Schapelle Corby

Schapelle Leigh Corby (born July 10, 1977) is a former beauty student from Australia convicted by an Indonesian court of attempting to smuggle 4.1 kg of cannabis into Indonesia. In October 2004 she was stopped by customs agents at Ngurah Rai Airport, Bali, and found to have a large package of drugs in her boogie board bag. On May 27, 2005, she was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years jail. She was also fined IDR100,000,000 (AUD13,875), with an additional six months if unpaid.

The verdict in the Corby trial was broadcast live on television in Australia, and the Nine Network television coverage was also broadcast live in New Zealand. The coverage included the trial outline, of some 80 pages, the verdict, and sentencing.

The defence and prosecution appealed separately to the High Court, the defence appealing for a retrial, the prosecution appealing for an extended sentence. As of 5 July, 2005, the High Court ruled that the case should be re-tried by the district court, allowing the defence to call new witnesses. The onus is now on the defence team to call sufficient witnesses to prove that Corby did not place the drugs into her own boogie board bag. Any further appeal could move to the Supreme Court which would have 170 days to reach a decision.

A rally held in Brisbane on 3 June 2005 to protest the Corby verdict attracted just six protesters [1]. About 40 protesters gathered on 5 June 2005 at the Australian embassy in Jakarta calling for Corby to receive the death sentence, carrying placards with words such as '"Corby, drug dealer, must die"' [2]. Nationwide (and international) (see list) rallies are being planned for Corby's birthday on 10 July.

The Trial

The Case

That marijuana was located in Corby's luggage has never been disputed but Corby has since consistently maintained that she had become an unwitting drug courier (drug mule) for what was supposed to have been an interstate shipment of drugs between Brisbane and Sydney within Australia.

In proposing such a defence, any indication that Corby might have been reluctant to present her luggage would have been severely injurious to her defence. Ultimately, the case for the prosecution included testimony from four Indonesian officers that Corby had clearly attempted to avoid presenting the contents of her boogie board and this incident weighed heavily when the verdict was announced.

Prosecution

The customs officer, Gusti Nyoman Winata, said that he asked Corby to open her bag and she opened up an empty compartment of the bag. When he demanded a different compartment of the bag to be opened, she tried to prevent him from opening the bag himself. Corby's defence rejects these claims, but they are backed up by another custom officer and two local police officers.

According to Professor Tim Lindsey, Director of the University of Melbourne's Asian Law Centre, the prosecution had a prima facie case against Corby, established merely by her possession of the narcotics, regardless of her knowledge. In a lecture given at Melbourne University, he said "Suffice to say that being caught with drugs on you, whether strapped to you or in a bag that is your property, is probably going to be sufficient in most instances for the prosecution to establish a prima facie case. The question then arises as to how that prima facie case is answered by a defence team."

Defence

Corby gave a different version of the event, saying that the customs officer pointed at her bag and asked her brother if the bag belonged to him. Corby replied that it was hers. According to her version of events, she opened her bag without being asked by the customs officer.

John Patrick Ford, currently a remand prisoner at Port Phillip Prison, Australia, gave evidence in Corby's defence. Ford previously worked as a public servant for the (Australian) Child Support Agency (CSA).

Ford stated that he overheard a conversation within a prison between two men and alleges one of the men planted the marijuana in Corby's boogie board bag in Brisbane with the intent of having another person remove it in Sydney. Ford went on to state that a simple mixup resulted in the marijuana not being removed and subsequently being transported to Indonesia, all without Corby's knowledge. Once in Indonesia the marijuana was quickly located by Indonesian customs officials.

Ford stated that the drugs were owned by Ron Vigenser, who had been a prisoner at the same jail as Ford (but was recently released) but has refused to name the man who he states planted the drugs for fear that he, and possibly Corby, would be killed if he did so. Vigenser has strenuously denied any connection with the drugs in the Australian media and has reportedly given a statement to the Australian Federal Police.

Following communication from Corby's legal team and the Australian government, the Indonesian government made a request under the Mutual Assistance Treaty for Ford to be transported to Indonesia to give evidence.

The prosecution attacked Ford's evidence, pointing out that his evidence is entirely hearsay and that he is facing trial for several serious offences in Australia. They remarked that he may have wanted a "taste of freedom" by testifying in Corby's trial. Legal commentators in Australia have remarked that Ford's testimony, as hearsay, would be inadmissable evidence in an Australian court, but it was allowed under the Indonesian justice system, where the judges exercise a discretion over whether or not the evidence can be admitted. Professor Tim Lindsay has stated that the defence case contained "virtually nothing that was admissible evidence to be given weight under Indonesian criminal procedure law" [3].

An AUD1,000,000 reward has been offered for information to substantiate claims made by Ford about baggage handlers. Since returning from Bali, Ford has been beaten and stabbed in jail and is now in solitary confinement for his own protection. [4]

Involvement of Ron Bakir

A Gold Coast business man, Ron Bakir retained the services of an Australian law firm (Hoolihans) to investigate where the drugs came from. Given the secrecy surrounding the Government's decision to fund the Indonesian lawyers defending Corby at the court, many people assumed Bakir was also paying their fees. In practice, no one knows whether Bakir has actually paid any money to Hoolihans or the Indonesian lawyers, although he has offered to publicise documentation.

Bakir claims to have no relationship to Corby other than being from the same city. Bakir reportedly decided to assist in funding Corby's defence due to his belief that a miscarriage of justice could occur if she were not properly represented. Bakir has pledged AUD100,000 towards the AUD1,000,000 reward fund, although it is not clear this money will ever have to be paid, as the person is unlikely to be found and the full reward was never raised.

Prior to the prosecution announcing their sentencing recommendation Bakir accused the prosecution team of seeking a bribe to reduce the requested sentence. The prosecution team and the Indonesian government vehemently denied that this occurred. Corby's legal team have openly admitted their anger at Bakir making these statements before the sentencing recommendation, fearing that it may have encouraged the prosecution to seek a more severe penalty.

Bakir has registered a company titled Schapelle Corby Pty Ltd [5], causing others to raise doubts as to his motives. He has recently unregistered the company. Corby's father (who was himself convicted of a drug related offence [6]) has also expressed his concerns about the true intentions of Bakir, and Corby's mother is quoted as saying "We didn't ask him to come on board, we didn't know him from a bar of soap, and now it seems like he's trying to profit from Schapelle's misery", "I do think he's got ulterior motives" [7].

Many creditors of Mr Bakir's previous businesses who are still owed money have raised questions of how he has been able to fund Corby's defence.[8] Corby's mother maintains that Bakir has asked her to eventually pay him back. [9] Mercedes Corby believes her mother's version of events. [10] . Bakir was bankrupted in 2002 and discharged from bankruptcy in 2003. Corby's legal team have suggested to Bakir to keep quiet during her appeal.

Bakir cut all ties with the Schapelle Corby case on the 24th of June 2005. [11]

Conduct of the case

File:SchapelleCorbyInCell.jpg

Schapelle Corby in prison in Bali, Indonesia

The Corby case has attracted a fierce media interest, and has intensified efforts by Australia to achieve a Prisoner Exchange Agreement with Indonesia, under which Corby could serve some or all of her sentence in Australia. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has stated that Corby may serve her entire sentence if transferred, without the possibility of retrial. After the verdict, Downer also revealed that the government had provided financial assistance for Corby's defence and that an offer of two Queen's Counsel had been rejected. In the same interview, he renewed this offer in the event of an appeal and urged the Corby family to accept[12][13].

Prosecutors requested a life sentence with a fine of AUD13,400. They stated that they asked for a lenient sentence because of Corby's politeness in court. Following proceedings, Chief Judge Linton Sirait stated that the death penalty could still be imposed, if he and the other judges found Corby guilty.

By the conclusion of Corby's trial, when prosecutors were preparing to announce their recommendations for sentencing, Corby's health deteriorated. On April 14 Corby collapsed in court. Before suspending court proceedings, Chief Judge Linton Sirait made a pointed observation suggestive of his doubts about Corby's honest behaviour in respect of her health; the trial was deferred so that the court could seek medical advice from the prosecution's doctor on Corby's health.

Following reports by a Balinese newspaper that she was ill because of pregnancy, Corby was compelled to take a pregnancy test. The result of the test showed she was not pregnant. Her family angrily denied claims that she is conducting a relationship in the jail.

Colonel Bambang Sugiarto, senior officer of the Balinese Drug Squad, has stated on Australian television that the lack of television footage at the Bali airport, and problems with fingerprinting of exhibits were weaknesses in the prosecution case. [14]. Also, Tim Lindsay of the University of Melbourne, Asian law expert, has suggested that a greater focus on the weaknesses of the forensic evidence may have been helpful. [15]

Corby was convicted on May 27, 2005 and will serve 20 years and 6 months jail. She has signed documents allowing her legal team to appeal the verdict. If the appeals process fails, Corby can petition for Presidential Pardon, however as a pardon also carries an admission of guilt, Corby has stated she will not be pursuing a pardon [16].

Alleged involvement of baggage handlers

Numerous arrests occurred during the week of May 9 2005 in Australia related to cocaine smuggling through Sydney airport. According to the Sydney Morning Herald Corby flew out of Sydney on the same day (October 8,2004) that a large shipment of cocaine was shipped out of the airport by baggage handlers. On May 13, 2005, Qantas indicated that one baggage handler had been stood down. There are reported doubts about another 25 baggage handlers who were linked to the arrests.

The AFP commissioner Mick Keelty caused controversy on May 11 when he stated that a key aspect of her defence (that the drugs were planted in her bag by baggage handlers) was not supported by the available intelligence. [17]

However, public confidence in the integrity of baggage handlers and security of luggage handling was undermined when in April 2005 a man had a camel costume removed from his checked-in luggage at Sydney airport and reported his observation of a baggage handler wearing the costume on the tarmac.ABC news story SMH report

There are reports of overwritten Qantas surveillance tapes requested long before the erasure cycle:

"Any chance of getting that evidence has gone. Qantas says the CCTV tapes were wiped on November 2, two weeks before it received a letter from the lawyers officially requesting copies. But Corby's lawyers say their first request for the tapes was made on October 14, six days after Corby's arrest, to a Qantas security official who had flown from Sydney to Denpasar to meet them. This request was repeated a number of times."[18]

Corby's pleas

Corby made numerous pleas to all parties concerned in her trial. At the defence's last address to the court, Corby said to the three judges "My life is in your hands, but I would prefer it was in your hearts", and claiming that seven months of jail was definitely enough punishment for not putting locks on her baggage.[19]

Corby also wrote to the case's prosecutor, Ida Bagus Wiswantanu, and judges with a request for leniency,[20] as well as to Prime Minister of Australia John Howard, saying in part "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."

Howard was quoted to say in response: "I feel for her. I understand why there's a lot of public sympathy for her, I would simply say that I hope justice is done and it's a fair and true verdict."

Howard also 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."[21]

Effect on relations with Indonesia

Schapelle Corby support poster in Sydney

The Corby case has generated intense controversy in Australia, where the prevailing public opinion in support of Corby has confronted the Commonwealth Government and caused tension in the relationship with Indonesia.

A letter was delivered to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra containing an unknown substance on May 31, 2005, it was later found to be non-toxic and is believed to be a hoax. Some have speculated that this hoax attack could be in response to the Corby verdict, although this remains unconfirmed. Indonesia denounced this incident as an act of terrorism. In an attempt to mitigate any negative effect on Corby's likelihood for a successful appeal, the Schapelle Corby Freedom network plans to respond by sending flowers to Indonesian diplomats, and encouraging the public to do the same.

Media involvement and public perceptions in the case

Popular discussion and comment in support of Corby's innocence tended to rely on a number of points: firstly, that, given the concurrent revelations of the alleged involvement of certain baggage-handling staff in Australian airports in drug-smuggling rings, the drugs were likely planted; secondly, the quantity of drugs found in the bag would be unlikely to be of high monetary value; and thirdly, the prosecution case was largely unfair towards Corby. All three of these assertions have been challenged.

There is a reported view among some legal experts that some of the negative perceptions of the case may be due to a misunderstanding of the inquisitorial system used in Indonesia which originated from the Dutch colonial system, as opposed to the adversarial system used in Australia, especially related to the false perception that Corby was not presumed innocent.[22] There are also allegations of a strong bias by the Australia media, who are accused of mentioning the specifics of the Corby defence but failing to mention important aspects of the prosecution case, such as the allegation Corby initially claimed the drugs were hers[23], and that she appeared reluctant to open her bag at the airport, as well as making invalid comparisons between Corby's case and the other recent Indonesian criminal case to receive widespread publicity in Australia, the trial of Abu Bakar Bashir [24].

A frequently cited topic of popular discussion in the case was the low likelihood that marijunana would be smuggled from Brisbane to Bali on the basis that the drug is worth is far less there than in Australia. However, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Western tourists in Bali prefer to buy drugs from other Western tourists to minimise the risks of being caught in a frequent police trap, given that Indonesia has no laws barring entrapment. This report also alleged that the quality of marijuana in Indonesia is quite poor, and that therefore Australian marijuana sells for a relatively large amount in Bali. The ABC program Media Watch quoted an anonymous journalist as saying that news stories that conflicted with the widespread perception that the drugs in question were of little value were being discouraged, on the basis that such coverage was unfavourable to Corby [25].

Some considered the prosecution case against Corby, and perceived inefficiences in the handling of evidence — in particular the inability to test for fingerprints on the bag containing the marijuana — were evidence of systemic failures of the Indonesian legal system and that a fair trial had not been afforded to Corby.

There is also the dissenting opinion that although there may have been some shortcomings in the prosecution case, this does not overide what they consider to be an overwhelming strong prima facie case combined with a weak defence relying primarily on hearsay and non specific evidence. [26]

A poll commissioned and published in June 2005 by the Sydney Morning Herald found that opinion was divided as to whether Corby was guilty but there was a perception that the trial had not been carried out fairly.

Several Australian media stories have drawn comparisons between Corby's case and the case of Chika Honda, a Japanese tourist and beauty student who was imprisoned for over ten years in Melbourne jails for heroin possession. Many legal experts including Professor Paul Wilson of Bond University who testified on behalf of Corby in her 2005 Bali trial, believe Honda is innocent.

Comments from public figures

Prime Minister Howard has spoken publicly on the case, as has the Opposition Leader Kim Beazley. While always being careful to state that they are not seeking to interfere in the Indonesian judicial system these comments have been construed as applying pressure on the court trying the case. At the same time Australia has rushed to negotiate a prisoner transfer treaty with Indonesia.

The comments from Australian political leaders and other commentators have been construed in Indonesia as interference in the Indonesian judicial system. This was especially the case after it emerged that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had sent a letter in May to the court trying the Corby case regarding the suspected involvement of baggage handlers in the transnational movement of drugs through Australian airports.

In April, Oscar-winning New Zealand-born actor Russell Crowe commented on the case suggesting that Prime Minister Howard should do more to secure Corby's release. "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"? [27] The Age further quoted Crowe as saying that "Howard should point out to Jakarta that Australia had been a generous supporter following the devastating tsunami in Aceh, pledging $1 billion in aid" [28].

Some Australian government officials expressed confidence in the Indonesian court proceedings. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's comments that Australia had no reason to believe the Indonesian court hearing the case was behaving inappropriately and that he supported the Indonesian President's comments that "we have to respect the court in proceeding this case"..[29]

Lindy Chamberlain has written a letter to Corby, expressing her sympathies towards Corby, and exhorting Corby to keep her faith strong. Chamberlain has also written a letter to the Australian people, reminding them that while popular opinion in Australia may consider Corby to be innocent [30], that Corby must prove her innocence within the context of the Indonesian justice system. [31]

Daniel Pocock, an e-Commerce entrepreneur and Australian ex-pat living in London set up the web site www.dontShootSchapelle.com to raise international awareness of the case. The petition distributed through the site resulted in over 200,000 signatures being posted back to Schapelle's family, and $12,000 in donations. This site by one of the moderators of the dontShootSchapelle.com forums talks more about the volunteers efforts.

See also

• Bali Nine, Nine Australian citizens accused of involvement in a plan to smuggle heroin valued at AUD4,000,000 from Indonesia to Australia and could receive the death penalty
• Chris Currell, an Australian imprisoned in Bali in 2004 for planning to export 70,000 ephedrine tablets, sentenced to six months imprisonment.
• List of Australians in international prisons

External links

• : www.dontShootSchapelle.com official campaign site
• "FPSS Shapelle Corby Page ( comprehensive )" - Foreign Prisoners Support Service
• : Schapelle Corby Unofficial Information Site
• "I ask for you... to find me innocent" - The Age (Final statement to court)
• "Crowe heartbroken at Corby's plight" - The Age
• "Weighing the Evidence - Sydney Morning Herald
• "The Schapelle Corby Story - Mathew Moore on Schapelle Corby" - Sydney Morning Herald
• "10 pieces of evidence that went against her" - The Age
• Australia and the Death Penalty
• Schapelle Corby Prison Sentence Countdown Widget for Mac OS X Dashboard

• "Schapelle Corby" prominance on the internet, interesting to watch the graphs change depending on the outcome.