settle for a further reduction. If the Supreme Court downgraded her conviction from trafficking to possession, "this can be brought to four to six years".
The appeal contains the names of 17 possible witnesses, plus an unspecified number of Brisbane airport workers. The defence says it wants Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty to give evidence. He has previously indicated he won't.
Sir John is the most significant addition, and the defence also has submitted his entire report. In his review, released in September, Sir John slated airport policing as "often inadequate and dysfunctional" and security systems as "typically unco-ordinated".
The security issue goes to the heart of Corby's defence that the marijuana was planted in her bag as she travelled from Brisbane to Denpasar, with a stop in Sydney, in October 2004.
A decision on the appeal may not come until early next year.
Corby's prosecutors have appealed against the reduction in her sentence, and her defence now also has to lodge a separate response to that appeal.
Meanwhile, the parade of Australians through Bali's court system on drug charges continues.
Yesterday, accused heroin smuggler Martin Stephens lost his bid for charges to be dismissed, while his fellow accused, Scott Rush, listened as prosecutors responded to his bid to have the case thrown out.
The trial of another of the nine Australians in the heroin case, Michael Czugaj, will resume today, and model Michelle Leslie's trial for possession of two ecstasy tablets will sit for the second time.
An Adelaide man accused of drug possession in Indonesia also arrived in court yesterday to face charges that could result in him spending 20 years behind bars.
Former English teacher Graham Clifford Payne, 20, was arrested on August 20 after police allegedly found a bag full of thousands of methamphetamines in his pocket.
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veggie
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4880196 - 11/01/05 02:50 PM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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Corby prosecutors appeal against sentence cut
November 1, 2005 - abc.net.au
Prosecutors in the Schapelle Corby case have lodged an appeal against the reduction in her jail sentence.
Corby was arrested and charged after 4.1 kilograms of marijuana were found inside her bag when she arrived in Bali in October 2004.
The 28-year-old Gold Coast woman was found guilty at her trial and sentenced to 20 years in jail.
The Bali High Court cut the sentence to 15 years last month.
The prosecution has appealed against the cut, demanding a life sentence.
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veggie
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4929416 - 11/13/05 03:28 PM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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Schapelle's cell hell
November 13, 2005 - dailytelegraph.news.com.au
CONDITIONS in Schapelle Corby's jail cell have worsened, prompting her family to describe them as "disgusting".
There are now 13 prisoners in cell No. 7 at Bali's Kerobokan prison, including convicted drug smuggler Corby.
When she was first transferred from the stinking cell at Polda police station earlier this year, the cell had eight inmates and Corby said that number was hard to deal with, especially after the daily 4.30pm lockdown.
Within weeks, it was home to 11 prisoners and Corby said there was almost constant movement to and from the basic toilet attached to the cell.
"There are people coming and going all the time and it's in that area where I had my little stove set up, but I've stopped cooking for now, I'm over it," she said.
Corby's sister Mercedes said the number had risen to 13 – crammed into the cell measuring just 4m x 3m.
Corby's allotted space is just 920sq cm and Mercedes said when inmates tried to sleep on their mattresses, they were touching shoulder to shoulder.
"It's disgusting, but there seems to be little we can do about it, but people in Australia need to realise that conditions here are totally different to what you would find in Australian prisons," she said.
Her mum, Rosleigh Rose, said Corby did not dwell on the cell conditions too much.
"From little things that are said, you get the impression life is pretty tough in there," she said.
"Schapelle's cell is about the size of a child's bedroom in Australia, so imagine what it must be like with 13 in there – even allowing for the fact that all the others are Indonesian and are small in stature."
Corby was originally sentenced to 20 years in Kerobokan after being convicted of smuggling 4kg of cannabis into Bali, a sentence which was later reduced to 15 years on appeal.
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Boom
Supervisor
Registered: 06/16/04
Posts: 11,240
Loc: Cypress Creek
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4929731 - 11/13/05 05:33 PM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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That's so fucking terrible
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daba
Stranger
Registered: 12/30/02
Posts: 3,881
Last seen: 9 months, 15 days
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: Boom]
#4962843 - 11/21/05 01:30 AM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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So, what's the latest?
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero
Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 22,990
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 1 hour, 55 minutes
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: daba]
#4963714 - 11/21/05 10:38 AM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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> So, what's the latest?
The latest is that if you are a cute and popular model that is caught red-handed with MDMA, you get off for time served and if you are a cute and non-popular student that is framed, you get 15 years in a hell hole.
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Just another spore in the wind.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: Seuss]
#4966572 - 11/21/05 10:50 PM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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>The latest is that if you are a cute and popular model that is caught red-handed with MDMA, you get off for time served and if you are a cute and non-popular student that is framed, you get 15 years in a hell hole.<
Yup, that's basically it in a nutshell. Ms. Corby will contnue to rot in jail, probably for years to come. And there is the money issue as well. Schapelle is poor, working class. Ms. Leslie is wealthy, from modeling, and her boyfriend has a $220 million Sydney car dealership, and had money to pay bribes, which I'm sure were paid.
Indonesias' legal system is corrupt. Overtly corrupt. It's business as usual, to pay bribes to get out of legal problems. I'm convinced if Schapelle had the money early on to pay the judges off, and there wasn't the media circus and constant attention surrounding her case, she would be home now.
I'm also convinced of her innocence. Here is a gal, non drug user, actually anti-drug, who just happened to have drugs planted in her luggage as part of a domestic (Australian) drug smuggling operation transferring marijuana from state to state using airline baggage handlers, which was not removed before her flight to Bali, which has happened before.
People just don't import drugs to Bali, they export drugs from Bali. Bali, apparently is just loaded with drugs. Many Australians go to Bali for their 'drug holidays' where drugs are plentiful, available in ample variety, easy to get, and very very cheap. Tourists there seem to be accosted by drug dealers as soon as they leave the airport offering just about anything. More recently many of the 'drug dealers' are working for the police who promptly swoop in and demand bribes on the spot to be let go or faced with jail where higher bribes to judges are required. But they do like their occasional 'trophy' cases of Westerners to show off in the media.
Schapelle still has another appeal she is working on for a reduced sentence or a pardon, while the prosecution is appealing for an even tougher sentence. And when that is all done, there is still the chance, if an agreement can be made, that she can be transferred home. But, hopefully not, we are talking about a process that will take perhaps years.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4980589 - 11/25/05 03:42 PM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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Corby camp hails Qantas drug arrests
November 26, 2005 - abc.net.au
Quote:
Qantas workers charged with drug supply
November 26, 2005
The three men were arrested last night following a month long investigation by the Joint Airport Investigation team, an Australian Federal Police (AFP) spokesman said.
"Police will allege that a small amount of drugs was being distributed at locations around the airport and at locations around Sydney," the spokesman said.
Two men, aged 23 and 33, will face Parramatta Local Court this morning charged with supplying a prohibited drug.
A 41-year-old man will appear at the Downing Centre Court on December 16.
Supporters of convicted Bali drug smuggler Schapelle Corby say the arrests of three Qantas employees on drug offences adds weight to Corby's claim that airport staff planted the marijuana in her baggage.
The Gold Coast woman is currently serving a 15-year sentence in a Bali jail, after being found with 4.1 kilograms of marijuana in her luggage at Denpasar airport.
Supporter Guy Pilgram says the arrests are further proof of illegal drug activity at Sydney Airport and cast doubt on Corby's guilt.
"Schapelle was locked up in October of last year and ever since then there's been more and more cases of drugs being transported within the Australian air system, and more and more failings within the system," he said.
Two Qantas employees will face a Sydney court today on the drugs charges.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) says the men were charged at the airport yesterday with supplying a prohibited substance.
A spokesman for the AFP says a joint airport investigation team had been monitoring the men since October.
A third man charged will appear in court next month.
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cateyes
Always Learning...
Registered: 12/16/03
Posts: 2,602
Loc: Peaking Around the Matrix
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 Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#4983154 - 11/26/05 12:03 PM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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interesting... baggage handler and ramp loader... one puts it in and the other takes it out... these scumbags could have used the girls luggage to transport their narcotics. hang them by their balls and let them rot... i hope this girl is set free.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5038473 - 12/09/05 08:20 AM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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New twist in case...
Corby photos seized in raid
December 10, 2005 - news.com.au
POLICE have seized photographs of Schapelle Corby with a man who has just been charged with marijuana smuggling.
The alleged drug dealer is pictured alone with Corby in some photographs and with Corby and another couple in others.
They were found during a recent police search of the alleged dealer's home in South Australia.
He was the target of a joint SA-Queensland police operation into a hydroponic marijuana smuggling ring allegedly operating between the two states.
The photographs were taken before Corby was charged in October last year with importing 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali in her bodyboard bag.
They were found in a raid that police believe helped bust a marijuana-smuggling ring operating between SA and Queensland.
The man pictured with Corby was recently arrested and charged by SA's drug and organised crime investigation division.
A preliminary examination of the seized photographs has found they appear to be genuine.
The chance discovery of the photos comes as Corby, 28, is preparing to appeal against her drug-smuggling conviction and sentence.
Her lawyers last month lodged her appeal with Indonesia's Supreme Court in Jakarta.
They claim lower-court judges failed to consider evidence that would set Corby free.
But the Balinese prosecution team has said it plans to lodge a counter-appeal, claiming a recent Appeal Court decision to cut five years from the Gold Coast woman's sentence should be reversed and her 20-year jail term reinstated.
Balinese prosecutors are expected to seek access to the photographs seized by police in SA.
They will want them to try to cast doubt on claims by Corby in her trial that she had no connection with drugs or drug dealers.
The Balinese prosecution team is likely to request that police in Australia hand over the photographs and provide evidence about the alleged role in the drug-smuggling operation of the man pictured with Corby.
Corby's team argued somebody planted the marijuana in her bodyboard bag and said corrupt baggage handlers in Australia may have been responsible.
"I have never been involved with drugs," Corby told the Bali court during her trial.
"I don't like drugs. It's not my drugs. I wouldn't even know where to get the drugs from.
"I am not a person involved in drugs and I am not a person who might become involved in drug-smuggling operations."
The three Indonesian judges who jailed Corby for 20 years in May said she was legally and convincingly guilty of attempting to import drugs into Bali.
They said they believed the evidence of two Customs officers and two police officers who were present when Corby was stopped at Denpasar's Ngurah Rai airport on October 8 last year.
The judges said they gave consistent testimony that Corby was nervous when asked to open her unlocked bodyboard bag and actually slapped away an officer's hand as he reached for it.
Their evidence was that Corby said, "No, no – I have some", and that she confirmed she owned the items in the bag.
The judges said Corby's witnesses had failed to provide any objective evidence to back her story that the drugs were planted in her unlocked bag.
Members of SA's drug and organised crime investigation branch conducted the operation with Queensland Police that resulted in the Corby photographs being found.
They stopped a car near Burra, SA, in late November.
A search located a large amount of cannabis hidden in the boot.
An SA man in his 40s was arrested for possessing cannabis and has been bailed to appear in court at a date to be arranged.
Several residential and rural properties in SA and Queensland were later raided as a result of the November seizure.
Fifteen kilograms of hydroponically grown cannabis and almost $60,000 in cash were seized in the raids, as were the photos of Corby with the alleged drug smuggler.
A 60-year-old man and a 53-year-old man from SA will face charges of possessing cannabis and taking part in the sale and supply of cannabis.
Five men and two women were arrested in Queensland as part of Operation Co-Pilot.
A spokeswoman for SA police said that investigations into the alleged smuggling ring were continuing and that further arrests were expected.
Corby's father, Michael, was convicted of possessing marijuana in the 1970s.
Half-brother Clinton Rose has faced drug possession charges and spent time in jail for a range of offences, including breaking and entering, theft, fraud and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
Michael Corby said in April that his daughter was opposed to drugs.
"She had nothing to do with bloody drugs," he said.
"She might have had a puff when she was in bloody Grade 10 or something, around the back of the schoolyard like kids do – I don't know.
"She's had nothing to do with it since, or any time as far as I know."
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Boom
Supervisor
Registered: 06/16/04
Posts: 11,240
Loc: Cypress Creek
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5038544 - 12/09/05 08:37 AM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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Ohhhh shit
She guilty!!
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SuperD
Lophophiend
Registered: 10/05/03
Posts: 4,982
Loc: My stash box
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: Boom]
#5038684 - 12/09/05 09:05 AM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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Wow..amazing twist to the story. Guilty or not, they're fucking dried flowers from a plant no matter how you look at it.
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I'd like you to meet my local drug dealer
Bruce Campbell for a day! said: Go misidentify a mushroom please.
"Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young, 1988
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Boom
Supervisor
Registered: 06/16/04
Posts: 11,240
Loc: Cypress Creek
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: SuperD]
#5039573 - 12/09/05 12:43 PM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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True..
You can rationalize almost anything, but she knew how harsh the law could be.
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ZippoZ
Knomadic
Registered: 06/17/03
Posts: 12,024
Loc: Pongyang, North Korea
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: Boom]
#5039794 - 12/09/05 01:33 PM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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damn at first i thought maybee she was innocent. not anymore though. she's gonna hang. shame though.
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PEACE
zippoz
"in times of widespread chaos and cofusion, it has ben the duty of more advanced human beings - artists, scientists, clowns, and philosophers - to create order. In such times as ours however, when there is too much order, too much m anagment, too much programming and controll, it becomes the duty of superior men and women and women to fling their favorite monkey wrenches into the machinery. To relieve the repression of the human spirit, they must sow doubt and disruption"
"People do it every day, they talk to themselves ... they see themselves as they'd like to be, they don't have the courage you have, to just run with it."
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daba
Stranger
Registered: 12/30/02
Posts: 3,881
Last seen: 9 months, 15 days
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: ZippoZ]
#5042805 - 12/10/05 01:20 AM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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Amazing!
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5043223 - 12/10/05 07:31 AM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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Corby dismisses drug links claim
December 11, 2005 - theadvertiser.news.com.au
CONVICTED Bali drug smuggler Schapelle Corby yesterday stood by her courtroom testimony that she had never been involved with drugs.
Her comments, through sister Mercedes, came as a storm erupted over claims police had uncovered photographs of Corby with an Adelaide man recently arrested over a marijuana smuggling ring operating between South Australia and Queensland.
"Schapelle still stands by her comment in court that she has never been involved with drugs," Mercedes Corby said in Bali.
"We can't really comment because we don't have any information. We don't know the (arrested) man's name; we haven't seen the photo. We won't have more information until we can speak to the police involved with this case early next week."
Corby's Jakarta lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, questioned whether the photo existed or was real.
And even if it was real, Mr Hutapea said it did not pose a problem for Corby's appeal, now before the Supreme Court in Jakarta.
"I don't see any problem, because you may have a picture with anybody in your life; you might be in a photograph with a prostitute, but that doesn't mean you are a prostitute," he said.
The photographs, which have not been released, were said to have been taken some time before Corby's arrest at Bali airport in October last year with 4.1kg of marijuana in her bodyboard bag. While debate intensified over whether the photographs would be admissible in an Indonesian court, prosecutor Ni Wayan Sinaryati, who now has carriage of the case, said: "If it is true (about the photographs), we will make co-ordination with the authorities to get them. That's good."
A senior judicial source in Australia said yesterday neither the Howard Government nor the Australian Federal Police possessed copies of the photographs.
And, even if they did, the Mutual Assistance Agreement between Australia and Indonesia would not cover any request from Indonesia for copies of the photographs, the source said.
The photographs are claimed to have been found during a police search of the alleged drug dealer's home in SA as part of the joint SA-Queensland police operation.
Police stopped a car near Burra in November and a search of the boot located marijuana. An SA man in his 40s was arrested for possessing marijuana and was bailed to appear in court at a later date.
Several residential and rural properties in SA and Queensland were later raided as a result of the November seizure.
Fifteen kilograms of hydroponically grown marijuana and almost $60,000 in cash were seized in the raids, as were photographs.
A 60-year-old Salisbury North man and a 53-year-old Yatala Vale man will face charges of possessing marijuana and taking part in the sale and supply of marijuana.
SA police would not comment on the matter yesterday and the Australian Crime Commission could not be contacted.
The claims about the photographs come as the 28-year-old prepares an appeal against her 15-year drug-smuggling sentence and conviction.
The Corby family fears the emergence of the photographs could derail her appeal hopes.
"We don't need this right now," brother Michael Corby said. "Maybe (the photographs were) taken in a nightclub or a party. She has nothing to do with this."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5043227 - 12/10/05 07:34 AM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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Corby's drug sentence may be increased
December 11, 2005 - seven.com.au
Bali prosecutors are confident judges considering Schapelle Corby's appeal will increase her sentence in light of photographs seized by Australian police showing her with an alleged drug smuggler.
As the 28-year-old Gold Coast woman maintained she was innocent, prosecutors on Saturday said they would seek access to the photographs.
They want to present them to Indonesia's highest court, the Supreme Court in Jakarta, which is considering her appeal against a 15-year sentence for drug smuggling.
Police found the photographs while searching the South Australian home of a man just charged with marijuana smuggling.
The raid was part of a joint SA-Queensland operation to bust an alleged smuggling ring operating between the states, a newspaper reported.
The photographs were taken before Corby's arrest on October 8 last year, when customs officers at Bali airport found 4.1kg of marijuana in her unlocked luggage.
"Schapelle stands by her comments made in court that she has never been involved in drugs," sister Mercedes Corby said.
She would not comment on whether the photos could potentially harm Corby's appeal hopes.
"We can't comment because we don't have the man's name, we haven't seen the photos and we're unable to get in contact with the head of that investigation (in SA) until next week," Mercedes said.
Corby is appealing against the 15-year sentence handed down by Bali's High Court earlier this year after it cut her original 20-year jail term on appeal.
Her prosecutors, who are demanding a life sentence, were bolstered by news of the photographs.
"If we can get copies of the photos, we will send them to the Supreme Court," prosecutor Ni Wayan Sinaryati told AAP.
"It would strengthen our case because her punishment has been decreased, and I hope these photos will convince the judges she is guilty."
Corby's former prosecutor Ida Bagus Nyoman Wiswantanu, who oversaw her case at the district and high court levels, said while it was too late to submit the photographs as new evidence, they could still be sent to the judges with an additional appeal letter.
He believed they would have a powerful impact on the court's decision.
"It could be additional proof of her guilt of being part of a syndicate," he said.
"I hope that with this, Australians can accept the court's decision more openly."
Corby's lawyers dismissed the photographs as inadmissible and said they remained confident the Supreme Court would not raise her sentence.
"I'm not worried, I'm still confident and I believe the sentence will not be more than the current sentence, even less," head lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea said from his Jakarta office.
"Legally, the photos are not admissible as evidence, but they may affect the personal thinking of the judges."
He said the last chance to submit evidence was at the High Court.
The Supreme Court can only consider application of the law when making its decision.
He said the photographs were weak evidence.
"You could have your photo taken with prostitutes, drug dealers, you never know, until years later someone brings those photos out. It doesn't make you guilty of a crime," he said.
Corby has consistently maintained the drugs were not hers and were planted in her baggage by an Australian drug gang using her as an unwitting interstate drug courier.
The Supreme Court's decision is not expected for another three to six months, Hutapea said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5054315 - 12/12/05 06:40 PM (6 years, 2 months ago) |
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AFP 'had no role in Corby photos'
December 13, 2005 - smh.com.au
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) had no role in the release of photographs of convicted drug trafficker Schapelle Corby and a man charged with marijuana dealing, chief Mick Keelty says.
Bali prosecutors are expected to seek access to the photographs of Corby ahead of an upcoming appeal against her current 15-year jail term.
The photographs, the existence of which were revealed by Melbourne's Herald-Sun newspaper on Saturday, were thought to have been taken before Corby was arrested on October 8 last year, when customs officers at Bali's airport found 4.1 kilograms of marijuana in her unlocked luggage.
However, Corby's mother, Rosleigh Rose, said they were taken after Corby's arrest, while her daughter was in jail.
Ms Rose says her partner took photos of her daughter with a suspected drug dealer when the man visited Corby in her Bali jail.
Ms Rose says she also appeared in the photos, which were taken after two strangers befriended her and her partner Greg at a Bali restaurant.
She insists her daughter did not know the two men - the suspected dealer, and another man charged with marijuana dealing.
Ms Rose said the men, named Mal and Don, told her they felt for her daughter, and asked if they could visit her at Kerobokan Prison.
"Mal said he had a nine-year-old granddaughter who felt for Schapelle and they asked if they could go to the prison to meet her when we next visited her and we said it would be OK," Ms Rose told the Adelaide Advertiser.
"They wanted a photograph with Schapelle and they were going to get a disposable camera.
"But they didn't in the end, so Greg took the photos on his digital camera and then we got prints for them.
"And Schapelle wrote a card for Mal's granddaughter. This was the only time Schapelle saw these men."
Police reportedly found the photographs of Corby and the alleged dealer while searching his South Australian home as part of a joint South Australian-Queensland operation to bust an alleged marijuana-smuggling ring operating between the states.
Prosecutors in Denpasar are likely to request police hand over the photographs to cast doubt on Corby's claim that she had no contact with drugs or drug dealers.
Mr Keelty said the matter was in the hands of South Australian and Queensland police, and federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock.
Mr Keelty said the AFP had "no role whatsoever" in the seizure of the photographs.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5070675 - 12/16/05 08:27 AM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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Corby pictures taken inside jail
December 17, 2005 - news.com.au
THE alleged drug dealer photographed with Schapelle Corby sat through some of her trial and visited her in jail.
Corby's mother, Rosleigh Rose, claims neither she nor her daughter knew the man.
Ms Rose said she met the alleged drug dealer and another man in a Bali restaurant and later took them to visit Corby in jail.
The men were photographed with Corby inside Kerobokan jail.
Ms Rose said the men also sat in the court during some of Corby's trial.
The Herald Sun revealed a week ago that police in South Australia had seized photos of Corby with a man who was recently charged with marijuana smuggling.
The alleged drug dealer is pictured alone with Corby in some photographs.
Police initially thought they were taken before Corby was charged in October last year with importing 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali.
SA police commissioner Mal Hyde told Ms Rose in a fax this week the seized photos "do not appear to have been taken in a prison setting".
But the second man taken to the jail by Ms Rose, who gave his name as Dave, contacted The Advertiser in Adelaide on Thursday and confirmed Ms Rose's statements the photos were taken inside the jail.
He provided Ms Rose with copies of the photos, which she intends to take to Bali to prove to authorities they were taken in the prison after Corby's arrest.
Bali prosecutors also want copies to use in their appeal against the decision to reduce Corby's 20-year sentence by five years.
Dave has said he met "Mal" - the SA man arrested for his role in an alleged cannabis operation - on the plane as both travelled to Bali.
He said they met up in Bali, met Ms Rose and visited Corby together.
Ms Rose said her partner Greg Martin took the photos.
SA police seized a set of the photographs, which were handed to Australian Federal Police on Thursday.
The other set was kept by Dave, who is not involved in the police investigation.
Ms Rose said: "I just need to get these pictures to Jakarta, to the judges, for Schapelle's appeal to prove they were taken in Kerobokan and that Schapelle did not know this person before."
Ms Rose said Dave was willing to go to Bali to support Corby's claims she never knew the men.
Ms Rose, who plans to go to Jakarta on Monday, yesterday slammed police for not helping and for suggesting the pictures were not "in a prison setting".
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5093491 - 12/22/05 10:26 AM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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US rock star a Corby supporter
December 22, 2005 - theaustralian.news.com
CONVICTED Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has found an ally in American hard rocker and political activist Henry Rollins.
 The pair have never met but on a trip to Australia this year, Rollins said he was captivated by the Corby trial in Bali.
So much so, he finds himself looking her up on the internet on a regular basis from the US or wherever he is touring.
"Guilty or innocent, she (Corby) should get at least some due process and she didn't," said Rollins on the phone from the US.
"I google her all the time just to see if there is anything new written about her."
Earlier this year, Corby was sentenced to 20 years in Bali's Kerobokan jail after customs officers at Bali airport found 4.1kg of marijuana in her unlocked luggage.
The conviction was later reduced to 15 years and Corby is currently appealing to have the ruling quashed altogether.
"I just don't think anyone would be crass enough to shove 12 pounds of dope into a boogy board bag and try and traipse into Bali with it," said Rollins.
"It is just a little too obvious."
But Rollins said he didn't know how he could help the Australian.
"I don't know who I can talk to effect any change," he said.
"I don't think King Do Do Bang Bang (Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) will take my call."
Rollins has toured Australia more than 25 times since the early 1980s, including as the frontman of hardcore punk outfit Black Flag.
He has more recently established himself as a singer in his own band – The Rollins Band.
In January, he will be one of the headline artists performing at the 2006 Big Day Out (BDO) music festival.
Rollins was a little apprehensive about signing up for the gig because he was only in Australia in May.
"I was a little apprehensive when they approached me for this Big Day Out thing," he said.
"If you come back to a place too often, the perception is not right."
The BDO will kick off in Auckland on January 20 before heading to the Gold Coast on January 22 and then Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
In his 45 minute stand-up show for BDO, Rollins will talk about issues he feels strongly about – from war to politics to his famous friends and life in Hollywood.
"I will pick either one big story or hit hard on a number of little points," he said.
When not performing his stand-up shows and filming his own TV film review program, Rollins has been working on a new album with his band.
"We are creeping up on new songs," he said.
"I don't feel finished with music so I would like to do some more stuff."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5173378 - 01/12/06 05:19 PM (6 years, 1 month ago) |
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Man in Corby photos comes forward
January 13, 2006 - news.com.au
CONVICTED drug smuggler Schapelle Corby appears to have been cleared of any link to an Adelaide man facing drug charges with whom she has been photographed.
The man in the photographs, taken at Bail's Kerobokan prison where Corby is serving a 15-year sentence for trying to smuggle cannabis into the Indonesian resort island, says he visited her twice last year, News Ltd papers reported today.
Malcolm McCauley said the visits were as a tourist only.
"A mate and I were in Bali and we thought we'd go and have a look-see in court," Mr McCauley said.
Mr McCauley first met Corby in May last year after her mother Rosleigh Rose introduced them.
Mr McCauley's story matches that of Ms Rose who said she took the men to see her daughter in prison after meeting them earlier.
Bali prosecutors have shown interest in seeking access to the photographs ahead of Corby's appeal against the jail term.
The photographs were originally thought to have been taken before the 28-year-old Queensland woman was arrested on October 8 2004 when customs officers at Bali's airport found 4.1kg of marijuana in her unlocked luggage.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5196879 - 01/18/06 08:44 PM (6 years, 27 days ago) |
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Lawyer: Schapelle appeal now hopeless
January 19, 2006 - smh.com.au
Schapelle Corby's Indonesian lawyer says the arrest of her half-brother on drug and other charges in Queensland has "ruined" his attempts to free her from a Bali prison.
"Today I am really frustrated," Hotman Paris Hutapea told AAP.
"This has ruined my case."
Hotman said he feared the development involving Corby's half-brother would scupper his attempts to have her drug smuggling conviction quashed.
Corby's sentence was last year reduced on appeal from 20 to 15 years.
Hotman said he did not know whether Corby, who is serving time in Bali's Kerobokan Prison, knew about the arrest of her half-brother James Kisina.
He said he would remain on the case, despite the latest setback.
Corby was arrested on October 8, 2004 when Indonesian customs officers found 4.1kg of marijuana in her bodyboard bag after she stepped off a flight from Australia, accompanied by Kisina.
The primary defence offered during Corby's Bali trial was that baggage handlers had put the drugs in her bag as part of an organised smuggling ring working through Australian airports.
Her defence team said something had obviously gone wrong, and the baggage handlers had not retrieved the drug haul and it ended up going to Bali with Corby, who has steadfastly maintained her innocence.
Hotman is currently pursuing a further appeal in the Indonesian Supreme Court to have the conviction quashed and Corby freed.
A pessimistic Hotman said he feared his bid would fail in the wake of Kisina's appearance on eight charges in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court, south of Brisbane.
The charges he faces include deprivation of liberty and assault occasioning bodily harm, producing a dangerous drug, possession of a dangerous drug, and possession of items used in the commission of a crime and entering a dwelling.
He was remanded in custody to face the same court again in early March.
Corby's sister, Mercedes, who lives in Bali was not immediately available for comment.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5197927 - 01/19/06 04:33 AM (6 years, 27 days ago) |
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Court reinstates Corby jail term
January 19, 2006 - BBC
An Indonesian court has reinstated an Australian woman's 20-year jail sentence for drug trafficking.
Schapelle Corby's term had been cut by five years to 15 years on appeal in October, but Indonesia's Supreme Court has now overturned that move.
Corby, a beauty therapist from the Gold Coast, was found carrying 4.1kg (9 lb) of marijuana in her bag in 2004.
She claimed the drugs were planted and her case has won widespread sympathy in Australia.
The 20-year sentence was reinstated after an appeal by prosecutors. It was unclear on what basis this was done.
Corby can now either request a judicial review, but would need to point to new evidence or technical errors in her case, or she could ask the Indonesian president to pardon her, but that would involve an admission of guilt, according to the Australian newspaper The Age.
Corby's Indonesian lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, has sent a message to the Australian Associated Press threatening to resign from her case.
He said the arrest of her half-brother James Sioeli Kisina on drugs-related charges in Queensland had "ruined" his attempt to free her.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5212397 - 01/22/06 09:40 PM (6 years, 23 days ago) |
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Corby brother's role to be tested in court
January 23, 2006 - ninemsn.com.au
Police allegations that Schapelle Corby's half-brother was involved in exporting the cannabis that put her in jail could be tested in court within weeks, according to a report.
The Australian newspaper reports lawyers for James Sioeli Kisina, 18, said they were considering a Supreme Court appeal after the allegations were used by Queensland police to successfully oppose their client's bail.
A sworn affidavit by arresting officer Detective Sergeant Dean Godfrey said: "He (Mr Kisina) is suspected of some involvement in the exportation of cannabis for which his sister has received a 20-year imprisonment sentence."
The affidavit also alleged Mr Kisina, who was arrested after a Brisbane home invasion last Tuesday, had a "propensity to commit offences" and that he suffered from a "lack of parental guidance".
Mr Kisina was 16 and with his sister when she was caught at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport in October 2004 carrying 4.1kg of cannabis in a bodyboard bag.
Mr Kisina carried the bag to the Customs desk, but when asked by officials if it was his, Corby interrupted and claimed ownership.
After two days of interrogation, Balinese police released Mr Kisina after finding no proof of involvement in the crime.
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Ekstaza
stranger thanmost
Registered: 04/10/03
Posts: 4,315
Loc: Around the corner
Last seen: 3 months, 28 days
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5214960 - 01/23/06 05:30 PM (6 years, 23 days ago) |
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Quote:
Mr Kisina was 16 and with his sister when she was caught at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport in October 2004 carrying 4.1kg of cannabis in a bodyboard bag.
Mr Kisina carried the bag to the Customs desk, but when asked by officials if it was his, Corby interrupted and claimed ownership.
After two days of interrogation, Balinese police released Mr Kisina after finding no proof of involvement in the crime.
Man, if he put that weed in the bag and has let his sister take the rap for it all of this time, he needs to be beaten bloody. That's foul!!! 
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YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH ANY GIVEN DRUG ISN'T THE DEFINITIVE MEASURE OF THE DRUGS EFFECTS.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5222635 - 01/25/06 04:43 PM (6 years, 21 days ago) |
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It's you or a Ferrari: lawyer dumps Corby for the high life
January 26, 2006 - smh.com.au
SCHAPELLE CORBY'S flamboyant Jakarta lawyer has quit her case just days after Indonesia's highest court threw out her appeal against her drug-smuggling conviction.
Hotman Paris Hutapea said he had been volunteering his time to defend Corby but now wanted to devote his energy to cases that would make money - lots of it.
"I want to buy the new model Ferrari, so I have to make more money now," said the self-proclaimed playboy, who is renowned for his diamond jewellery and the pistols he wears under his designer suits. "I'm getting bored of all my old cars."
Hutapea joined Corby's legal team on a no-fee basis late last year and secured a five-year cut to her sentence on appeal.
But his flamboyant style failed to impress the Supreme Court in Jakarta, which last week reinstated her original 20-year sentence to the delight of prosecutors.
Hutapea said he sent a letter yesterday to Corby and her Bali lawyer, Erwin Siregar, informing them of his resignation.
"My power of attorney was only to the level of the Supreme Court appeal," he said. "I wish Corby every success."
He would not comment on whether his resignation was related to news that Corby's half-brother, James Kisina, has been arrested in Australia on drug and assault charges.
Queensland police allege Kisina may have been involved in the attempted smuggling of cannabis into Bali for which Corby is serving time in the island's Kerobokan prison.
Kisina's lawyer has said he would vigorously defend the smuggling allegations.
As for Hutapea, he will now get back to enjoying his glitzy lifestyle. "I have everything that every man dreams of," he said. "I work from 6am to 6pm. Then I go to the best hotels and I find the best bottle of wine, of course, with a beautiful movie star. That's a pretty good life, isn't it?"
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Ekstaza
stranger thanmost
Registered: 04/10/03
Posts: 4,315
Loc: Around the corner
Last seen: 3 months, 28 days
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5223712 - 01/25/06 08:13 PM (6 years, 21 days ago) |
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Hotman Paris Hutapea is a piece of shit. He just did this for the publicity.
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YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH ANY GIVEN DRUG ISN'T THE DEFINITIVE MEASURE OF THE DRUGS EFFECTS.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5245928 - 01/31/06 08:09 AM (6 years, 15 days ago) |
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Corby mother, police conflict
January 31, 2006 - news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby's mother said the Corby family wanted to have the marijuana found in her daughter's bodyboard bag in Bali forensically tested, but that Indonesian police wouldn't allow it.
Rosleigh Rose's comments conflict with remarks made today by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty, who said Corby's lawyers rejected the AFP's offer to test the drugs upon learning that the results could be passed to Indonesian Police.
Corby, now 28, was arrested on October 8, 2004, after customs officers at Denpasar airport found 4.1kg of marijuana in her bodyboard bag.
The former Gold Coast student beautician, who is serving 20 years' jail for drug smuggling, has maintained her innocence, saying someone else planted the drugs in her unlocked bag.
The Australian Federal Police had offered to DNA test the marijuana in a bid to prove where it came from and to search for fingerprints on the inside of the bodyboard bag, ABC TV has said.
But Mr Keelty said today Corby's lawyers rejected the offer after it was explained that any results would be given to Indonesian authorities.
"I think the reality was if it was tested, and the tests didn't come out with what the defence counsel expected, then it may assist the prosecution and not the defence," AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty said today.
However, Ms Rose said her daughter's legal team wanted to go ahead with the testing but that the Indonesian police wouldn't allow it.
She said her daughter signed the papers authorising the testing in November, 2004, the month after she was arrested.
"We were pushing to get it done but they (the Indonesian Police) stopped us because the marijuana came from Indonesia," Ms Rose told the Ten Network.
Ms Rose also dismissed a report on the ABC TV's 7.30 Report last night which associated Corby's father Michael Corby with an alleged drug-dealing neighbour named only as "Tony".
"Look at all my neighbours here," Ms Rose said in Brisbane. "If they are growing drugs, does it mean that I am?"
The 7.30 Report said Mr Corby lived next door to the man on a property in central Queensland which was raided in September, 2004, allegedly uncovering a well-established hydroponic cannabis-growing operation.
As well as the marijuana plants, police allegedly found 5kg of high-quality marijuana in vacuum-sealed plastic bags, along with thousands of dollars in cash hidden throughout the property.
The raid took place a month before Schapelle Corby left Brisbane Airport for Bali.
Earlier this month, an Indonesian court reinstated Corby's sentence for drug smuggling to 20 years after it was reduced to 15 years on appeal.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5361083 - 03/03/06 09:14 AM (5 years, 11 months ago) |
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Jail transfer hope for Schapelle Corby, 'Bali nine'
February 28, 2006 - news.com.au
FOREIGN Affairs Minister Alexander Downer hopes a prisoner transfer scheme with Indonesia can be arranged "reasonably quickly", but says that during a meeting yesterday with his Indonesian counterpart, he emphasised Australia supported Indonesia's tough stance on drugs.
Mr Downer, in Jakarta to address a terrorism conference, also had a breakfast meeting with the Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda, where the subject of the Bali Nine was discussed.
Mr Downer told his counterpart that once all appeals for the two Bali Nine members on death row were concluded, Australia would make appeals for clemency should the death penalties for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran stand.
However, he said Australia's clemency appeals would not extend to the seven members who recently received life sentences for their attempt to export 8.2kg of heroin to Bali from Australia.
All members of the nine have lodged appeals with the Denpasar High Court.
The issue of a prisoner transfer scheme, to allow the seven Bali Nine members sentenced to life in jail, along with Schapelle Corby, to serve their times in Australian jails also had been discussed. The French Government has been attempting for several years to broker a similar deal with Indonesia. Mr Downer said he hoped Australia's deal could be negotiated in parallel or ahead of the French agreement.
"I think they are sympathetic to that idea and I hope that we can process this reasonably quickly," he said after the meeting.
The two ministers also discussed beginning joint naval patrols of the waters between Australia and Indonesia in a bid to stamp out illegal fishing.
"If both of us can find the resources for these joint naval patrols, it would be a very substantial disincentive for illegal fishing and other illegal activities," he said.
In the past year, 252 Indonesian vessels have been apprehended for illegal fishing in northern waters in what is an increasing problem for maintaining the integrity of the waters.
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RemainRandom50
Do You Need ToKnow Me?
Registered: 01/15/06
Posts: 1,695
Last seen: 2 years, 9 months
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Re: 27 year old faces death for marijuana [Re: veggie]
#5366940 - 03/05/06 09:17 AM (5 years, 11 months ago) |
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wow, death penalty.....i hope they dont air it on tv.
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At times I get consumed by my everyday life and will leave the Shroomery. Yet, every time drugs come falling into my life for fun.....I always think about the Shroomery and then I'm back!
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5410751 - 03/16/06 10:39 PM (5 years, 10 months ago) |
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Prosecutors burn Corby evidence
March 17, 2006 - abc.net.au
Bali prosecutors have burnt all of the physical evidence used to convict Australian woman Schapelle Corby on drug trafficking charges, despite a planned appeal.
Corby is serving a 20-year sentence for importing marijuana.
The prosecutors have burnt the 4.2 kilograms of marijuana, the boogie board bag it was found in, the boogie board itself and Corby's flippers.
The prosecutors' office refused to save even a small part of the marijuana for DNA testing, should this become part of any future appeal.
Corby's lawyer, Erwin Siregar, says he is outraged.
"This is a big problem for me now because they destroy the evidence," he said.
But he says the extraordinary appeal will go ahead.
"I can make it in six months, I can make it in one year," Mr Siregar said.
"As soon as I go about there, I will make it, the extraordinary appeal."
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Stonerguy
I smoke penis
Registered: 05/29/04
Posts: 5,538
Loc: Lost
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5411405 - 03/17/06 04:35 AM (5 years, 10 months ago) |
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That is hella fucked up.
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yawn...
SG
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MOTH
Wild Woman
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 22,962
Loc: In the jungle
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: Stonerguy]
#5413338 - 03/17/06 02:34 PM (5 years, 10 months ago) |
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I hate Earth.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5429734 - 03/22/06 11:18 AM (5 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby jail a tourist attraction
March 19, 2006 - news.com.au
AUSTRALIAN tourists are flocking to the jail where convicted drug smugglers Schapelle Corby and the Bali Nine are held.
Friends and authorities are outraged that Kerobokan jail has become a "sick" attraction.
"It's cruel; it's nasty," Corby supporters' group spokeswoman Rachelle Hamilton said.
"Schapelle has suffered enough. She's not a freak show."
Bali-based Australian pastor Ed Trotter, who visits, and provides spiritual counselling to, Australian inmates, has watched the rising number of jail tourists with alarm.
"If they're coming to visit for the right reasons, it's fine, but some of it is celebrity voyeurism," Mr Trotter said.
Queensland Prisoners Legal Service co-ordinator Susan Bothmann said the tourists were a potential threat to the mental health of Corby, who was being treated as if she was "a monkey in a zoo".
"One of the significant things about being in jail is that your autonomy is removed from you," Ms Bothmann said.
"If you are an object of ridicule, it can have a serious emotional impact on you."
With its armed guards and razor wire, the jail is an unlikely tourist destination.
But with 10 Australians locked up inside - two of them on death row - it has gained a reputation as a macabre holiday attraction.
Almost daily, guards say, Australian tourists arrive at the jail with their cameras.
During her early days in jail, Corby happily accepted tourist visitors, but stopped the practice last year as her verdict drew close.
Her family said the convicted marijuana smuggler distrusted some people's motives and no longer accepted unsolicited visits from people she did not know.
Members of the heroin-smuggling Bali Nine, however, have been known to see tourists.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Fresh doubt about Corbys' guilt [Re: veggie]
#5488484 - 04/06/06 11:19 PM (5 years, 10 months ago) |
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Bag security sabotage
April 6, 2006 - dailytelegraph.news.com.au
SECURITY cameras in the baggage handling area of Sydney airport have been repeatedly tampered with, raising fresh questions about a string of drug cases and the threat of terrorism.
Sydney Labor MP John Murphy ? who revealed the scandal to The Daily Telegraph ? claimed the security breach cast fresh doubt on the guilt of convicted drug trafficker Schapelle Corby.
It could also have potential implications for other drug matters in recent years, including Operation Mocha in which a syndicate allegedly ran $30 million in cocaine through the airport with the help of corrupt baggage handlers.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal two cameras inside the baggage handling unit were sabotaged on three occasions between October 2004 and May 2005.
In answers to questions on notice submitted in Parliament by Mr Murphy, Customs Minister Chris Ellison confirmed the cameras had been deliberately disabled.
"The customs maintenance provider of its CCTV cameras at Sydney International Airport has been required to adjust two of customs' CCTV cameras in the baggage make-up area of the airport on three occasions between October 2004 and May 2005," Senator Ellison said.
"These adjustments were required to correct the field of view following reports from customs' control room operators that cameras were pointing in the wrong direction."
The cameras are used to monitor the behaviour of baggage handlers as they sift through luggage behind the airport's check
The new revelations come after an internal customs report in September 2004 that revealed large-scale corruption among baggage handlers and other airport staff.
"Intelligence from other law enforcement agencies suggests some Asian-recruited Qantas crew may be involved in narcotics," the report found.
The report also revealed baggage handlers would divert bags containing drugs from incoming international flights to domestic carousels so they would not be checked.
In a recent case involving corrupt airport workers, former Qantas baggage handler Raymond Camilleri was this week sentenced to one year of home detention for tipping off a cocaine dealer that police had seized his luggage.
Camilleri tipped off the dealer on February 17, 2005, once again at the same time the security cameras were found to have been disabled.
Mr Murphy said the security breach was most relevant to the Corby case and urged her lawyers to act in the light of the new developments.
"I am sure Schapelle Corby and her legal team would like to know when the first breach occurred and how long it took to be brought to the attention of the Customs Minister," Mr Murphy said yesterday.
Mr Murphy said apart from the implications for high-profile drug matters, the scam exposed huge flaws in the country's defence against terrorism.
"Three years after September 11, how could this have happened at Sydney airport and why have so many innocent passengers been put at grave risk?" he said.
"Anyone working in this area could have put heroin in a passenger's luggage at either the domestic or international airport at Sydney and that person would never know."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5708138 - 06/03/06 04:29 PM (5 years, 8 months ago) |
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Help me, writes desperate Corby
June 4, 2006 - The Sunday Mail
ONE year ago the nation was full of sympathy for the girl with the piercing green eyes – now, Schapelle Corby is reduced to writing letters to strangers from a Bali jail to plead her innocence.
The handwritten letters often come complete with a few lines of poetry and signed off with Corby's trademark "smiley face".
"Courage doesn't always roar, sometimes it's just a little voice at the end of the day that says 'I'll try again tomorrow'," a recent letter to her Australian supporters said.
"The weaker you get, the stronger you become . . . Today may be a mountain, but I was born to climb."
A year after she broke down in the Denpasar District Court upon receiving a 20-year jail sentence, the convicted drug trafficker claims her band of supporters is all that keeps her going in Bali's Kerobokan prison.
Her desperate tone has changed from the once assured Gold Coast beauty student who despite being found guilty of trafficking 4.1kg of marijuana felt she had most Australians on her side.
"Thank you for your letters of support, they really do encourage me and keep me in touch with the world," she wrote. "I do appreciate the effort and time you have put into them. I need them. They help keep my hope alive."
Lynette Rogers, from Lismore in northern NSW, received the letter after writing to express support. "I just wanted her to know she is not alone," Ms Rogers said.
Corby clearly still harbours a deep bitterness towards politicians and the media, and claims to be the victim of a conspiracy.
"Thank you for . . . your constant support through many blown out of proportion and/or complete rubbish media reports and public statements and quotes from government authorities which have been untrue, uncalled for and downright damaging."
Attached to the single page letter is a list of politicians to lobby, including Prime Minister John Howard and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"If you're feeling frustrated by this brutal trial of my injustice and want to do something, please write to these people."
While most supporters get a photocopy of her standard letter, Corby occasionally includes playful personal notes.
"Dear Murray, So you sing and write poetry, hey?" she wrote to one supporter. "How about penning some inspiring or even brutal reality poetry in my favour, to put a smile on my face?"
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motaman
old hand
Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 5,813
Last seen: 2 years, 18 days
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5708142 - 06/03/06 04:30 PM (5 years, 8 months ago) |
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http://heffter.org
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5800332 - 06/28/06 05:25 PM (5 years, 7 months ago) |
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Prisoner deal offers new hope for Corby
June 29, 2006 - theadvertiser.com.au
AUSTRALIA and Indonesia suddenly have moved closer to a prisoner-exchange deal, which is expected to be signed in Bali today.
Details of the agreement have not been settled but if the deal takes the likely course it will mean convicted drug carriers Schapelle Corby and members of the Bali Nine could be given the chance to complete their sentences in Australia.
Indonesian Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaluddin revealed late yesterday he planned to finalise arrangements for the treaty when he meets Attorney-General Philip Ruddock in Bali today. The plan is to sign the agreement in September.
Revelations a prisoner-exchange treaty between Australia and its near neighbour is close to reality will come as good news to at least some of the Australians in Bali's Kerobokan jail.
It comes as a surprise to many who believed such a treaty was years away, especially after relations between the countries chilled in the wake of the Papuan asylum-seekers row.
Some Indonesian officials and lawmakers have suggested, in the past few months, that prisoner-exchange was off the table until the asylum issue had been properly resolved.
Dr Awaluddin told a press conference, on the sidelines of a two-day joint ministerial meeting in Bali, the countries now had ironed out any "major differences" on the issue.
"We do not have any differences between me as Minister of Justice of Indonesia and Attorney-General of Australia," Dr Awaluddin said.
"I hope tomorrow (Thursday) we will finalise this talk when I meet the Attorney-General and if we reach that agreement tomorrow I expect when I visit Australia in September we can sign bilateral agreement."
Dr Awaluddin said the agreement was now "substantively" arranged. However, he did not give details of how much of their sentences Australian prisoners would need to serve in Indonesia before they would qualify to go home to a prison in their own state.
The issue was reinvigorated after former beauty student Schapelle Corby was sentenced to 20 years' jail for marijuana smuggling. At this time it was suggested prisoners would first need to serve about half of their sentence in Indonesia, similar to an agreement between Australia and Thailand. Uncertainty remains for those jailed for life, given that not all states of Australia have truth in sentencing when it comes to life terms.
However, the two Bali Nine ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who received the death penalty, may not benefit from the scheme.
Ten Australians are in Bali's jail. Aside from Corby, Chan and Sukumaran, five other members of the Bali Nine are serving 20-year jail terms and two have had their life sentences confirmed by the High Court. While the announcement will be good news to some of these, others have previously said they would rather serve their jail terms in Bali.
This is because money in an Indonesian jail can buy prisoners many privileges which are strictly banned in Australian jails and early remissions here can slash years from sentences.
Dr Awaluddin sidestepped the question of when three of the 2002 Bali bombers, all on death row, will be executed, saying it was a matter for the country's Attorney-General. However, he confirmed Balinese prosecutors had two weeks ago requested that the trio face the firing squad at the Nusa Kambangan island prison where they are held rather than be returned to Bali for the execution.
But the bombers' lawyers have put the brakes on any plans for imminent firing squad action, saying the trio will seek to lodge further applications for judicial reviews of their cases.
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motaman
old hand
Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 5,813
Last seen: 2 years, 18 days
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: veggie]
#5800849 - 06/28/06 08:10 PM (5 years, 7 months ago) |
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Ahh.. hope.... 
Thanks for keeping us updated on this veggie..
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http://heffter.org
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bluemeanie
Cow boy
Registered: 06/18/01
Posts: 5,716
Loc: orbit
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Re: Schapelle Corby [Re: motaman]
#5802129 - 06/29/06 02:52 AM (5 years, 7 months ago) |
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Indeed - sounds like she and the 'bali nine' might be serving their sentence at home - well actually only the bali seven, because two are on death row...
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Holidaying in San Diego...
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Iamthewalrus
every evening Idied and everynight I wasreborn
Registered: 03/24/04
Posts: 3,744
Loc: Ontario
Last seen: 3 years, 3 months
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I think I might write to her if I can...this kinda shit makes me sick...when are we gonna wake the fuck up
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motaman
old hand
Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 5,813
Last seen: 2 years, 18 days
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Corby's wish: last birthday behind bars [Re: veggie]
#5882907 - 07/20/06 08:42 PM (5 years, 6 months ago) |
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http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19749112-421,00.html
Corby's wish: last birthday behind bars
From:
By Cindy Wockner
July 11, 2006
Family / Lukman S Bintoro
Jailhouse visit ... Schapelle Corby's mother Rosleigh, sister Mercedes and her family yesterday. Photo: Lukman S Bintoro
IF Schapelle Corby had one birthday wish yesterday it was that she never has to celebrate another milestone behind the walls of Bali's Kerobokan Jail - or any prison.
The former Gold Coast beauty therapy student turned 29 and had a low-key celebration with her mother Rosleigh Rose, sister Mercedes and her family, who visited for an hour.
It came as her lawyers revealed they hoped to lodge an application for an extraordinary appeal within the next three weeks in a bid to prove her innocence.
Yesterday Mercedes' young children, Wayan and Nellie, sang happy birthday to their aunt but there were no birthday candles and no grand cake.
"She is hoping it is the last (birthday) she has in jail," Mercedes said after the visit.
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http://heffter.org
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Corby on verge of coming home [Re: motaman]
#5936493 - 08/06/06 08:24 AM (5 years, 6 months ago) |
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Corby on verge of coming home
August 06, 2006 - Daily Telegraph
A TEAM from Attorney-General Philip Ruddock's office will fly to Jakarta within days to tie up a formal prisoner-exchange agreement with Indonesia.
The agreement is expected be signed next month when Minister for Law and Human Rights Hamid Awaludin visits Australia for a formal ceremony in Canberra, and Schapelle Corby is set to benefit from the deal.
"Negotiations to actually start to exchange prisoners can then begin immediately," the Indonesian government spokesman said.
"We have an in-principle agreement in place now, and there just remains one or two outstanding issues of a very technical nature to clear up."
Corby was sentenced to 20 years in an Indonesian prison after more than 4 kg of marijuana was found in her boogie-board bag at Bali airport.
It is unclear if those serving life terms will benefit.
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Anno
Experimenter
Registered: 06/17/99
Posts: 24,062
Loc: my room
Last seen: 7 hours, 27 minutes
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Schapelle Corby trial delayed [Re: veggie]
#5980694 - 08/20/06 12:41 AM (5 years, 5 months ago) |
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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20136667-1702,00.html
Corby faces final appeal next week
August 11, 2006 - 4:15PM
Australian authorities want Schapelle Corby's final appeal against her Bali drug smuggling conviction to fail because her arrival home would expose "lies and corruption", her mother claims.
Lawyers for 29-year-old Corby, who is serving a 20-year sentence in Bali's Kerobokan Prison, will take her appeal to the Denpasar District Court next week, probably on Friday.
"Today we submitted our application for a judicial review on behalf of our client Schapelle Corby," her lawyer Erwin Siregar said.
The Supreme Court will make a final decision on her appeal after the district court hearing.
It will be Corby's last shot at proving her innocence before she makes a plea for clemency to Indonesia's president.
Her mother, Rosleigh Rose, said the appeal offered a chance to "get to the truth".
Corby has long maintained that the 4.1kg of marijuana found in her bodyboard bag at Denpasar Airport in October 2004 was planted by baggage handlers involved in moving drugs around in Australia.
"There's still hope ... it has to be dug up to get to the truth," Rose said in Brisbane.
"I can't believe how our government and the federal police have lied - they don't want her home, free.
"They know someone is responsible for what has happened to Schapelle and the federal police are covering it up, about the corruption at the airports.
"There's a lot more stuff going on ... they are up to something and they don't want it out because it's so corrupt."
She said Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty made Corby "look bad every time he commented".
"He said Schapelle didn't want their help with DNA [testing the marijuana] ... but Schapelle asked for their help," Rose said.
A police spokesman had no immediate comment on Rose's allegations.
It is not yet clear whether Corby will appear in person at the appeal, expected on Friday.
"If the judges want her to appear, she has to, although we the lawyers can represent her," said Siregar.
Indonesian law says there are three reasons for a judicial review appeal, including new evidence, disparity of decision made by judges at one of the courts, and judicial negligence.
The defence team plans to submit a document requested from Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison in relation to possible drug smuggling at Australian airports the day Corby left for Bali.
The 19-page document setting out Corby's appeal also claims mistakes and discrepancies by the judges who convicted her.
Her lawyers will argue she should be acquitted because the judges did not properly distinguish between importing, owning and using marijuana.
The document says prosecutors could prove only that she was in possession of the marijuana found in her bodyboard bag, but not that she was importing it.
"All the facts are leading to the possession charge, but the prosecutors didn't charge her with that, therefore, by law, she must be acquitted," says the document, submitted in Indonesian.
Corby's lawyers also argue her sentence was too harsh, compared to punishments handed down for similar offences elsewhere in Indonesia.
In making her final appeal, Corby runs no risk of increasing her sentence, as a judicial review can only maintain or reduce her prison term, or acquit her altogether.
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Da_Vine
eat me
Registered: 07/03/04
Posts: 297
Loc: jamaica mon
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Re: Schapelle Corby trial delayed [Re: Anno]
#5990528 - 08/23/06 06:26 PM (5 years, 5 months ago) |
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http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20235235-5006009,00.html
"I'll come home free"
WITH just a day to go before her last-ditch bid to win an appeal against her drug smuggling conviction Schapelle Corby indicated yesterday she did not want to serve out her 20-year sentence in an Australian jail.
"If she is coming back to Australia, she wants to come back as a free woman," her lawyer Erwin Siregar said.
He said this was because Corby's focus was on winning her appeal and her freedom from the 20-year sentence.
She was not concentrating on the detail of a prisoner transfer arrangement being negotiated between Indonesia and Australia.
Mr Siregar was confident of winning the application which will focus on the lack of sufficient evidence to find beyond reasonable doubt that Corby was "in control" of the marijuana discovered in her boogie board bag.
"There is so much reasonable doubt and so many procedures of investigation they not do (sic)," Mr Siregar said.
The legal team's aim is to have Corby's conviction thrown out altogether and sent home to Australia. A legal academic will testify about the law in relation to trafficking of drugs versus the offence of possession.
If the charge is not thrown out, he said at its very highest the court could only find Corby guilty of possession of the drug - a much lesser charge carrying only a 10-year maximum term.
Corby was all smiles yesterday inside Bali's Kerobokan jail. Wearing a cap over her new short hair and a sweater over her white T-shirt, the 29-year-old spent an hour with her lawyers.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Schapelle's heart of darkness [Re: Da_Vine]
#6305172 - 11/27/06 03:32 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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Schapelle's heart of darkness
November 17, 2006 - ninemsn.com.au
From her cell, Schapelle Corby, in an exclusive interview, reveals the depths of her Bali prison hell and her desperate hopes for freedom. Kathryn Bonella reports.
If you believe what you've read in the women's magazines and hear on the grapevine, Schapelle Corby's life is pretty cushy. She might be doing 20 years in a third world prison but she's had a string of lovers and gets out regularly to hit clubs around Kuta. In fact these days she's as ubiquitous at nightclubs in Bali as Paris Hilton is at first-night parties.
It's practically sport nowadays for Australian expats in Bali to talk of Schapelle Corby sightings - someone they know who spotted her out dancing or drinking coffee. But it's not just gossip any longer; somewhere along the line these mythical sightings have become such credible fact that Channel Nine News recently asked about filming her on one of her days out, and her sister Mercedes is constantly getting calls from journalists about it.
"What do they want ... to photograph me out surfing on my boogie board maybe?" Schapelle laughs. "It's so ridiculous. If I did get out there would be photographs. I can't even walk around the jail without someone pointing a camera phone at me," she says sitting in Kerobokan Prison's visiting area - the closest she gets to the outside world these days.
As for her "secret jail lover" as reported in New Idea two weeks ago, or last week's latest twist reported in Woman's Day - a love affair with Bali Nine ringleader 22-year-old Andrew Chan, Corby is mortified.
"It's unbelievable. These magazines simply make it up. It's complete fiction. None of it is true. I have never had a boyfriend or sex in here. Come on! This place is vile and disgusting. Where are we supposed to have done it ... in the church toilet or the filthy visit area? No way. I'm so embarrassed that people are reading this total crap about me."
In an exclusive interview for The Bulletin, Schapelle talks about her book My Story which she says will finally give the public the true story, undoing a lot of the rubbish, rumours and hurtful lies written about her for the past two years.
"It's shattering, I feel so small. The whole nation, my home, reading degrading gossip - with the internet this gossip is worldwide. It crushes me and devastates me. I will never understand why this constant degrading of me goes on. I've been humiliated - exceedingly - way over the normal limits of life's humiliations. I have a 20-year sentence. I've been hurt beyond belief. Why do these people keep attacking me, insulting me? I won't be quiet and stand for it any longer. This is why I've written a book."
Corby says the truth is that her life is absolute hell. She has no semblance of a comfortable life; no privileges, certainly no days out - not even to see a dentist about her rotting teeth. Ever since she happily stepped off her flight in Bali two years ago, she's been living a nightmare.
"I live in the most gross, disgusting world now. I can never forget where I am or who I'm living with. I don't totally trust anyone. My things are always being stolen and I'm always watching my back."
Corby lives in a seedy world overcrowded with terrorists, pedophiles and murderers. She's locked up for 15 hours a day in a small, stinking, hot cement cell that often has rats and feral cats coming in and has a sickening stench from the open sewer behind it.
But when you meet her in the visiting area of Kerobokan Prison it's hard to fathom she's come from such foulness. She usually does look ready to go out for a day, wearing make-up, bronzing powder, a spray of Gucci perfume and lately a bandana or cap to cover her cropped hair from sneaky photographers who persistently stalk her.
Corby puts on fresh clothes and gets ready for a visit like she really has got some place to go. But she doesn't. She has absolutely nowhere to go. The furthest she's got in two years - apart from court and hospital - is the filthy little visiting area about 100 metres across the jail grounds to see her family or friends. That is what she dresses up for. That is the highlight of her life nowadays.
Incredibly, mostly she walks into a visit smiling, with something to talk about in her enthusiastic way, always trying to be upbeat and brave. She talks about anything from the latest news about Brad and Angelina or Keith and Nicole - not that she believes any of it nowadays - to some trivia she's read and loves to collect like "Hey, did you know an ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain?" She is also always keenly interested in news and events in the outside world. Last week she asked friends to place a bet for her in the Melbourne Cup. They backed Mandela - because he was a fighter like she is - but unfortunately it didn't do much good. "It's still walking home," she laughs a few days later.
Unsurprisingly, however, most of her conversation is about prison life and the latest drama playing out in her world - anything from a female prisoner overdosing on bleach or perfume (last week), to women viciously attacking each other with broken bottles or a rat giving birth in her shoes.
There are days when she is unable to hide her fear and pain, usually because she's seen something so horrific that it's well beyond her coping mechanisms - like a prisoner bashed almost to death. Other times it's nothing in particular that breaks her spirit … it's absolutely everything.
She might slip into a black hole of depression for a single day, a week or a fortnight, losing her fragile grip on holding it together. During these times, she often asks her family not to visit. She shuts herself down to fight the depression, forcefully erasing negative thoughts. Corby says this blackness is always lurking just beneath the surface, no matter how "normal" she seems, a minute rarely passes when she doesn't feel the crushing weight of her 20-year sentence.
"I'm innocent and I shouldn't be here, and the government should be doing something, and someone should put their hand up. I may wear make-up and I may look okay but I'm not okay. I'm hanging on tightly to a knot at the end of a rope and I know I could slip off anytime. The pain some days is unbearable. I didn't do this and I shouldn't be in here. This is my life and this is what is happening to me and I want everyone to know and be aware what this life is like."
Corby says she wants people to know her hell, to understand it. She was determined to put all the gruesome detail of prison life in her book, regardless of any repercussions. She says she's stripped of any privileges already - even a power point in her cell was ripped out a few weeks ago. She says Kerobokan is a "soul-sucking dump" and she does not want anyone to think her life is in any way OK.
"Hopefully the person who did this - no doubt, more than one person would know - will gain a twinge of guilt to finally speak up. Someone who knows something has watched my whole sorry story play out on television and in the papers. I also breathe hope of our government stepping in to intervene, despite the comments and lack of help, I still keep a thread of hope for that to happen."
Corby is clinging to the belief that wrongs do get righted; in the end life will be fair, and her innocence will set her free. "I'm always thinking someday soon the guards will come and say 'OK Corby pack your bags, you're going home.' When that happens I will be the happiest girl in the world."
But she refuses to let her hopes rise too high, as they've already been crushed over and over, each time knocking her so hard that she's been unable to get out of bed for days.
Six months ago Corby was really struggling under the weight of it all. She'd lost her final appeal and had 20 years reinstated after it'd been dropped to 15. It wasn't unusual to sit in a visit with her sobbing, with her chin quivering and biting her lip, attempting to control herself - as she regularly did in court. In this distraught state, she'd often ask the same killer question that you'd desperately want to find an impossible comforting answer for. "How much longer do I have to stay here?"
She'd ask Mercedes this question constantly. Mercedes would usually give the same answer, "not much longer, Schapelle", trying to make both of them feel better. This was a regular little exchange between the two sisters.
But in the second half of this year, Schapelle seems to have grown stronger, rarely crying in visits. It's probably a combination of reasons - she's moved into a cell with only six women, which means she gets more sleep; no longer sharing with a heroin addict and seeing the back of a Dutch prisoner who made her life hell by stalking her with a camera and spreading lies about her being a drug dealer inside jail. (This woman went straight to New Idea as soon as she was released.)
Schapelle admits she's probably also adapted to prison life. She's also got the tangible and realistic hope of another possible appeal, and will find out in the next few months whether that will be granted. And she says writing her book has helped to give her strength through the renewed sense that she does in fact have a voice, she is not just a victim.
"I've had this horrible drug-smuggling conviction attached to my name. I may now be tagged as a prisoner, a criminal, but I am still a person. I still have a heart and I'm aware of everything that is said and reported about me. I hear it all. Merc brings in the articles or people send them to me. I've been a prostitute, I have jail lovers, I'm now a slut, a weirdo, all these horrible things printed about me and it's not true.
"With a book I'm in total control of what is written and what is printed. Essentially I'm a private person, but I've decided - with a considerable amount of thought - to tell my story."
Schapelle spent a lot of time writing her diary and notes for the book while sitting cross-legged on a mattress in her cell, as well as doing many short interviews in the visiting area at Kerobokan Prison, and says reliving much of it was often very painful. "Since the very first of this ordeal I started writing. It's been a very cathartic experience for me. I had no one to really speak with. Pen and paper became my friend, my focus, my thoughts, my escape, my relief and now it's becoming my voice.
"It hasn't been easy, it's been very emotional, going back reliving and digging up the emotions, and misplaced memories that were too painful for me to write in my journal. It's been bloody hard and frustrating and quite frankly very grim at times.
"We've been working on this book since December 2005, with sickness holding up the process on a few occasions. This nightmare has been going on for a very trying, tiring, frustratingly long time and I hope that this book brings some understanding and awareness to what's endured behind the scenes. I have to go home. This is slowly killing me; I am losing who I am. I don't want to be lonely any more. I want this heartache to be over. I want to live again."
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle's heart of darkness [Re: veggie]
#6340239 - 12/06/06 10:24 AM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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Corby's tale becomes bestseller
25 November 2006 - thewest.com.au
Schapelle Corby's new book is this week's top seller, it is reported.
More than 17,000 copies of the book, My Story, were bought in its first eight days on sale, according to Nielsen BookScan, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Corby's publisher, Pan Macmillan, said she wanted to use the proceeds from the book to fund her legal battle against her conviction in Indonesia.
But a spokesman for federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison said any profit she made could be confiscated by the commonwealth under the Proceeds of Crime Act, the newspaper reported.
Corby, 29, is serving a 20-year sentence in Bali's Kerobokan Prison for smuggling 4.1 kg of cannabis inside a bodyboard bag in October 2004.
Her book was co-written by former TV producer Kathryn Bonella and is based on a series of secret interviews Bonella conducted with Corby inside the jail.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle's heart of darkness [Re: veggie]
#6340247 - 12/06/06 10:26 AM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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Corby lawyer threatens to tell all
December 06, 2006 - theaustralian.news.com
ONE of Schapelle Corby's former lawyers says he will reveal "the truth" about her drug smuggling conviction unless she backs off criticising his reputation.
Vasu Rasiah says he is willing to reveal damaging details about Corby's defence, and her plea of innocence.
"If they push us to a corner then we have no option but to reveal all the truth, and everything that took place, we will. And that will be very detrimental to her," Mr Rasiah said to the ABC's 7.30 Report.
Mr Rasiah, among others, is blamed for Corby's conviction in her book, My Story, which has sold more than 17,000 copies since its release last month.
He was a member of Corby's Indonesian legal team after her arrest in Bali in 2004 for smuggling 4.1kg of cannabis inside a bodyboard bag.
Corby, 29, is serving a 20-year sentence in Bali's Kerobokan Prison.
Mr Rasiah, who is described in the book as a money hungry bully, said his team was happy to leave the case, saying "everything was manipulated".
He said it was the Corby family that was focused on money.
Mr Rasiah also said the family knocked back an offer from the Australian Federal Police to DNA test the cannabis, to track its origin, when they learned the results would be passed on to Indonesian police.
Corby's mother Rosleigh Rose has denied such an offer was made.
But Mr Rasiah said: "We even got a couple of samples from Bali police for this testing".
It would be a positive for the defence if the cannabis was found to come from somewhere other than Corby's home state of Queensland, he said.
"And they came and said `No, (Corby's sister) Mercedes feels, please don't push this angle because it is detrimental to the case'," Mr Rasiah said.
Quoting sources close the family, the ABC also reported it had new information about Corby's movements before she entered Brisbane airport on October 8, 2004, the day she left Australia for Bali.
She met an Adelaide man, in the pre-dawn darkness, on her way to Brisbane's international airport that day, causing her to almost miss her 6am flight, the report said.
Mr Rasiah, who named Mercedes Corby as the key organiser of Schapelle's defence, said he would have more to say about the case if the attacks on his reputation didn't stop.
``If they push us too hard, we will tell the whole world what exactly took place and how it all went about,'' Mr Rasiah said.
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OneMoreRobot3021
punky jewster
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 60,497
Loc: new york city
Last seen: 6 days, 8 hours
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Re: Schapelle's heart of darkness [Re: veggie]
#6340570 - 12/06/06 12:23 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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Hm. Who to believe?
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Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake.
-Erik Davis
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Corby's sister slams tell-all 'source'
December 07, 2006 - news.com.au
A FORMER member of Schapelle Corby's legal team who is threatening to tell "the truth" about her drug smuggling conviction can't be trusted, Corby's sister Mercedes says.
Vasu Rasiah is angry about an attack on his reputation in Corby's book, My Story, in which he is described as a money-hungry bully.
Mr Rasiah says he is willing to reveal damaging details about Corby's defence, and her plea of innocence, unless she backs off.
“If they push us to a corner then we have no option but to reveal all the truth, and everything that took place, we will. And that will be very detrimental to her,” Mr Rasiah told ABC television last night.
Mercedes Corby, speaking from her Gold Coast home early today, said Mr Rasiah is not a lawyer and he has threatened the family before.
She said his claims are untrue.
“He can't be trusted ... he is obviously lashing out because he does not like what is in the book,” Mercedes said.
“He can't handle the truth. Schapelle is innocent.”
Mr Rasiah was a member of Corby's Indonesian legal team after her arrest in Bali in 2004 with 4.1kg of cannabis inside a bodyboard bag.
Corby, 29, is serving a 20 year sentence in Bali's Kerobokan Prison.
Mr Rasiah said Mercedes was instrumental in the family refusing an offer from the Australian Federal Police to DNA test the cannabis, to track its origin, when they learned the results would be passed on to Indonesian police.
Mr Rasiah told the ABC: “We even got a couple of samples from Bali police for this testing”.
But Mercedes rejected that, saying Schapelle signed her consent for the tests but the Indonesian police refused to release samples.
And she said claims in the ABC report that Schapelle stopped to meet an Adelaide man on her way to Brisbane airport were “just crap”.
“There was mum driving, Schapelle, James, Ally and Katrina in the car, they did not stop,” Mercedes said.
Quoting sources close to the family, the ABC reported it had new information about Corby's movements before she entered Brisbane airport on October 8, 2004, the day she left Australia for Bali.
She met an Adelaide man, in the pre-dawn darkness, on her way to Brisbane's international airport that day, causing her to almost miss her 6am flight, the report said.
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uber_aj
Monkey with a mind
Registered: 11/13/05
Posts: 4,118
Loc: In an octopus's garden
Last seen: 46 minutes, 8 seconds
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Re: Schapelle's heart of darkness [Re: veggie]
#6340922 - 12/06/06 01:58 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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i just read this whole thing, i was totally unaware of any of this previously. what utter bullshit. i will never go within 100mi of Indonesia. im so pissed off now it could ruin my day.
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Subjective experience does not accurately reflect objective reality. Mysticism, fundamentalism and superstition are branches of the same weed, stealing nutrients, water and sunlight from the rose garden of reason.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle's heart of darkness [Re: veggie]
#6367208 - 12/13/06 05:25 PM (5 years, 2 months ago) |
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Prisoner exchange set for '07
Schapelle Corby could be included
December 14, 2006 - Daily Telegraph
A PRISONER exchange agreement between Australia and Indonesia could be finalised early next year, Justice Minister Chris Ellison said.
 The countries have been in negotiations on the exchange for some time, but differences between the two have seen the deal stalled several times.
Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock said he expected the agreement to be signed in June, and then he extended it to September and again it wasn't signed.
Senator Ellison said he spoke with his Indonesian counterpart last month and expects the deal will be signed very soon.
"We're looking to settle this agreement early in the new year," the senator told Channel 9 today.
"We're very keen to proceed with it and the Indonesians are as well."
He said once the agreement is finalised the transfers will take place soon after, and prisoners like Schapelle Corby and the Bali Nine could be included.
"Certainly they could be eligible, any Australian in an Indonesian prison could be eligible, providing the length of time they're serving and there will be other terms which will have to be met," Senator Ellison said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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The story that won't go away [Re: veggie]
#6388604 - 12/19/06 09:56 PM (5 years, 1 month ago) |
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December 20, 2006 - Jakarta Post
Erwin Siregar
Much-traveled Bali lawyer Erwin Siregar is about to take his wife and children to Japan for their Christmas holiday.
On his return in January he hopes he'll be flying again, this time to Australia in the company of drug-runner Schapelle Corby.
The 29 year old is currently a guest of the Republic for the next two decades; address Kerobokan prison, known to Australians as Hotel K.
Erwin already imagines the scene: Walking into the airport lounge, TV crews everywhere jostling for interviews, cheering crowds of diehard supporters.
By his side the famous/infamous Gold Coast brunette flashing her baby blues, her decolletage jail-chic, radiant with her new-found freedom.
Then maybe the white knight will get some of the US$120,000 (Rp 1 billion) he claims he's owed for defending the former beauty therapist.
It's an appealing fantasy. Literally, for its fulfillment depends entirely on the success of Erwin's latest bid to prove that Corby did not wittingly import 4.1 kilograms of marijuana through Bali's Ngurah Rai airport in October 2004.
This extraordinary appeal is being made to the Supreme Court in Jakarta and it is basically a review of the published evidence and judgment. It will not require the appearance of either Corby or her lawyer, though he or his staff may be in the capital to keep an eye on things.
It's not the first attempt. One got her term knocked down to 15 years -- another had the 20-year sentence reinstated.
Erwin said one of three results could be expected: Corby's 20-year sentence would stand, or it would be reduced, or she'd be acquitted. Although the prosecution is opposing the appeal, Erwin said a higher sentence could not be imposed.
Like any good defense lawyer he says he's optimistic. "One day justice will come," he said in his modest Denpasar office. "Maybe next month.
"Till today I still think she is not guilty. I see it in her body language, in her eyes. I've been a lawyer since 1981. I have handled maybe 200 drug cases in that time. There are so many reasonable doubts in this case.
"I think only crazy people would bring expensive marijuana from Australia to Indonesia where it's cheap. She's not a drug user -- blood and urine samples prove that. She has no record in Australia."
Erwin then rapidly ripped apart what he claims are the flaws in the prosecution and court decisions, and the grounds of the challenges.
If you've followed this seemingly endless Australian tear-jerker that tends to leave Indonesians cold, you'd know the appeal points are not new: The police didn't take fingerprints.
Her luggage wasn't weighed on arrival in Bali then compared against the check-in weight in Australia; this might have shown that the drugs could have been added to her boogie bag by back-scenes airport staff.
Then there's the court's refusal to use teleconferencing facilities so an alleged witness in Australia -- apparently too frightened to fly to Indonesia -- can claim the drugs were his.
Erwin is too savvy to hard-prose his criticisms of the courts that have so far found his arguments spectacularly unimpressive.
Instead, he put his hands over his ears, then over his eyes, indicating that maybe the learned judges didn't quite catch the points being made by the defense.
A day before talking to The Jakarta Post two complimentary copies of Corby's just-released biography, My Story, co-authored by Kathryn Bonella, were delivered to Erwin, courtesy of the prisoner.
One was for him, the other for his expert witness in the earlier failed High Court appeal, law professor Indriyanto Seno Adji. The inscription "Be Positive" included a hand drawn "Smiley".
Displaying the usual loser's response, Corby's book is not kind to her defense team that she sacked after the verdict. There was lawyer Lily Lubis, Vasudevan Rasiah and Erwin. Jakarta lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea, who usually gets tagged "flamboyant" resigned, according to Erwin.
Rasiah has been the focus of much of Corby's wrath. Although he is often labeled "lawyer" in the Australian media, Erwin said Rasiah was not a lawyer but a "contractor".
"A week after the verdict Schapelle called me and apologized and said she wanted me to stay on the case," Erwin said.
"I replied: `I'll never leave you alone. If you don't sack me then I'll stay with you to the end.'"
In her book Corby criticizes Lubis, claiming she was constantly crying and didn't have the skills to mount a vigorous defense. Erwin agreed his legal colleague had limited experience and had not pushed the point about alleged weight discrepancies.
But he refused to comment on her performance, saying he had seen her cry only once when the first verdict was announced. He said Lubis brought him into the case 60 days after Corby was arrested because of his experience.
Corby's book is reported to be selling well with 17,000 copies jumping off the shelves in the first week. If normal author's royalty conditions apply Corby and Bonella should share 10 percent of the retail price, currently around A$30 (Rp 200,000).
Publisher Pan Macmillan claims Corby wants to use the proceeds to pay for her defense. Erwin made some quick calculations and reckoned that even if sales stay good she wouldn't have enough to clear her debts.
However, if she loses the extraordinary appeal and retains her convict status neither she nor Erwin will see any royalties. The Australian government will seize it all because that country has laws banning criminals profiting from ill-gotten gains.
In her book Corby claims that AUD $80,000 (Rp 560 million) has been spent on her legal fees. Erwin said he's received only US $3,000 (Rp 27 million) from Rasiah. If Corby and her supporters can't find the cash Erwin reckons the Australian government should pay. He's already sent a bill but this has just been rejected.
"So far I've been doing this for humanitarian reasons," he said. "I'm a Christian; my wife is a Sunday school teacher.
"I come from a poor family in Sumatra. I went to high school in Surabaya but didn't have enough money to study law.
"So I came to Bali and worked on the beach and as an illegal tour guide to get enough cash to put me through university.
"I see Schapelle maybe every two weeks or so. I think she likes me very much. We talk about religion, life, the law. Are her spirits still high? Yes. Till now."
And what happens if the extraordinary appeal fails? "We can appeal again if there's new information from a reliable witness."
Whatever the verdict, one thing is certain: This story still has "legs".
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Schapelle Corby sentence cut [Re: veggie]
#6402703 - 12/25/06 01:54 AM (5 years, 1 month ago) |
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Schapelle Corby sentence cut
December 25, 2006 - news.com.au
AUSTRALIAN drug convicts Schapelle Corby and Renae Lawrence have each had one month cut from their sentences by the Indonesian government.
The pair are each serving 20 years - Corby for smuggling 4.1 kg of cannabis into Bali and Lawrence for trying to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin to Australia.
The reduction was announced at Kerobokan prison, where the ministry of human rights and justice decrees were stuck onto the walls.
Prison governor Ilham Djaya said they both deserved remission because they had behaved well and, as prisoners, it was their right.
Lawrence is the only member of the Bali Nine to get remission.
Her fellow drug smugglers are not eligible because they are serving life terms or are sentenced to death.
Djaya said that although Corby had served longer than Lawrence, they both received the same reduction because regulations allow prisoners who have served between one to two years to get a maximum remission of one month.
Corby is due for release in July 2024 while Lawrence's sentence runs until July 2025.
Lawrence has accepted her sentence while Corby is still appealing her conviction.
Remission for prisoners in Indonesia is granted twice a year: every independence day in August and on holy days according to the convict's religion.
The Indonesian and Australian government is drafting a prisoner exchange program. It was due to have been signed this month but was postponed until next year.
If the agreement is signed, the prisoners can serve their sentence in their own country.
[veggie: To have Schapelle's 20 year sentence cut by just one month is totally absurd. Don't for a moment think this represents any compassion of the Indonesian government. If anything, this is an outright insult especially coming on the heels of the recent overturning of the conviction of Abu Bakar Bashir, the leader of the Islamic terrorist organization responsible for the 2002 bombing in the Bali tourist district in which 202 people were killed, 164 foreigners - 88 of whom were Australian.]
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby sentence cut [Re: veggie]
#6407545 - 12/29/06 08:51 AM (5 years, 1 month ago) |
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Indonesia rejects prisoner exchange draft
December 29, 2006 - news.com.au
The Australian proposed draft for a prisoner exchange agreement – obtained by news agency AAP – would allow a judicial review of a convict's case in their home country and, possibly, allow their sentences to be reduced.
"The continuance of (their) punishment... after the transfer will be regulated by the law and procedure in the recipient country," the draft states.
"And if the basic nature of the punishment and the term is not suitable with the recipient party then the recipient can adjust the punishment to its own regulation for similar crime."
Schapelle Corby was sentenced to 20 years in jail for trying to smuggle marijuana into Bali, but this week was given a one-month remission.
Members of the Bali Nine group were given various sentences ranging from 20 years in jail to the death penalty for trying to smuggle heroin from Indonesia to Australia.
Indonesian prisoners who could be eligible for transfer include dozens of fishermen convicted of poaching in Australian waters.
But sources at the Indonesian Ministry of Justice and Human Rights said they had rejected the Australian draft.
"The basic principle of this agreement is to make the prisoners closer with their homeland and families, but we don't want the case to be reviewed again," the ministry said.
The draft states an Australian convicted to between one year and life in jail could seek to finish the rest of their term in their home country.
The two countries have not agreed on how much of their term a prisoner must serve before applying.
The draft says that a full record of the convict's judicial process must be included in any application.
Both sides have been hinting that differences between them may be overcome soon.
Earlier this month, Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said he expected the agreement to be signed early next year.
Justice Minister Chris Ellison's plan to visit Indonesia in mid-December was delayed and Indonesian Government sources said both countries have not met to discuss the specific articles in the draft.
The original plan was to sign the agreement in September, when Indonesia's Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaludin visited Canberra.
Points of difference between the two countries include:
AUSTRALIA would give parole to a prisoner for good behaviour at the end of the punishment, while Indonesia uses remission to cut a jail term.
THE application, which must come from the prisoner or their close relatives, must be agreed to by the transferring country and the recipient country. For Australia, this is the Attorney-General; the Indonesians have not decided yet because relevant authority is split between the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, the Supreme Court and the Attorney-General.
THE draft also says a person sentenced to home detention in Indonesia could apply for a transfer.
Indonesia and Australia signed a security agreement in November, committing to protect each other's border from separatist movements.
That agreement was signed after Australia granted asylum to 42 Indonesian Papuans earlier this year.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Corby faces greatest fear [Re: veggie]
#6415164 - 01/01/07 08:03 AM (5 years, 1 month ago) |
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Fearful Corby faces being moved to prison in east Java
January 2, 2006 - theage.com.au
WHAT Schapelle Corby has described as her "living hell" in an Indonesian prison is about to get worse.
Authorities are preparing to transfer the 29-year-old Brisbane woman from Bali's Kerobokan jail to a prison in the east Java city of Malang, hundreds of kilometres from Bali and further away from family and friends.
Prison officials have told The Age that Corby could be transferred to Malang at any time.
At present, family members and friends visit her regularly, bringing food and other essentials.
Corby's sister Mercedes lives in Bali with her Indonesian husband and two children.
"I live in fear that any day I could be plucked from my cell in the dead of night and taken to another prison in a remote part of Indonesia," Corby wrote in her book, My Story, which was released late last year.
She said guards relished threatening her with being moved, part of their "ongoing campaign of mental abuse".
Life in Kerobokan is harsh; the prison provides inedible food and few other essentials. But prisoners with access to money, such as Corby, can receive whatever supplies they want, even access to mobile phones.
Corby described seeing horrific violence and acts of degradation in Kerobokan. She wrote that guards had been regularly transferring prisoners in the dead of night, without alerting family or consulates.
Corby said her sister "might just come in one day to find her little sister gone. It terrifies us both. It's hard to fathom, but I actually fear being taken away from Kerobokan prison."
Papers authorising the transfer were sent weeks ago from authorities in Jakarta to Kerobokan's warden, Ilham Djaya, who said the move must go ahead because of overcrowding.
Mr Djaya said Kerobokan had room for only 340 prisoners but housed almost 900.
Corby's Indonesian lawyer, Erwin Siregar, has written a letter to prison officials asking that if Corby is transferred, it be to another Bali prison, where she would be near family and the Australian consulate. Mr Siregar also said Corby should not be transferred while waiting to hear the outcome of a judicial review of her conviction for possessing 4.1 kilograms of marijuana found in her bodyboard bag at Bali airport in October 2004.
The outcome of the review before Indonesia's highest court is expected to be known soon. He has not received a reply to his letter.
Jail officials have also speculated that Renae Lawrence, one of the Bali nine drug mules, may soon be transferred from Kerobokan. Corby and Lawrence are both serving 20-year sentences.
Lawrence became hysterical several months ago when she thought she was to be included in a group of about nine prisoners, including two foreigners, who were transferred from Kerobokan without prior notice early one morning.
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veggie
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Re: Corby faces greatest fear [Re: veggie]
#6424122 - 01/04/07 09:23 AM (5 years, 1 month ago) |
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Corby should be 'thankful' for transfer
January 4, 2007 - news.com.au
CONVICTED drug smuggler Schapelle Corby should be thankful she is being transferred to a prison in east Java, Bali prison governor Ilham Djaya said today.
The governor of Kerobokan Prison - the man who requested Corby's transfer - said the inmate should be thankful she is going to a "better prison''.
Corby described the prison she is currently in as a "disgusting slum'' in her recent autobiography.
Mr Djaya said Corby had made some efforts to stop the transfer, and admitted that some people had pleaded with him to cancel the move.
"If she likes it here so much, why would she write that the toilet in the prison is gruesome, that the warden sexually harassed the inmates?'' Mr Djaya said.
Corby also complained of being unable to exercise on the prison's tennis court, he said.
"If she cannot do some sports here, in there (Sukun prison) she can run around 20 laps if she likes," Mr Djaya said.
He said the transfer would be a positive move.
"We are thinking positive for her, trying to provide a better system that would create a better person,'' Mr Djaya said.
In her book My Story launched in November, Corby describes the prison "Hotel Kerobokan'', as a "dark hell hole'' with no running water or power, with easy access for rats and snakes.
"We were living in a disgusting slum, in the most vile and unhygienic conditions imaginable,'' Corby wrote.
"It was not fit for human beings, it was not fit for a dog.
"It made me sick, I threw up often, had non-stop diarrhoea and persistent ear infections.''
Mr Djaya, who has Corby's book on a shelf in his office, admitted to reading it but would not say what he thought of it.
Corby's soon-to-be new home Sukun Prison in Malang, East Java, is the closest women's prison to Kerobokan, but is still hundreds of kilometres away.
While she now lives in a cell with eight to 10 inmates, her new cell will be more spacious with only two or three inmates, Mr Djaya said.
The former student beautician has a sister, Mercedes, who lives in Bali and provides her with food and other amenities.
Australian tourists also visit, offering support, food and other trinkets.
Prison department officials said Corby could be transferred anytime. However, authorities are awaiting funding from Jakarta.
The transfer was requested by the prison governor to the directorate general of prisons in Jakarta.
Transfer requests are generally made because the prison is overcrowded or for security reasons.
Kerobokan Prison currently has 838 prisoners, even though its capacity is for only 323 inmates.
Corby is one of 238 prisoners to be moved from the facility.
Indonesian prisoners cannot reject their transfer unless they have solid reasons to halt it, Mr Djaya said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Corby cash loophole [Re: veggie]
#6476744 - 01/19/07 01:16 PM (5 years, 27 days ago) |
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Corby cash loophole
January 19, 2007 - news.com.au
A PUBLISHING loophole could allow Schapelle Corby to defy the Federal Government and access proceeds from her new autobiography.
The Government is determined to stop the convicted drug smuggler profiting from her crime by cashing in on the success of her best-selling My Story, released just before Christmas.
Justice Minister Chris Ellison said any profit the former Gold Coast beauty therapist made from the book could be confiscated by the Commonwealth under the Proceeds of Crime Act. He has asked the Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate.
But sources said a decision to give Corby's elder sister Mercedes joint copyright of the book with co-author Kathryn Bonella could allow the Corby family to circumvent the legislation and pocket the profits.
Mercedes Corby lives in Bali, where Schapelle is serving a 20-year jail sentence for drug smuggling, and has taken much of the responsibility for her sister's legal battle and ongoing care in prison.
Tom Gilliatt, of Pan Macmillan which published My Story, has said Corby wants to use money from the book sales to fund her continuing legal battle in Indonesia, where she was caught trying to smuggle 4.1kg of cannabis in a bodyboard bag in October 2004.
Nr Gilliatt yesterday refused to comment on the financial arrangements for the book.
"(The) proceeds of crime (aspect) is a decision for whatever judicial body is looking into the matter," he said.
Mr Gilliatt said the book had been on the best-seller list "since the day it was published" and had sold more than 75,000 copies, meaning a potentially hefty windfall for Corby.
"It's still at No. 5 on the best-seller list," Mr Gilliatt said.
The Corby family could not be contacted for comment yesterday.
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Eraserhead
Lost Soul
Registered: 05/26/06
Posts: 1,363
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Re: Corby cash loophole [Re: veggie]
#6479386 - 01/20/07 08:33 AM (5 years, 26 days ago) |
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Holy crap, Amazon wants almost $50 for My Story
I was gonna buy a copy, but I'm a tad short right now, and besides, screw $50, mabey I'll check half-priced books, get it for $25 if they got it, tobad half priced would get my profits then, lmao
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#6573761 - 02/16/07 04:58 AM (4 years, 11 months ago) |
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New drug lie to bury Corby
February 14, 2007 - news.com.au
THE sister of convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has angrily denied a former friend's claims she tried to entice her to Bali to smuggle drugs, describing the allegation as "completely outrageous".
Mercedes Corby last night told The Daily Telegraph that Queensland woman Jodi Power's claims had been motivated by spite – and potentially jeopardised her sister's last chance at freedom.
She is planning legal action against Channel 7 and Today Tonight, which ran the claims in a paid interview.
"Schapelle is in her final appeal and for Jodi to come out and lie is low," Mercedes said.
"If there was a shred of truth in these claims, why wouldn't she have gone to the police instead of going on national TV and getting paid for it?"
During the interview, Ms Power also claimed to have seen a vacuum-sealed bag in the Corby home that was later used by Schapelle to transport marijuana to Bali.
"(Mercedes) asked if I would ever do it, if I would ever take drugs over (to Bali) and I said no, I've got two kids and I wouldn't do that and she went on to tell me that she had taken (drugs) over before," she said.
Ms Power agreed to prove her claims by allowing Today Tonight to film her submitting to a polygraph test. The report said she failed her first attempt but passed two subsequent tests.
Speaking from her Bali home, an emotional Mercedes last night dismissed those results as "nonsense" and offered to sit a test herself.
"Jodi has got a vendetta against me. What she doesn't realise is what her lies are doing to Schapelle," she said.
"My sister is sitting in jail here for 20 years for something she didn't do."
Last night, Ms Power's husband Michael Ripley rang The Daily Telegraph from the Gold Coast to refute his wife's claims.
"I still believe Schapelle is completely innocent," he said.
"Jodi has always had a tendency to come to her own conclusions about things – and those conclusions are quite often wrong."
Kathryn Bonella, co-author of Schapelle's autobiography My Story, defended her book against Ms Power's claim she was never included in it despite being a lifelong friend of the Corby family.
"She (Power) isn't the angel she makes herself out to be,"she said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#6573764 - 02/16/07 05:00 AM (4 years, 11 months ago) |
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Corby 'took the fall' for relative
February 16, 2007 - theaustralian.news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby is in jail because she took the fall for another member of her family, claims the mother of the former family friend who sparked the catfight played out on tabloid television every night this week.
On Monday, Jodie Power betrayed Schapelle and her sister Mercedes, telling Seven's Today Tonight in a paid interview there was a history of drug use in the Corby family before Schapelle was jailed for smuggling marijuana into Bali.
The revelation drew emotional denials from Mercedes, her former friend, and triggered a ratings war between Today Tonight and Nine's A Current Affair.
Last night, friends and enemies of the Corby sisters came forward with fresh accusations.
Ms Power's mother, Margaret, told ACA Schapelle was innocent and predicted the truth would come out eventually.
"I'll tell you something now: Schapelle Corby shouldn't be in jail but somebody else in that family should be. That's all I'm going to say," she said.
"And I feel sorry for Schapelle and I can't believe Schapelle's taken the fall for a member of her family, and I'm not going to say who it is."
Asked whether she would support Mercedes, Margaret Power replied: "Well, we won't go there."
Asked again, she replied: "Not in a million years."
Margaret Power conceded Jodie had been a substance abuser and had smoked marijuana.
Today Tonight rolled out an anonymous high-school friend of Schapelle, his face obscured, to out the convicted smuggler as smoker and dealer of marijuana. "Marijuana has been a part of her life for a long time," he said.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#6639599 - 03/05/07 08:28 PM (4 years, 11 months ago) |
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March 6, 2007 - stuff.co.nz
Corby to serve sentence at home
 Australia is set to finalise a prisoner exchange treaty with Indonesia that will allow Schapelle Corby, Renae Lawrence and others to serve their sentences back home.
The treaty should be signed after a final meeting in Australia, the Indonesian Justice Minister, Hamid Awaludin, told the Sydney Morning Herald after meeting the Attorney General, Philip Ruddock, in Jakarta yesterday.
"Everything is fine, from my side we are done," he said.
Only one monitoring issue needed to be clarified, Mr Awaludin said. "What sort of mechanism we have to establish on both sides so the prisoner can be checked on a regular basis, whether through our embassies in both countries or any other sort of mechanism."
Mr Ruddock said that from his side "there is absolutely no difficulty in terms of control mechanisms. It's something that can be worked out very easily."
He said he would not give a "daily commentary" on when the treaty would be signed.
Mr Awaludin said the only prisoners exempted from the treaty would be those sentenced to death, as Australia could not carry out their punishments.
It would apply to drug traffickers not on death row, including Corby and three members of the Bali nine heroin smuggling scheme, he said. The treaty would be retrospective.
Asked if Indonesia might object to the high-profile Corby being transferred, Mr Awaludin said: "We are not talking about individual cases. If in fact some individual cases get advantage out of it, thank God."
Negotiations over the treaty, which began last year, have been bogged by a range of technical difficulties, but officials involved in the discussions said all substantial issues had now been resolved.
Under the deal, prisoners transferred from either country would serve the same sentence, minus remissions, as they would if they remained where they were convicted.
Some members of Corby's family have suggested she would not want to be returned to an Australian jail, as she preferred the more relaxed environment of Bali's Kerobokan prison.
However, prison authorities have signalled Corby would be moved to a more isolated prison on Java, after she wrote a book criticising the conditions in the jail.
Some of the parents of the Bali nine have said they wanted their children to be transferred back to Australia if possible.
At present, three are not on death row and would be eligible, while the other six are attempting to get their death sentences overturned.
Under the treaty, only prisoners who apply to be repatriated will be returned home.
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Cloud9
I don't feel, and it feels great
Registered: 07/03/03
Posts: 1,225
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#6639627 - 03/05/07 08:37 PM (4 years, 11 months ago) |
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It's crazy to have followed this for so many years and finally see an end coming in her favor, but this comment makes me think wtf?
Quote:
veggie said:
Some members of Corby's family have suggested she would not want to be returned to an Australian jail, as she preferred the more relaxed environment of Bali's Kerobokan prison.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: Cloud9]
#6639667 - 03/05/07 08:53 PM (4 years, 11 months ago) |
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That statement blew my mind also. Regardless of what the headline states, it is not a done deal yet. The treaty still has to be signed. Some members of her family have said and done some odd things since this started, but this statement may be a way for her family to appease the Indo government in some way before the signing. They did get very pissed over some of the comments Schapelle made about the prison being a hellhole.
I personally still think she is innocent. She will be much better off at home, even in prison. And once home the liklihood of her being released early seems possible.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#6808750 - 04/19/07 12:11 PM (4 years, 9 months ago) |
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Corby jail transfer delay
April 20, 2007 - news.com.au
THE prisoner transfer deal that would bring Schapelle Corby home from a Bali jail has bogged down in negotiations between Australia and Indonesia.
Despite commencing talks on the transfer deal before Corby was convicted of smuggling marijuana in 2005, the deal has still not been signed.
The Daily Telegraph understands there is a dispute between the two countries over the wording of the final document.
A spokesman for the Attorney-General's Department said the Government was still committed to pursuing the transfer treaty with Indonesia.
"There has been frequent contact between the two governments at both ministerial and officer level, and Australia continues to accord the highest priority to negotiating this treaty," the spokesman said.
"As discussions between Australia and Indonesia are active and continuing, it is not possible to indicate the timing for finalisation of the transfer of prisoners treaty."
It appeared a breakthrough was close in late 2005 when Indonesian Justice Minister Hamid Awaludin said he was confident of pushing the required amendments through without taking them to the notoriously slow Indonesian Parliament.
In June last year, the Governments of the two nations agreed on the broad principles of an agreement, and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said he expected to have an agreement signed by September.
That progress has since stalled, with no indication of when the deal could go through.
It is understood the deal was delayed after diplomatic tensions between the two countries flared in mid-2006 when Indonesia protested against the granting of asylum to 42 West Papuan boat people.
Corby is serving 20 years in jail after airport customs officers in Bali found 4.1kg of marijuana in her boogie board bag in October 2004.
Under the deal, Australians who have exhausted all avenues of appeal in Indonesia would be allowed to serve the rest of their term in an Australian jail.
Debate has centred on what portion of the sentence can be served at home, with both Governments requiring a percentage be served in the country where the offence took place.
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ZoooftheMoon
The Nutter
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#6811732 - 04/20/07 03:33 AM (4 years, 9 months ago) |
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I just read through all 12 pages tonight and am so utterly disgusted
I don't know if she's entirely innocent, but still, it just blows my mind what some people are willing to do to another human being over a plant.
You are the shit veggie Thanks for keeping us updated
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#6922640 - 05/15/07 10:56 PM (4 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby begs minister to set her free
May 15, 2007 - brisbanetimes.com
 SCHAPELLE CORBY has begged Indonesia's new Justice Minister, Andi Mattalata, to free her as he made a surprise inspection of Bali's Kerobokan prison.
Mr Mattalata spent more time with Corby than any other prisoner during his unannounced, hour-long visit yesterday, but also spoke briefly to the only female member of the Bali nine heroin smuggling ring, Renae Lawrence.
Standing outside Corby's cell, Mr Mattalata asked Corby how she was and what her hopes were. "I would like to be out soon, please help, sir," Corby replied in Indonesian, observers said.
Asked how long she had been imprisoned, Corby said: "Almost three years, sir."
Mr Mattalata, who was appointed by the President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, last week, appeared to be familiar with Corby's case, but was noncommittal in his responses.
When the prison warden, Ilham Djaja, told Mr Mattalata that Corby had written a book he asked about its contents. Corby replied it "is about my life here in prison".
When he asked if could see it, Corby said she had not kept any copies. The book, My Story, is scathing about the Indonesian justice system and life inside Kerobokan.
When Mr Djaja suggested Corby had been upset in the past, she told Mr Mattalata: "I am calmer now because the press is no longer as naughty as before."
The Queenslander is awaiting the outcome of a final Supreme Court appeal, in which she is attempting to overturn or reduce her 20-year sentence for bringing four kilograms of marijuana to Bali.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#7116450 - 07/01/07 07:58 PM (4 years, 7 months ago) |
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Exchange deal blow for Corby
July 2, 2007 - news.com.au
PLANS for a prisoner exchange treaty that would allow Schapelle Corby and other Aussies in Indonesia to serve part of their sentences at home appear to have stalled.
Two main sticking points relate to who will pay for the transfer and how much time must be served in the country of sentence before a prisoner is eligible.
In March, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said they planned to sign a treaty in June, to come into effect by August.
However, officials at the Indonesian Department of Justice and Human Rights have cast doubt on a signing any time soon.
Kolir Harianto, who heads the department's international relations division, told the Herald Sun he had seen only one draft of the treaty.
He said it was not finalised because there were still "several different perspectives" about it.
Australia had been pushing for prisoners to serve one-third of their sentence first, but Indonesia rejected this, seeking a longer initial term.
In March, Mr Ruddock announced that agreement had been reached that a prisoner would serve half of their sentence first.
However, Mr Harianto said: "There is no clear agreement on that."
Another disagreement was over whether transfers could be requested only by blood relatives of the inmate, or also non-blood relatives.
A spokeswoman for Mr Ruddock said that negotiations were continuing and there was no clear time frame for signing a treaty.
Before being eligible for transfer, the prisoner must have exhausted all avenues of appeal. And prisoners on death row would not qualify.
Most Australians held in Indonesian jails -- Corby and the Bali Nine heroin smugglers in Bali's Kerobokan Jail, plus two convicted pedophiles serving time in Lombok and Jakarta -- are either on death row or have appeals pending.
The only one to have finished all appeals is Bali Nine courier Renae Lawrence, who is serving a 20-year sentence.
Corby, also serving 20 years, is awaiting the result of her last appeal: a judicial review by the Supreme Court in Jakarta.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#7170964 - 07/13/07 11:17 AM (4 years, 7 months ago) |
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Schapelle turns 30 behind bars
July 11, 2007 - news.com.au
It was not how Schapelle Corby imagined her 30th birthday - celebrated behind bars in Bali serving a 20-year sentence for a crime she says she did not commit.
Yesterday she marked the milestone in the crowded visiting area of Kerobokan jail - with a low-key visit from her sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephews and extended family.
It was the third birthday Corby has spent behind bars and the former beauty student put on a brave face for the family that has supported her since her arrest in 2004.
While there were no tears, the desperation of her situation hung over the celebration.
There was a hand-made birthday card from niece Nyeleigh featuring pink and purple hearts and flowers and the words "Happy Birthday".
The children also had a bunch of flowers for the woman they call "Aunty Pelle". The group ate Japanese food - Corby's favourite.
Her presents included a CD player, some music and clothing - but the crowded visiting area did not allow the space or time for a proper cutting of the cake.
Instead, she took the cake back to her cell to share with her cellmates.
"She wishes she was at home celebrating with all her friends and family, going out and doing what normal 30-year-olds do," older sister Mercedes said after the jail visit.
"She is holding up okay but she was a little bit down. But she was happy we were all there with her. She was a little bit upset. She really didn't think that she would still be here this long but she was happy to spend the time with her nephews and niece."
Mercedes said she asked her sister how it felt to turn 30 and was told: "I feel 27."
This is in keeping with Corby's stated wish that she remain, in her mind, a 27-year-old - her age when arrested at Bali airport - until the day she is released and declared innocent.
Ironically, Corby was arrested in Bali when she was on her way to attend Mercedes' 30th birthday party, which did not proceed.
The drug smuggler's final chance at appeal _ a judicial review to the Supreme Court - is still pending. A spokesman for the court yesterday said the appeal documents were still being assessed by the second of three judges. A decision is months away.
Mercedes emerged from the jail with a single white rose, a present from her sister picked from a jail garden.
Corby's mother Ros and father Michael, who is suffering from cancer, did not travel to Bali for the birthday but her younger sister Meleane is due to arrive from the Gold Coast today, bringing presents.
It has been almost three years since Corby was arrested at Bali airport on October 8, 2004, after arriving on the tourist island for a holiday. A vacuum-sealed plastic bag containing 4.1kg of marijuana was found inside her boogie board bag by customs officers.
The following year, Corby was convicted of attempting to bring the drug into Bali and sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
Her sentence was reduced to 15 years on appeal but was reinstated to 20 years upon a further appeal to Indonesia's highest court.
Corby has maintained her innocence, claiming she is the victim of a gang using traveller's luggage to transport drugs.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#7231748 - 07/27/07 06:46 PM (4 years, 6 months ago) |
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Bishop questions Schapelle's guilt
July 28, 2007 - The Catholic Weekly
 An Australian bishop has renewed doubts about the guilt of the Australian drug prisoner, Schapelle Corby, in jail in Indonesia for 20 years.
The Bishop of Bathurst, Bishop Patrick Dougherty, said in the Bathurst diocesan newspaper The Catholic Observer that there continued to be many considerations which gave weight to the possibility that Schapelle Corby “may be entirely innocent and very unjustly suffering”.
He said that on the one hand there was the unconvincing course of her case through Indonesia’s justice system and the not always competent quality of her defence team’s work.
On the other hand, those who knew Schapelle spoke of her truthfulness and were convinced of her innocence.
“And the circumstances of her being arrested and charged favour this view,” Bishop Dougherty said.
“She went to Indonesia on a holiday visit to her sister and the marijuana was found at the top of her boogie-board bag, which was unlocked – a most unlikely place for a planned drug import. And Schapelle was clearly not part of a drug syndicate.
“One immediately tends to accept her explanation that it was not she who attached drugs to her baggage.”
Bishop Dougherty said it was well-nigh certain she would not have been convicted by an Australian court and that procedural matters like finger-printing would have been observed.
“Questions have to be asked as to whether the media has assiduously sought the truth of the case and worked for the victory of justice in the matter,” he said.
“With Schapelle Corby facing two decades in the appalling conditions of Denpasar prison, there seem to be sound reasons why the quest for truth and justice should not be abandoned.”
A retired Vincentian priest at St Stanislaus’ College, Bathurst, and one-time college headmaster, Fr Jim Maloney, said that he and his brother Terry, a retired businessman, believed Schapelle was innocent.
“Terry is absolutely convinced,” Fr Maloney said. “Terry went to contact her, simply feeling sorry for her, but the visit coincided with the last day of the defence, which he said was just awful.
“Of the three judges, one was reading a book and the second was asleep. Anyway, he met Schapelle’s sister Mercedes and their mother and spent a couple of hours with them and Schapelle.
“He came away convinced she was innocent and resolved to keep in touch with her.
“I’ve talked to Terry, studied her case and read her book. I, too, am sure she’s been unjustly convicted,” Fr Maloney said.
“Terry has spent many hours with her in the prison. During his most recent visit to her she was struggling with tears ... struggling to maintain her emotional equilibrium.
“But how do you prove her innocence?
“I know one airline senior executive who says secretly shipping drugs from airport to airport in people’s baggage has been going on for years and on the day that Schapelle flew to Bali there were arrests that day, over drugs, in baggage handling at Sydney airport.
“But the videotape of the day has disappeared, which I think is very fishy.”
Fr Maloney said he and Terry wrote to Schapelle often and she replied when she could.
“The other letters I’ve written are to Mr Howard, Mr (Chris) Ellison and Alexander Downer and the most substantive reply I’ve had is from Mr Downer, but only saying that she’s being well cared for.
“Yet she’s to spend 20 years in an Indonesian prison in appalling conditions for a crime that I believe she did not commit.”
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OneMoreRobot3021
punky jewster
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 60,497
Loc: new york city
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#7231770 - 07/27/07 06:50 PM (4 years, 6 months ago) |
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Perhaps this is a might bit insensitive, but I would hit it, sir.
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Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake.
-Erik Davis
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#7439916 - 09/22/07 08:59 AM (4 years, 4 months ago) |
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Schapelle twist
September 23, 2007 - news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby's jailer has reportedly been arrested for running drugs.
Muhammad Sudrajat -- security chief at Kerobokan Prison, where Corby has been held since 2004 -- was reportedly nabbed in a police sting.
He is suspected of running drugs inside and out of the prison since he took on the post 14 months ago.
The revelation has prompted accusations of hypocrisy from families of Australians jailed in Indonesia.
Michael Norman, father of the Bali Nine's Matthew Norman, said the arrest warranted international attention.
"I think the Australian public is probably sick of it all now, as far as the Bali Nine goes," Mr Norman told a Sydney newspaper.
"But what's going on with the Indonesian government, its jails, the corruption, the cover-ups. It's important this is brought to the attention of the international community."
Mr Norman said 60 per cent of Kerobokan's prisoners were on drug-related offences.
He said it was inexcusable that those prisoners were "fed drugs" by the jail's security chief.
Matthew Norman, who turned 21 on Monday, is one of six of the Bali Nine on death row.
Sudrajat has reportedly admitted using drugs but has denied he was a drug dealer for inmates.
Corby, a former beauty student, turned 30 behind bars in July.
She was arrested at Denpasar airport on October 8, 2004. A plastic bag full of marijuana was found in her unlocked boogie board bag.
The next year she was convicted of trying to bring the 4.1kg of marijuana to Bali and sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
Her sentence was reduced to 15 years on appeal but after a further appeal, it was reinstated to 20 years.
Corby was recently refused a cut to her jail term after being caught with a mobile phone smuggled into her Bali prison.
But 10 Islamic militants jailed over the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings, in which dozens of Australians died, received sentence cuts.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#7499891 - 10/08/07 09:59 PM (4 years, 4 months ago) |
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Schapelle Corby: I want a baby
October 9, 2007 - news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby wants to have a baby and the thought is weighing heavily on her mind, her mother has revealed in an exclusive interiew.
 The past few months have been filled with highs and lows for convicted drug trafficker Corby during her mind-numbing existence as an Indonesian prisoner.
The Gold Coast woman has been blessed by visits from many family members and some of her dearest friends including one couple who are very close to the 30-year-old but had never flown anywhere before they went to Bali to visit her in prison.
Her mother, Rosleigh Rose, has now revealed that while these visits greatly cheered up Schapelle, there was also the down side that some of those who visited had had new additions to their families.
"That would have weighed on Schapelle's mind, because having a baby is something she thinks about a lot," she said.
Schapelle has inherited her mother's strong maternal instinct and even early into her 20-year sentence, it was something Schapelle spoke about.
The Gold Coast Bulletin's Tony Wilson, one of the reporters closest to the Corby family, also reported Corby had told him that it was upsetting to think that if she served anything like her full sentence, she would be too old to have a child and in her book, My Story, she even hinted that the longer she was imprisoned, the more she would consider the possibility of having a child in the jail.
She also missed out on receiving a possible three-month reduction in her sentence which was handed out to other prisoners in August on Indonesia's independence day when she was caught using a mobile phone in her cell.
But her sister Mercedes said reports she spent a week in solitary confinement as punishment were wrong.
"She was in a cell with three or four other girls. I was able to see her and take her food," she said.
Schapelle flew to Bali for a holiday and to celebrate her sister Mercedes' birthday on October 8, 2004, but the celebration never happened after Customs officers found 4.1kg of marijuana in her unlocked boogie board cover. Schapelle has maintained her innocence ever since.
She still has a solid core of supporters in Australia and world-wide who write to her regularly and many are in contact with family members and me about issues that could help Schapelle.
Underlying all this, she is still anxiously awaiting any news about her judicial review, which has been in limbo for more than a year.
Indonesian justice moves slowly and so far only one judge has looked at the paperwork for Schapelle's possible review.
Her lawyer, Erwin Siregar, is frustrated at the time it is taking but he said it was not unusual.
His argument is that Schapelle was charged and convicted under the wrong section of the Indonesian criminal code and if his argument is accepted then she would have to be re-assessed under the correct section, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' jail.
While it is unlikely that she would now be found not guilty, it is possible that her sentence could be reduced dramatically to something much closer to what she has already served.
This remains her only realistic hope of serving any less time than her original sentence.
Talk of a prisoner exchange between Australia and Indonesia is still in the early stages and it is likely that even when the two governments agree to such a scheme, prisoners like Schapelle would have to serve a sizeable portion of their sentence in Indonesia.
Sadly it is a fairly bleak picture, but generally Schapelle's spirits are not too bad and she remains strong, as do her supportive family and friends.
Schapelle's father, Michael, remains in Australia, battling terminal cancer.
Rosleigh remains the tower of strength and ever the optimist. Even this week, she was talking about the Indonesian Government releasing her daughter. There are even people who believe she is guilty but feel she has now served enough time in a foreign prison.
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daba
Stranger
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#7500399 - 10/09/07 02:31 AM (4 years, 4 months ago) |
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I wonder how much publicity she would have gotten if she wasn't deemed attractive by society?
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero
Registered: 04/27/01
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: daba]
#7500576 - 10/09/07 05:12 AM (4 years, 4 months ago) |
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> I wonder how much publicity she would have gotten if she wasn't deemed attractive by society?
I think it has a lot more to do with her family keeping the story alive with the media rather than her appearance.
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Just another spore in the wind.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#7737215 - 12/09/07 02:59 PM (4 years, 2 months ago) |
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Police knew Corby linked to smugglers
December 10, 2007 - theaustralian.com
POLICE were aware that Schapelle Corby was well-acquainted with four men alleged to have smuggled amphetamines from Brisbane to Bali, but found no evidence the jailed marijuana smuggler was involved in the operation.
Queensland's Criminal Justice Commission is investigating the leaking late last week of a police crime intelligence report containing information about the alleged drug network.
Corby, 30, is serving a 20-year jail sentence in Bali's Kerobokan jail for attempting to smuggle 4.2kg of marijuana into the island in a bodyboard bag in 2004.
Former drug addict Kim Moore told police three weeks before Corby's arrest about the alleged smuggling of amphetamines manufactured in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast to Bali.
Ms Moore's statement formed the basis of the crime intelligence report, which was leaked to the ABC last week.
A police source said yesterday that Corby was known to the four alleged traffickers, three of whom had drug convictions, but no evidence had been found implicating her in drug-running.
The drugs were allegedly transported several times a year from Brisbane to Bali hidden in passenger luggage.
Shortly before giving her police statement about the amphetamines operation, Ms Moore is understood to have tipped off officers about a hydroponic marijuana plantation near Miriam Vale, in central coastal Queensland.
The tip-off led to the conviction of Anthony Lewis, a former neighbour and workmate of Schapelle's father, Michael Corby.
As well as the CMC, the Queensland Police Service ethical standards command is investigating the leaking of the claims by Ms Moore. Police believe the leaking could compromise drug-trafficking investigations. A police spokeswoman cautioned yesterday that Ms Moore's allegations had not been verified and no charges had been brought as a result of them.
"This is information from an informant and it may or may not be substantiated," the spokeswoman said.
However, a police source described Ms Moore as a reliable witness and said her allegations had been treated seriously.
Corby's family has endured a string of revelations and allegations about drugs.
Schapelle's half-brother James Kisina, who was with his sister in Bali when she was apprehended, was arrested last year on drug production and other charges.
Another half-brother, Clinton Rose, has a drug possession conviction. Michael Corby has an old conviction for marijuana possession. Jodie Power, a former close friend of the Corbys, has claimed that Schapelle's sister Mercedes had taken drugs to Bali. Mercedes Corby has strongly denied the claim.
Power claimed to have seen vacuum-sealed plastic bags similar to one found in Corby's bodyboard bag in the family's Gold Coast home.
Vacuum-sealed bags were also found on Lewis's Miriam Vale property at the time of his arrest.
Indonesian police believe the marijuana found on Corby was a particularly potent type that had been grown hydroponically.
A former member of Corby's legal team, Vasu Rasiah, has claimed that Corby's family vetoed moves by her lawyers to have the marijuana she was caught with tested for DNA to determine its origin.
Corby's mother, Roseleigh Rose, in whose Brisbane home Kisina had allegedly hidden stashes of marijuana in coffee jars, could not be contacted.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#7737224 - 12/09/07 03:02 PM (4 years, 2 months ago) |
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'It's just more lies': angry Corby family slams new drug claims
December 9, 2007 - smh.com.au
THE mother of convicted drug trafficker Schapelle Corby has slammed reports linking her to a Bali drug ring as lies.
Rosleigh Rose is outraged at accusations by Queensland woman Kim Moore that Corby had past associations with men who imported amphetamines to Bali four times a year.
In a 2004 police intelligent report - obtained by ABC radio's PM program and aired on Friday night - Ms Moore named four alleged associates of Corby as members of a group that transported drugs.
Ms Moore, 49, informed on the drug ring after one of the men offered marijuana to her intellectually-disabled son.
"You just feeling like screaming and yelling," Ms Rose said yesterday.
"Someone's put her [Kim Moore] up to it, simple as that, and we will get to the bottom of it.
"If she was telling the truth, the Australian Federal Police would have been round here, looking for false passports and a bag with a false bottom in it.
"This is a crucial time for Schapelle. This is Schapelle's life they're playing around with."
Another relative said the family was speaking to lawyers about a possible defamation action against Ms Moore.
"It's another blow [for us]. Just lies. It really is. It's really damaging," the relative said. The family is concerned the reports might have already seriously damaged Corby's final appeal against her 20-year sentence for smuggling cannabis from Brisbane to Bali on October 8, 2004.
Corby, 30, has maintained her innocence since her conviction.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#7764615 - 12/16/07 01:14 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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The truth about Schapelle Corby
December 15, 2007 - news.com.au
AFTER years of rumours about Bali inmate Schapelle Corby, her biographer Kathryn Bonella claims to sort fact from fiction.
SINCE the day Australians were swept up in Schapelle Corby fever in May 2005, story after story has appeared to turn public sympathy into anger or indifference. Those who were once with her - and who sobbed over the 20-year-sentence, furious at the Indonesian justice system - now feel betrayed.
They'd invested their emotions in Schapelle and now she's let them down. But the truth is that many of the stories and rumours that have drastically reshaped public opinion are wrong; often they are based on flimsy, unsubstantiated information and spread like wildfire. But false stories often remain fact, even if they're later found to be 100 per cent wrong.
The Corbys would perhaps be less sensitive to the continual barrage of sensational allegations if they weren't so concerned about how each new claim or rumour will hurt Schapelle's final appeal - a decision she's waited on for more than 12 months.
Her fate is now in the hands of three judges in Jakarta, who will decide whether to cut her 20-year sentence and give her a chance at having a normal life.
The Corbys constantly defend themselves, usually saying, "It's lies", which even they know ends up sounding lame. In the end, who will believe them when there are so many stories - even when they do prove a story is wrong, as they so often do.
The indisputable fact is that Schapelle Corby stories sell, and that is now to her detriment. The Today Tonight stories earlier this year featuring claims by one-time friend Jodie Power gave the program the eighth top-rating show out of all TV programs this year (excluding sport).
Meanwhile, Corby has done nothing to warrant this new wrath and sits forlornly in Kerobokan Prison. She's not fully aware of how the tide has turned against her, and there's little she can do to defend herself.
She's cooped up in a small concrete cell 15 hours a day with nine other women. She spends all her energy trying to cope with her hellish daily life, trying desperately to stave off constant depression and the weight of a 20-year sentence.
While she remains powerless and at the mercy of the Indonesian justice system, many of the unfounded stories continue to sway people against her.
Here are some claims which have been made about Schapelle Corby.
Claim: Schapelle and Mercedes Corby refused to agree to DNA test the marijuana.
Counter claim: Mercedes had no part in it. Schapelle willingly gave her consent to the Australian Consul in Bali on December 3, 2004, to have the Australian Federal Police offer the Bali Police assistance to test the marijuana, but it was never taken up. Indeed, Schapelle pushed for DNA testing and for fingerprinting of the plastic bags. Bali Police did neither.
Claim: Schapelle's father Michael lived next door to a drug dealer.
Counter claim: The neighbour was convicted for growing and possessing marijuana. He was found not guilty of "supplying". Worse, they hadn't been neighbours for almost a year before Schapelle flew to Bali.
Claim: Schapelle was photographed with a drug dealer before going to Bali. This was the first story apparently linking Schapelle to a drug network. It, too, was wrong.
Counter claim: The photo was taken inside Kerobokan in 2005. The man in the photo was one of hundreds of tourists who went in to visit Schapelle in jail. When he asked if he could have his photograph taken with her, Schapelle happily agreed, smiling for the snap and with no knowledge of the drug connection. The journalist wrote a story a week later stating the photos had been taken inside prison.
Claim: Schapelle's father had been convicted on drugs charges.
Counter claim: In the early 1970s, her father received a fine when police raided a party and found a single joint. He had a broken leg and was the only one who didn't flee. He wasn't interviewed by the police and has no criminal record.
Claim: Schapelle went to Centrelink a month before she went to Bali to apply for a pension for drug-related psychological problems.
Counter claim: Centrelink worker Natalie Pearson, 24, later admitted in court that she'd simply repeated office gossip and had never seen Schapelle's file. The magistrate in the Gold Coast court called her a "disgrace", saying the Corbys had already been through enough "without this sort of thing".
Claim: Schapelle's half-brother James Kisina was responsible for the drugs that were found in her board bag.
Counter claim: Schapelle is certain Kisina, who travelled with her to Bali in 2004 (when he was 16 and at high school), had nothing to do with it. She says he didn't go near her bag before she checked it in.
If he were guilty, she says she wouldn't be doing time for him. He was school captain and had never been in trouble until about 15 months after Schapelle's arrest.
Claim: Mercedes lived in Bali before Schapelle's arrest, owned a surf shop with her husband from where they sold drugs.
Counter claim: She and her family lived in Queensland, were on holiday in Bali and didn't own a surf shop there.
Claim: Schapelle doesn't want to be transferred to an Australian jail.
Counter claim: No transfer scheme exists between Australia and Indonesia, but if it becomes a possibility, Schapelle says she'll make a decision then. This false story gives the misleading impression jail life in Bali is OK. And of course, it isn't.
Claim: Jail life is pretty good.
Counter claim: Jail life is hard. All women prisoners are locked in small concrete cells at 4.30pm every day. The cell doors open at 7.30am, but the women stay in a small walled off section. They can't play sports. There's no luxury, no TV, no airconditioning, no running shower. And there's nothing to do but think.
Claim: Schapelle gets given days out to go to local cafes and shops.
Counter claim: Schapelle has been out twice this year, both times under police escort to the dentist to have a rotting tooth removed. Last year she went outside once: to court.
Claim: the Corby family is using the money from media and book deals to live the high life.
Counter claim: Schapelle's father spent all of his superannuation on her legal fees - a total of more than $200,000 to date. The family continues to fight for Schapelle's freedom. They also spend money feeding her, providing all her essentials (including toilet paper and cleaning products) and medical care. Just getting a doctor into the prison costs $500.
Claim: Schapelle is being moved to a prison in Java because she wrote her book, My Story.
Counter claim: The threat of being moved existed long before the book. All foreign prisoners are under threat of being moved because of overcrowding in Kerobokan. While she is still in appeal, she won't be moved.
Claim: Schapelle wants to have a baby in prison.
Counter claim: She wants a baby but has no plans to have one in jail. She's clinging to the hope she'll one day have a family as a free woman.
Claim: She had an affair with Bali Nine member Andrew Chan.
Counter claim: She's never had an affair with Chan or anyone in jail.
Corby turned 30 this year and faces a fourth Christmas in jail. If her appeal is unsuccessful, she'll spend 16 more years behind bars, and will be 47 when she's released.
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johnm214
Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 13,811
Loc: Americas
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#7764618 - 12/16/07 01:16 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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thanks for the updates veggie
It's sad anyone even cares if she was set up or culpable, the whole situation is insane
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#7796512 - 12/24/07 07:02 PM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Corby denied sentence cut again
December 25, 2007 - news.com.au
 CONVICTED Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has been denied a sentence reduction, traditionally granted on Christmas Day, because she had a mobile phone in her jail cell earlier this year.
The governor of Bali's Kerobokan Prison Ilham Djaja today said Corby was not among 81 prisoners recommended for a sentence reduction to mark today's religious holiday in Indonesia.
"We didn't suggest her (to have sentence reduction) because she is still under punishment over violation of hand phone usage inside the prison a few months ago," Djaja said.
"One violation means one year of no remission," Djaja said.
It is the second time Corby has been denied a sentence reduction this year because of the mobile phone indiscretion, with the Gold Coast beauty student also missing out on Indonesia's Independence Day in August.
Corby was arrested in October 2004 at Denpasar Airport with 4.2kg of marijuana in her boogie board bag after arriving on a flight from Australia.
She was jailed for 20 years but has maintained her innocence.
She is awaiting a decision on her last-ditch appeal from Indonesia's Supreme Court.
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Dobie
HICK THUG
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#7797211 - 12/25/07 12:01 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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Sucks to be her dont do the crime if ya can't do the time
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FREE DSG
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero
Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 22,990
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: Dobie]
#7797320 - 12/25/07 01:19 AM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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> Sucks to be her dont do the crime if ya can't do the time
I don't know if she did it or not, but nobody deserves to rot in prison because of cannabis... assuming she is innocent, as she claims, then you statement has no bearing on her situation. Most people would feel compassion, not ridicule.
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Just another spore in the wind.
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fapjack
Slap my sack
Registered: 07/26/07
Posts: 7,343
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: Seuss]
#7801483 - 12/26/07 04:08 PM (4 years, 1 month ago) |
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How about staying out of muslim shit holes that treat drugs as serious as murder. I do feel bad for her, and I hope tourists stay the fuck out of Indonesia. They have been killing tourists from Australia for years, and it should be common knowledge by now that dealers/police set people up, and murder/prison them. I honestly don't know why anyone would go there, even if it is uncommon, its fucked up.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#8139004 - 03/12/08 07:52 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby's hopes of coming home dashed
March 12, 2008 - The Austalian
HOPES for Schapelle Corby and members of the Bali Nine heroin smuggling gang to return home under a prisoner-exchange program have been dashed.
Indonesia's director of prisons said Jakarta "does not favour the deal for drug convictions".
Visiting Bali's Kerobokan jail yesterday, national jails chief Untung Sugiyono said that despite upbeat progress reports from Australia, he did not believe the three-year-old negotiations were moving ahead.
Australian diplomatic sources have told The Australian they are pleased with how talks on the treaty are going, but admit any resolution is still well off.
Mr Sugiyono confirmed this yesterday, saying the legal detail was "still being negotiated" and he did "not know how much longer it will be before this is resolved".
However, he added, there was at least "one thing that has still not been agreed to: the participation (in the program) of drugs convicts. Indonesia still does not want to do this".
Mr Sugiyono was visiting the jail to deliver prisoner sentence remissions for the Balinese Hindu holy day of Nyepi, or the day of silence.
Inmates in Indonesian jails can win remissions from their sentences on Independence Day _ - August 17 _ - and on each of several mandated religious holidays.
None of the Australians in Kerobokan was eligible for yesterday's Hindu remissions, but Corby took the opportunity to assure Mr Sugiyono that recent reports of her leaving the jail to enjoy dinner in a nearby restaurant were false.
Speaking in the rudimentary Indonesian she has picked up since being arrested in 2004 with 4.2kg of marijuana in her boogie board bag, Corby told the official and journalists that "I didn't go out, Sir, I didn't go out".
An Australian tourist produced a photograph recently claiming it depicted Corby and her sister Mercedes dining out, although there was no independent verification of the identities of those in the picture.
Telling the visitors that her accuser was "just looking for money", Corby said: "I will soon have been here for four years, and (in that time) I've been out three times, just to have teeth pulled".
Switching to English, the former hairdresser added: "Anyway, I'm short and stocky, not tall and skinny (like the character in the photograph)."
Corby is hoping within days to learn the outcome of a Supreme Court appeal against her 20 year sentence for narcotics smuggling _ - marijuana being classified amongst the most serious types of substances under Indonesia's drugs laws.
Although the three judges assessing her appeal have had 18 months to consider it, they revealed last week they expected to soon announce a decision.
None of the Bali nine gang met the prisons director yesterday, with its eight male members confined to a maximim security tower at the heart of the jail complex.
Gang leaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran lounged in the tower's yard area reading magazines, while the others remained indoors.
The syndicate's sole female prisoner, Renae Lawrence, was kept in the women's block but could be seen trying to peer out at the tightly herded group of journalists as they toured the complex.
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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#8139790 - 03/12/08 10:21 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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I very much want to travel to SE Asia, but I will never step foot in Indonesia simply because of this case.
Scary stuff.
I'm pretty well convinced that she is innocent.
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After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway
If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy
He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#8204322 - 03/27/08 10:28 PM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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Corby loses last court appeal
March 27, 2008 - news.com.au
Schapelle Corby has had an appeal against her 20-year sentence rejected by Indonesia's Supreme Court.
The 30-year-old Gold Coast woman, who was arrested in 2004 at Denpasar airport with 4.1kg of marijuana in her boogie board bag, had pinned her last hopes on Indonesia's highest review court knocking down her sentence.
Her only option now is a presidential pardon, which would require her to admit guilt in the case.
However Corby has always insisted the drugs were planted in her bag by unknown persons and that she was innocent.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has also always been adamant he would not grant clemency in drugs cases.
Corby will now be forced to watch several of her jail mates, members of the Bali Nine heroin smuggling gang, go to their executions once they have exhausted all avenues of appeal against their death sentences.
She will be due for release in 2024, although she could expect that time to be reduced with remissions for good behaviour.
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OrgoneConclusion
Cuddly
Registered: 04/01/07
Posts: 28,307
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#8204883 - 03/28/08 02:15 AM (3 years, 10 months ago) |
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I note that the Aussies are pissed because she is young, pretty and another country has put her in jail - yet Australia punishes her own citizens for the same crimes.
Oh, the irony...
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Boy, you got a purty faceplate.
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Ophanim
The Molecule'sSpirit
Registered: 10/01/07
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Damn, hadn't heard about this until today. Just read the whole thing...
Super shady stuff. It seems like she may have done it, or at least known/been linked to the people responsible for fucking her over, but the fact remains that nobody should be in prison for anything related to weed, unless the crime is somehow fashioning a shank out of a fat calyx and pwning someone with it.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#8316403 - 04/22/08 07:59 PM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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Schapelle Corby 'could work her way free'
April 22, 2008 - news.com.au
 CONVICTED Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby may be up for a prison job that could shave years off the 20-year sentence she is serving in an Indonesian jail.
The outgoing head of Bali's Kerobokan Prison today said Corby should be made an inmates' leader - a role that could see up to 11 months cut from her sentence each year.
Corby, who last month lost her final appeal against her sentence, was a "very good" prisoner, Ilham Djaya said.
He said she should be considered for the role of Tamping, where she would lead a small group of prisoners, or the key role of Pemuka, who oversees the Tamping leaders.
Should Corby make the rank of Pemuka, she could be eligible for sentence cuts of up to 11 months every year, Mr Djaya said. Smaller remissions apply to Tamping leaders.
Mr Djaya offered his support for Corby despite the former Gold Coast beauty student's controversial stint at Kerobokan.
Since her detention almost four years ago for cannabis smuggling, Corby has written a book describing the prison as a "disgusting slum". She missed out on a sentence remission last year after she was found with a mobile phone in her cell.
And Corby recently emphatically denied reports, aired on Australian television, that she had been allowed out of the prison to dine with her sister at a Bali restaurant.
Mr Djaya praised Corby and Bali Nine heroin smuggler Renae Lawrence, who is also serving a 20-year term.
"Corby has a job to gather handicrafts from prisoners, like from sewing and knitting class, she has learned everything," Mr Djaya said.
"The handicrafts collected by Corby are then collected by the Buddhist association to be sold in the market."
He said the role of Pemuka would be good for long-term prisoners.
"For a long-term prisoner like Renae or Corby it would be very good to be a Pemuka," he said.
Mr Djaya described Lawrence as "extraordinary".
"She does her jobs very well," he said, adding that Lawrence had done everything from fixing taps to cleaning.
"Even the sewer, she is willing to clean it."
Mr Djaya was formally replaced today by incoming prison governor Yon Suharyono at a ceremony in the prison complex.
Corby's lawyer Erwin Siregar, who attended today's ceremony, told reporters he was yet to decide whether to seek clemency for the Australian from Indonesia's president.
He was also still considering whether to seek another final appeal, even though Indonesian law makes no provision for that.
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KetamineKatalyst
Skyhighatrist
Registered: 01/25/08
Posts: 1,647
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Re: Schapelle's heart of darkness [Re: veggie]
#8399814 - 05/14/08 05:18 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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This is really fucking sad. Sadistic motherfuckers. Even if she was smuggling the weed, her whole life is fucked.
I hold you in my consciousness Schapelle, I love you
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"Cosmic Love is absolutely ruthless and highly indifferent: it teaches its lessons whether you like/dislike them or not." John C. Lilly
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#8546886 - 06/21/08 08:20 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Schapelle Corby 'may be placed in mental institution'
June 20, 2008 - news.com.au
 CONVICTED drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has suffered a "total mental disturbance" after hearing of her failed final appeal, doctors say.
An Indonesian prison guard said Corby had been unable to eat or sleep since being told her final appeal had failed.
Doctors say Corby is suffering from depression and will remain in hospital for at least one to two weeks, and could even be put into a mental institution if her condition deteriorates.
She was taken to Sanglah Hospital in Bali yesterday afternoon, with a prison official saying it was believed she was suffering depression.
Dr Leli Setyawati from Sanglah Hospital estimated that Corby would remain in hospital for at least one to two weeks.
"The patient Corby has suffered a total mental disturbance but we cannot explain in detail what kind of disturbance... or which stage of depression she is in now because of patient privacy," she said.
"In our estimation Corby must be treated for one to two weeks.
"If there's no development or progress within one to two weeks then the treatment can be extended further.
"But if it reaches a critical level, we must consider moving her to a mental institution," Dr Setyawati said.
A prison guard today said Corby has had trouble sleeping and eating since hearing of her failed final appeal.
"We took her to hospital because the doctor in prison could not handle the case any more," Kerobokan Prison head of security Maliki said.
"(Lawyer) Erwin Siregar has told her about the judicial review rejection. Since then she's had trouble sleeping and didn't want to eat.
"That condition has made her very stressed."
Mr Siregar said he would not be able to visit his high-profile client until next week, but believed she was depressed.
"My conclusion, I think, when I spoke to her a week ago, she is depressed," he said.
"She has not told me about it, and this is my opinion, I think one of the causes is because of the sentence of the Supreme Court from the extraordinary appeal."
Corby's final legal challenge failed in March when Indonesia's Supreme Court upheld her 20-year sentence.
Two police guards and two policemen are taking shifts guarding the Australian in hospital.
Mr Siregar said he'd not yet discussed an appeal for clemency to Indonesia's president.
"Not yet because this is not a good situation to discuss about that," he said.
An appeal for clemency is Corby's last legal option, but it means she would have to admit guilt.
Corby is serving 20 years in Kerobokan Prison after she was caught at Bali's airport in October 2004 with 4.1kg of marijuana in her boogie board bag.
Her lawyers claimed she was an innocent victim of baggage handlers involved in moving drugs around Australia.
Corby's hopes of being released from prison have relied on the outcome of long-running negotiations between Indonesia and Australia over a prisoner transfer deal.
She has been let of out of her Bali prison home three previous times in the past four years for medical reasons.
Corby's father Michael Corby died in January after a long battle with prostate cancer, while her stepfather Greg Martin also lost his cancer fight in April.
Corby's older sister Mercedes, who recently returned to Bali after a defamation win against the Seven Network in the Sydney courts, has been by her sister's side in hospital.
The Nine Network will tomorrow night begin screening a new documentary on the case, with part two airing on Tuesday.
Some of the footage was shot by Corby herself, using a camera smuggled into her cell.
"It's hard to imagine what she was enduring and still is enduring and the awful conditions there," producer Janine Hoskins told Nine.
"So she didn't get to keep the camera for very long but it was quite a dramatic day when she did have the camera."
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KetamineKatalyst
Skyhighatrist
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#8550653 - 06/22/08 12:16 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Man oh man, I still can't get this all right in my head. They've completely wrecked this woman, and her family, because she may've smuggled some pot. I bet she is going insane, those prisons look horrible. If I were in her shoes, I'd do everything I could to form an escape plan and make it work!
Just one of the many atrocities going on every day 
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"Cosmic Love is absolutely ruthless and highly indifferent: it teaches its lessons whether you like/dislike them or not." John C. Lilly
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OrgoneConclusion
Cuddly
Registered: 04/01/07
Posts: 28,307
Loc: Sea of Tranquility
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At least she keeps her eyebrows well-shaped and plucked. 
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Boy, you got a purty faceplate.
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b0red5tiff
NWO Disinformation Agent
Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 17,230
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Schapelle Corby doco to air in US
link
SCHAPELLE Corby is living a nightmare - convicted in 2005 of smuggling marijuana into Indonesia, the 30-year-old Australian is serving a 20-year sentence in a cramped Bali prison.
Now a film to be shown on US television on Monday goes behind the scenes at the dramatic trial that gripped Australia, initially strained ties between the neighbouring countries and left people asking: "Did she really do it?''
"Australians became so besotted with the case,'' said Janine Hosking, who made the documentary Ganja Queen set to air on US cable channel HBO.
"She doesn't look like how we would imagine a drug trafficker to look; she looks like the girl next door.
"People will speculate forever on this case,'' Ms Hosking said.
She began filming shortly before the trial began - after Corby had already spent five months behind bars in a country that imposes the death penalty on drug traffickers.
Ganja Queen shows footage shot by Corby with a camera she smuggled into her small jail cell, secret interviews with her during visits to the jail, and shots of her family and defence team, including discussions about whether to try and use bribery to secure her release.
Indonesia regularly ranks among the world's most corrupt countries, a problem its government is trying to overcome.
"Bribery is probably relevant for very low-profile cases that you can make the thing go away, but with Schapelle's there was so much scrutiny that the case became very transparent because there was media absolutely everywhere,'' Ms Hosking said.
"The media thing has worked against her although it has made her a star,'' she said.
"It is a harrowing story and I think it really shows in a very close up and personal way just how awful it can be if you are caught up in a different legal system and to be under the scrutiny of the media spotlight,'' she said.
"When you get to know Schapelle (in the film), it's gripping and I don't think it matters where she comes from - whether she's an Australian, or an American or British or whatever,'' Ms Hosking said.
"It could happen to anyone.''
Corby's final appeal was rejected in March, sending her into a depression that saw her admitted to hospital last week.
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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers
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Posts: 20,771
Loc: The Ocean of Notions
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: b0red5tiff]
#8573951 - 06/28/08 09:38 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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I've probably said it 10 times in this thread, but I'll never be going to Indonesia because of this story alone.
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After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway
If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy
He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: b0red5tiff]
#8593839 - 07/04/08 01:19 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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US outrage at Schapelle Corby's plight
July 4, 2008 - news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby has received an outpouring of support from the United States following a film documenting her plight screened on US television.
Passionate Herald Sun readers from the US have expressed their angst and concern at Corby’s treatment since the documentary ‘Ganja Queen’ screened on US cable channel HBO last week.
And they have attacked Australians for being dismissive of the former beauty therapist's plight.
Described by some US reviewers as “disturbing”, “explosive” and “harrowing”, the film was a ratings winner for the Nine Network when it screened in Australia, under the tamer title “Schapelle Corby: The Hidden Truth”.
The film, by Janine Hosking, features vision shot by Corby using a camera in her Bali jail cell and interviews with her at the jail.
One of many American readers to express her outrage at Corby’s treatment, Washington resident Tina Mazzuca said she was “absolutely sick about the whole thing”.
“She is a human being, she is a woman, and she is innocent,” she wrote.
“I have seen the documentary about Ms Corby. I have read the nasty comments made by her by fellow countrymen.
“Let’s stop the bashing and try to help.”
Ms Mazzuca was one of several readers who expressed disgust at the comments about Corby made by Australians.
US resident Rocko Gambino wrote: “How can your government tolerate this sort of action towards one of there (sic) own?! Do you not realize that this could very easily happen to you?”
“The USA may have it's faults, but you could rest assure we would not tolerate that from a 3rd World Country! Australia should be outraged that this has happened.”
One US reader, who chose to remain anonymous, wrote: “Gee, you Aussies are pretty cold blooded. What if she is truly innocent?”
Mark Addeo of New Jersey said readers who commented that they were tired of hearing the name ‘Corby’ were cowards.
“You wouldn’t know the first thing about fighting for your freedom or anyone else’s for that matter,” he wrote.
Rachele Lightsey from Texas said fellow Australian should be ashamed.
“Where is the love for your fellow Aussie?? Thank goodness I live in America! If Corby was an American, this kind of treatment would NOT be tolerated!! She would be home.”
A Canadian resident, Brian Surette of Vancouver, said he had just finished watching the documentary and was appalled at such an “atrocity of injustice”.
“I for one will be furthering my research. And maybe we can help? Till then my thoughts are with Ms Corby and her family,” he wrote.
Corby was admitted to hospital for treatment for severe depression two weeks ago.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#8608632 - 07/08/08 02:21 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Improved Schapelle Corby back in jail cell after depression
July 8, 2008 - news.com.au
SCHAPELLE Corby last night headed back to jail from hospital after her doctors said her depression was easing.
 The convicted drug runner will continue to take medication and have therapy, but most probably will be treated at Bali's Kerobokan jail, where she is serving a 20-year sentence.
However, there will be no major changes in the conditions, with authorities saying Corby will be in the same cell as usual and sharing with five other prisoners.
Head of the psychiatric team at Sanglah Hospital, Nyoman Ratep, said that after examining Corby yesterday the team had decided she was ready mentally to be returned to jail.
Corby, who turns 31 tomorrow, has been in hospital for more than two weeks after suffering severe depression, for which she needed medication and counselling.
"In terms of mentality she is ready to face the environment in the jail with the assistance of medication, therapy and support from the medical team, so she can be ready to face her problems in jail," Dr Ratep said.
She will be treated by jail doctors, and the medical team from Sanglah Hospital will be available to treat her either at the jail or at the hospital as an outpatient.
"Clinically her condition is good and she is ready to be an outpatient," Dr Ratep said.
Jail doctor Agung Hartawan said some focus would be put on Corby's reintegration and adaptation at the jail.
The jail's head of security, Maliki, said yesterday no special preparations or changes were being made.
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FurrowedBrow
Free yourself from yourself
Registered: 10/26/06
Posts: 2,381
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#8609158 - 07/08/08 04:35 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Thanks for keeping this updated veggie! What a crying shame this is. Anyone know where there's a torrent of Ganja Queen?
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Happy Birthday Schapelle, hang in there...
Schapelle Corby turns 31 back in jail
July 10, 2008 - news.com.au
AFTER more than two weeks in hospital being treated for depression, Schapelle Corby was back behind bars at Kerobokan jail yesterday.
 Still looking very pale, she walked back to the women's cell block area clutching mint slice biscuits and a pink teddy bear.
Corby, who turns 31 today, was returned to prison late on Tuesday after psychiatrists who had been treating her said she was ready to be reintegrated to prison life.
She is back in the same cell she has long shared but there are now fewer cellmates - five compared with the normal nine or 11.
And jail sources have revealed that Corby has applied to be transferred to another jail in Bali, however authorities have yet to assess the application.
The application is to move to Bangli prison, which is a much smaller jail than Kerobokan and which also deals with drug cases.
Here there are only about 10 other female prisoners while in Kerobokan there are about 82. Kerobokan has a total of 887 prisoners.
But one stumbling block with this plan, which has been lodged with the jail, the department and the Australian Consulate in Bali, is that Bangli is not a prison designed for inmates serving long sentences, only for those with short terms.
Yesterday the jail's boss of security, Maliki, said Corby's condition appeared better but she still looked sleepy.
Maliki said that he had instructed the other women prisoners in the jail to support and help Corby now that she had returned and to look out for her, and they had promised to do so.
"I told them yesterday afternoon to accept her and her condition and they must understand each other. I also told Corby to accept her condition and the reality, even though she believes she is not guilty," Maliki said.
"I gave an explanation to the other women prisoners to support her and to help her and they promised to do that."
He said Corby was different to fellow Australian prisoner Bali Nine member Renae Lawrence, whom he said associated with local prisoners and was well adapted to jail life.
Maliki said when Corby was returned to her cell there had been no tears and she had been warmly welcomed by her cellmates.
Corby spent more than two weeks in Sanglah Hospital being treated for severe depression after suffering a breakdown brought on partially by the loss of her last appeal against her conviction and 20-year sentence for drug dealing. She has maintained her innocence of the charges of bringing 4.1kg of marijuana to Bali.
She will continue to be treated in jail.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#8625023 - 07/12/08 10:14 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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There has been a LOT of press in the Aussie newspapers as of late connecting Schappele's father to marijuana smuggling to Bali. I think this is totally false. And the article below debunks this rumor...
Doubt cast on Corby dad drug ties
July 5, 2008 - The Australian
DOUBT has been cast on allegations that convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby's father was also involved in drug trafficking.
Queensland police informant and former heroin addict Kim Moore, three weeks before Schapelle made her ill-fated trip to Bali in 2004, told authorities that her father Michael trafficked drugs into Bali.
However, Queensland Police today said investigations into the statements made against Mr Corby had been found to be unjustified.
“Queensland Police has no evidence to link Michael Corby with involvement in the drug trade,” a police spokesperson said.
“It's dead, over. It's an old story and I don't know why it's getting more attention.”
Mr Corby, who died of cancer earlier this year, was also accused by his cousin Allan Trembath of moving marijuana throughout Queensland for decades.
Mr Trembath said he had refused an $80,000 offer from Mr Corby to accompany him on a boat trip to Cape York to pick up marijuana.
However, Mr Trembath's sister Lyn Lack discredited the claim, saying his statements are unjustified “bullshit”.
“It's all lies,” Ms Lack said.
“$80,000 in the late 70s is like $500,000 today.
”Imagine how much more marijuana that would be worth in the 70s.
“That was like two houses back in the 70s.
“Michael never had that sort of money. It's just not credible.”
Ms Lack said she believed Mr Trembath was only making his statements now because Mr Corby was dead and he wouldn't have to defend his claims.
“It has to be for his 10 minutes of fame,” she said.
Ms Lack also said Mr Trembath hardly knew the Corby family, despite being Mr Corby's cousin, and Schapelle probably didn't even know he existed.
However, former Corby financial backer Ron Bakir said if the allegations were true, it would be the “ultimate betrayal.”
In 2005, Mr Bakir funded Schapelle's legal bid to prove her innocence, gaining himself the name of the “white knight”.
Told to “butt out” and “zip his lips” by Corby's family and defence team after making public statements, he was forced to cut ties with the Corby case on June 24, 2005.
“If what they're saying is true, I've been conned along with the rest of the country,” Mr Bakir said.
“I believed in her innocence, it's disappointing news.”
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#8758624 - 08/11/08 01:56 PM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
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Poor girl. She looks all whacked out on 'antidepressants'. I suppose
that is the only way to tolerate the remainder of her 20 year
sentence...
Fun and games
for Schapelle Corby
August 12, 2008 - news.com.au
 ALMOST two months after being
put in
hospital with severe depression, Schapelle Corby was all smiles
yesterday as she enjoyed a games day at her Bali jail.
Corby, 31, hugged a senior prison officer and
clapped and laughed during a pre-Independence Day fun and games event
at Kerobokan Jail.
She told a local journalist she was not sick, despite prison
doctors
saying she remained on anti-depressants and was still "not 100 per
cent" better.
Radar Bali journalist Mohammed Ridwan spoke to Corby and asked
about
the fit of depression that saw her confined to a Bali hospital for
three weeks in June.
"Saya tidak sakit," Corby told Ridwan in perfect Indonesian, which
means, "I'm not sick".
Corby also sang along to the Michael Bolton song To Love
Somebody, swaying with the music.
When Ridwan invited her to dance Corby said: "I'd love to, but you go
first."
She also joked and asked him to delete a photograph he had taken of her
on his mobile phone, telling him that it was "ugly".
She
also asked Ridwan which paper he worked for and told him that when she
was in hospital that she had been very angry with the media.
Asked
why, she said jokingly that if she told them, the media would make
another story. She put her hand over her mouth and laughed.
The
games day, held inside an auditorium at Kerobokan Jail, was held in the
lead-up to this Sunday's Indonesian Independence Day celebrations and
included prisoners taking part in wacky competitions.
Corby did not compete but was an enthusiastic spectator with people
saying she looked healthy and happy.
She
certainly looked better than the last time she was seen - in Sanglah
Hospital where she was medicated for depression brought on partially by
the rejection of her last appeal and the deaths of her father and
stepfather.
The jail's doctor, Agung Hartawan, said yesterday
that Corby was still not 100 per cent stable and she was still taking
anti-depressants.
"She is much better compared to when she was
in the hospital but she is not 100 per cent stable," Dr Hartawan said.
"Sometimes she cries when she meets or talks with someone close to her,
especially to her family or to the consulate."
He said Corby's feeling that she was innocent and trapped in the jail
without cause made her upset.
Corby
is in line to get a short amount of time cut from her sentence on
Independence Day, however, authorities said the remissions had not yet
been announced.
Corby is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted of trying to
smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into into Bali in 2004.
Last month, after her hospital respite, she was refused permission to
move to a low-security prison in Bali.
Before
her hospital treatment, prison officers said she had been unable to
sleep or eat in prison since learning that her final appeal had failed.
Corby's appeal failed in March, when Indonesia's Supreme Court upheld
her 20-year sentence.
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b0red5tiff
NWO Disinformation Agent
Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 17,230
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#8776147 - 08/15/08 01:23 AM (3 years, 5 months ago) |
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link
Corby sentence may receive small cut
Convicted Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby is tipped to receive a small sentence cut on Sunday, to mark Indonesia's Independence Day celebrations.
Corby, who is serving a 20-year prison term, was one of 385 inmates in Bali's Kerobokan Prison recommended for a sentence cut to mark the historic day.
The head of Bali's Justice Office Mohamad Indra said Corby would likely receive a three-month remission, while Bali Nine heroin mule Renae Lawrence was in line for a four-month cut.
Nine Islamic militants convicted over the Bali bombings are also being considered for remissions, although a decision was still pending from the national prisons office, Kerobokan Prison head Yon Suharyono said.
Indonesia grants sentence cuts of up to six months, twice a year - once to mark Independence Day and another to mark major religious holidays according to a convict's faith.
Last year, 10 Islamic radicals convicted over the Bali bombings received sentence cuts of up to five months, angering some Australian relatives of victims.
"Regarding Indonesia's 63rd anniversary of independence, 385 prisoners in Kerobokan Prison will receive a sentence reduction or remission," the Justice Office's Indra said.
"From that number 42 people will immediately be released because their service period is over.
"Among the prisoners to get remission, there are seven foreign citizens, including Schapelle Corby and Renae Lawrence.
"But it is still only a recommendation, the official announcement will be on August 17."
A sentence cut is likely to be welcome news for Corby, 31, who has struggled with depression since her final appeal was rejected in March, when Indonesia's Supreme Court upheld her 20-year-sentence.
She was hospitalised for two weeks last month, but was spotted venturing from her ward to go shopping and undergo a beauty treatment.
Authorities also recently rejected a request she move to a low-security prison in Bali.
Corby - who was caught with 4.1kg of marijuana in her boogie board bag at Bali's airport in October 2004 - missed out on a sentence cut twice last year because a mobile phone was found in her cell.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#9397506 - 12/09/08 02:27 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Worldwide Video Protest For Schapelle Corby
December 9, 2008 - prweb.com
A groundbreaking music video has today been released in support of imprisoned Australian, Schapelle Corby. Tara Hack's highly acclaimed song "Saya Tidak Bersalah, I'm Not Guilty", tells the horrific story, with the landmark video illustrating the increasingly global scale of concern
A groundbreaking music video has today been released in support of imprisoned Australian, Schapelle Corby. Tara Hack's highly acclaimed song "Saya Tidak Bersalah, I'm Not Guilty", tells the horrific story, with the landmark video illustrating the increasingly global scale of concern.
The 'one planet' video features people in different locations across the world, each demonstrating their opposition to her continued incarceration. It illustrates how concern for Schapelle Corby is now truly international, and includes representation from the United States, Australia, the UK, New Zealand, Europe and Canada, amongst others.
In 2005, Schapelle Corby was sentenced to an unprecedented 20 years in an Indonesian prison cell, for importation of marijuana, following one of the most contentious cases of modern times. To this day she maintains her innocence, with observers and human rights support groups urging her release. A recent film (http://www.schapelle.net/videos.html) cites many of the disturbing aspects of the case, including the refusal of the court to test the drugs for country of origin, the subsequent burning of the untested drugs, and the much lesser value of the drugs in Indonesia than in the country of alleged export, Australia.
The video pictorial begins in New York (home of the Statue of Liberty) and ends in Canberra (home of the Australian government), zigzagging between continents on the way. The artist, Tara Hack, who is the first to appear, said: "I hope it is a tiny step to give Schapelle back the voice that was so cruelly and unjustly stripped from her"
LANDMARK VIDEO
Jan Fielding of Margin House Records described it as a landmark video: "This is leading edge social electro-innovation. I've not seen anything like it before. It is genuine innovation on a global scale, and a landmark video."
Rachel James, of 'Artists for Schapelle' stated: "These are real people in real places, with a very powerful message. The world is watching the Australian government doing nothing to help, with their media covering their tracks. The world is watching the appalling injustice and cruelty of this case. When the world hears her cries for help and learns of her story, national boundaries become absolutely irrelevant".
She continues: "The song is beautiful, and demanded a special video to accompany it. It was therefore most fitting that it was made inclusive of global contributors, albeit within the limited production window we had available. The incredible reaction we received illustrates just how much people feel for her.".
Artists for Schapelle was created to enable musicians and others to contribute to the support campaign to free her. It is open to all artists, of every genre.
VIEW THE VIDEO
The video can be viewed directly on Schapelle.net: http://www.schapelle.net/tarahack.html
ABOUT SCHAPELLE.NET
Schapelle.net is a Web site dedicated to the Schapelle Corby case. It provides resources and information to help those who are willing to assist. For further information, including details of the case itself, and how to help, see: http://www.schapelle.net
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#10393227 - 05/24/09 08:29 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Corby's mental condition deteriorates
May 25, 2009 - news.com.au
Schapelle Corby paranoid, clutching doll in Kerobokan jail
 SCHAPELLE Corby has become paranoid, unkempt and has been seen carrying a doll about her prison cell as her mental condition deteriorates.
Her mother, Rosleigh Rose, has flown from Australia to Bali to be with her daughter - the best medicine the convicted drug smuggler can have, according to her doctor.
The 31-year-old was taken from Kerobokan jail, where she is serving a 20-year sentence, to Denpasar's police hospital late on Friday and is being treated by a private psychiatrist arranged by her family.
Dr Danny Tong visited Corby for 15 minutes yesterday and said that while her condition was improving she was "very depressed" and was on medication, including anti-depressants.
"Her mother is here. This is the best medicine for anybody in the world," he said.
Ms Rose spent the night in the hospital on Saturday and was with Corby again yesterday, as was Corby's sister Mercedes and her children.
Dr Tong said Corby needed to be in a psychiatric hospital in the more secluded hill town of Bangli because she was suffering a "mental problem" and needed a change of environment.
However, he was uncertain if Indonesian authorities would allow this.
A similar request was denied last year around the time Corby spent two weeks in hospital suffering severe depression.
Dr Tong said Corby was brought to hospital because she had become "very illogical".
Asked what Corby needed to make her better, he said: "To be set free, I think."
Those who have seen Corby say she looks confused, is often teary and at one stage was paranoid about the presence of police at the hospital. Corby was also seen walking around carrying a doll.
"According to her cellmates she doesn't sleep at night," Kerobokan jail doctor Agung Hartawan said. "Sometimes she is blank. Sometimes she just hangs around the cell, sometimes she forgets about things. Sometimes she forgets to look after herself."
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Humility
Working on it
Registered: 10/07/08
Posts: 4,558
Last seen: 2 hours, 42 minutes
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#10393319 - 05/24/09 08:49 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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She appears to be deteriorating. Thanks for the updates Veggie.
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DepthToTheCore
JeeBuzz
Registered: 05/05/04
Posts: 3,649
Loc: Australia brah 
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: Humility]
#10394098 - 05/24/09 11:53 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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1/3 of your life for possession of a plant.
Such a ridiculous set of circumstances.
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"Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music." - George Carlin
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TrippingBillies3
Stranger
Registered: 07/06/08
Posts: 20
Last seen: 2 years, 8 months
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#10403429 - 05/26/09 05:01 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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God dammit when I saw her documentary "Ganja Queen" I'll admit, I shed a man tear.
You can tell she was innocent, but a part of me wonders because of how her family had ties to it, but whose family doesn't with 10,000,000 regular users?
I don't know what to believe really, all I know is that some parts of the world are way too fucked up. Such a beautiful girl locked away like an animal.
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motaman
old hand
Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 5,813
Last seen: 2 years, 18 days
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#10760236 - 07/29/09 05:53 AM (2 years, 6 months ago) |
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Schapelle Corby 'in and out of lucidity'
By Joe Hildebrand
The Daily Telegraph
July 23, 2009 07:51am
DRUG smuggler Schapelle Corby is so traumatised by her time in jail that she has lost all touch with reality and sometimes even thinks she can walk out any time.
Her condition has so shocked her family they are begging the Australian Government to send a psychiatrist to Bali to assess Schapelle and try to bring her back home for medical care, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Corby's uncle Shaun Hatton has approached broadcaster Alan Jones to put pressure on the Government, while sister Mercedes is understood to be making requests via the official channels.
Mr Hatton said that when he visited Corby last month in a Bali hospital she sat on the floor for an hour and a half, saying nothing and holding a child's toy.
"She goes in and out of lucidity - she's not lucid," he said.
"At one stage she sat on the floor with my daughter's stuffed frog that plays tunes and she was there holding it for 90 minutes without moving."
Mr Hatton said he visited Corby for four or five hours a day for the three days he was there and did not see a doctor the entire time.
She would slip into delusional states in which she would think she could just walk out of custody.
"She thinks she can hop up and go, she'd just start to get ready. She'd change her clothes and say 'let's go'," he said.
"And we'd have to say, 'No Schapelle, you can't'."
Mr Hatton, a Darwin real estate agent, said Corby still maintained her innocence and lived in hope that new evidence would emerge.
"Every day she thinks the nightmare's going to finish. Now she's not thinking lucidly at all," he said.
"She will not admit guilt because she's not guilty."
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25823201-5000540,00.html
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http://heffter.org
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ShroooomerToo
Stranger
Registered: 08/24/06
Posts: 81
Last seen: 10 days, 8 hours
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: motaman]
#10778587 - 08/01/09 02:22 AM (2 years, 6 months ago) |
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She's a pussy. You do the crime, you do the time! How long she been there? There are people in there that have been there for about 30 years, and are fine.
She is guilty, she's just milking it up.
Hoping that she can get released to a mental institution by pleading 'insane'.
She ain't dumb, her lawyers and highly paid advisors also ain't dumb... She's just trying to get into a mental ward, to try get out...
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None of the posts that are posted by this user are real. They are all fake and are for fictional use only. This member does not actually smoke or take any illegal substances, he/she just posts for fun.
Edited by ShroooomerToo (08/01/09 02:23 AM)
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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>You do the crime, you do the time!<
Under some circumstances I might agree with you, but in this case, as I review the evidence it is clear she did not 'do the crime'. People just don't bring drugs to Bali, anyway. Bali has plenty of a wide variety of drugs for tourists much much cheaper than in Australia which is why many Aussies go there for their 'drug holidays'. Plus remember this is Bali... if she had the money to afford 'highly paid advisors', as you say, she would have been home long ago after paying the customary bribe.
Her mental problems may be a ploy, as you suggest, but she has been deteriorating for some time now and I personally think it is legitimate and wish her well.
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OrgoneConclusion
Cuddly
Registered: 04/01/07
Posts: 28,307
Loc: Sea of Tranquility
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#10779226 - 08/01/09 08:59 AM (2 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Rachele Lightsey from Texas said fellow Australian should be ashamed.
“Where is the love for your fellow Aussie?? Thank goodness I live in America! If Corby was an American, this kind of treatment would NOT be tolerated!! She would be home.”
Putting people in prison for cannabis will not be tolerated in the USA? 
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Boy, you got a purty faceplate.
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filthee
DWWP
Registered: 10/16/08
Posts: 4,257
Loc: australia
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#10779354 - 08/01/09 09:32 AM (2 years, 6 months ago) |
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i think she was a mule that got away with it a few times and she clued onto the fact they were onto her,so they framed her before she vanished back home
or she was just framed because they wanted to get blue eyes into their genes,she's had 18 kids to the screws already///jk
everything over there is pirated
i know a guy who goes back and fourth so i'll ask him if the weed there is outdoor scwhag or imported hydro
thats what i'm guessing,the tourists there want decent weed and bali...well...hmmm
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TacticalBongRip
Curious Observer
Registered: 08/20/05
Posts: 527
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: filthee]
#10779536 - 08/01/09 10:22 AM (2 years, 6 months ago) |
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Getting a 20 year sentence for a 'crime' you didn't commit would suck ginormous donkey balls. Good luck to her, hopefully the insane ploy (if you want to call it that) works.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#10793937 - 08/03/09 05:16 PM (2 years, 6 months ago) |
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Schapelle Corby climbs jail tower, family says she's struggling
August 4, 2009 - news.com.au
A DEPRESSED Schapelle Corby had to be coaxed to safety after climbing a water tower near her Bali cell block, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Corby, who has suffered a mental breakdown, recently scaled the tower in Kerobokan Jail.
Yesterday her sister Mercedes said Corby was struggling and her health remained a "big worry".
"She is still struggling. It is really hard," Mercedes said.
She said her sister had a psychiatrist seeing her in jail and she was still taking medication.
"We are trying to get her better. Every day is difficult and she is not good," she said.
In June, Corby spent 1½ weeks in hospital after suffering a mental breakdown and was seen at the hospital clutching a doll and lying on the floor of her hospital room.
A DEPRESSED Schapelle Corby had to be coaxed to safety after climbing a water tower near her Bali cell block, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Corby, who has suffered a mental breakdown, recently scaled the tower in Kerobokan Jail.
Yesterday her sister Mercedes said Corby was struggling and her health remained a "big worry".
"She is still struggling. It is really hard," Mercedes said.
She said her sister had a psychiatrist seeing her in jail and she was still taking medication.
"We are trying to get her better. Every day is difficult and she is not good," she said.
In June, Corby spent 1½ weeks in hospital after suffering a mental breakdown and was seen at the hospital clutching a doll and lying on the floor of her hospital room.
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Humility
Working on it
Registered: 10/07/08
Posts: 4,558
Last seen: 2 hours, 42 minutes
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#10794055 - 08/03/09 05:39 PM (2 years, 6 months ago) |
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Posted X2.
Really sucks, things are looking bad for her ever being able to recover.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#10875505 - 08/17/09 11:09 AM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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Corby granted another remission
August 17, 2009 - Antara
 Denpasar, Bali (ANTARA News) - Australia`s Schapelle Leigh Corby who got 20-year prison sentence in 2005 for smuggling marijuana, had been granted a four-month remission on the occasion of the 64th anniversary of Indonesian independence on Monday, a penitentiary official said.
"This is the third remission for her after getting the second last year on a similar occasion," head of the Kerobokan prison in Badung district, Siswanto BC.IP, SH said here on Monday.
Despite the third remission, Corby did not join the other prison inmates in a ceremony celebrating the Indonesian independence anniversary led by Bali deputy governor Puspayoga.
The deputy governor on the occasion presented symbolically the remissions to 639 inmates from nine prisons in Bali, including six foreign inmates serving their time at Kerobokan jail.
On the occasion of the 62nd Indonesian independence anniversary on August 17, 2007, Corby was not granted a remission for violating a prison regulation banning inmates from keeping and using cell phones.
Corby -- one of 20 foreign inmates at the Kerobokan prison -- then confessed of having violated the ruling and asked for an apology.
Corby was brought to court after she confessed bringing a surfing board from Australia containing 4.2 kg of marijuana through the Ngurah Rai international airport in Denpasar, Bali, on October 8, 2004.
At that moment, Corby, who arrived by Australia Airlines AQ 7829, was intensively searched and examined after port security personnel found the drugs.
Corby who was sentenced to 20 years in jail, had intensive medical treatment at the Denpasar Sanglah hospital several times.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#10924088 - 08/23/09 11:25 PM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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Schapelle Corby 'clinically insane'
August 24, 2009 - news.com.au
A PSYCHIATRIST who spent a week with convicted drug smuggler Schapelle
Corby has diagnosed her as "clinically insane".
The Australian doctor, believed to be employed by Corby's family, said
he was shocked by what he saw during his time at the Indonesian jail,
saying the 32-year-old was delusional and paranoid.
The Corby family is planning to send the doctor's 20-page report to
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh in a bid to
have Schapelle transferred to an Australian jail.
The news follows reports that Bali Nine drug trafficker, Renae
Lawrence, has been "secretly caring" for Corby for almost a year at the
special request of authorities at Bali's Kerobokan jail.
The women have each been jailed for 20 years for drug trafficking -
Corby for smuggling marijuana into Bali's Denpasar airport and Lawrence
for attempting to traffick heroin from Bali to Australia.
Lawrence, in an interview with Woman's Day magazine, says she has
watched Corby's condition deteriorate in the past four years.
In that time Corby had gone from a "strong-minded person" who was
determined not to crumble and to prove her innocence to a "timid little
child that cowers when I scold her for doing silly little things".
"I'm the only one she listens to," Lawrence said.
"She's tried to climb on to the roof of the cells and lodged herself
inside a space in the ceiling of her cell.
"She thinks she can get out of the prison that way and it takes a lot
of talking to bring her down."
Lawrence admitted there were times when the pair screamed at each other
and almost fought physically, but she said those issues were now at
rest.
"Only five cells separate us. Too close to carry on like that for the
next 20 years," she said.
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Green_T
Getting to the chopper
Registered: 10/02/08
Posts: 4,024
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#10925304 - 08/24/09 08:09 AM (2 years, 5 months ago) |
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Stories like this remind me that we live in the dark ages.
Aussies should (or do they already?) have a campaign to completely boycott Bali tourism because of this case.
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"I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man" - Thomas Jefferson
Legalize Meth | Drug War Victims
Their vial of acid, which is on the table over there, tastes vile because they're incompetent chemists.
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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,810
Loc:
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Re: Schapelle Corby Case [Re: veggie]
#11884035 - 01/23/10 06:18 AM (2 years, 22 days ago) |
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