Drug accused Leslie may soon walk free
I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar
Prosecutors here on Tuesday dropped their main charge against Australian model Michelle Leslie, 24, who was allegedly caught in possession of the party drug ecstasy, and recommended to the Denpasar District Court that she be jailed for only three months.
The sentencing recommendation, if acceded to by the court, means that Leslie, arrested on Aug. 20 in Bali, will be released when the trial ends.
Leslie broke into a smile after her interpreter whispered the prosecution recommendation into her left ear.
The prosecution had earlier charged the defendant under Article 59(1e) Law No. 5/1997 on psychotropic substances, which carries a sentence of up to 15 years' imprisonment for possession of an illegal drug.
"Our decision (to ask for a lighter sentence) is based on the law and all the information, including eyewitness accounts, that emerged during the trial," prosecutor Risman Tarihoran told the court.
Three out of a total of eight witnesses backed Leslie's excuse that the pills did not belong to her, while the rest did not contradict this claim.
Nicole Marre Lindeblad, Alan Gustav Roboth and Andre Wuisan all testified that they saw Mia, a female friend of Leslie's, placing the pills in the defendant's bag. Mia is still at large.
Moreover, a letter from Leslie's Australian doctor stated that she was being treated with psychotropic drugs to ease emotional problems rooted in her troubled relationship with her mother. A local psychiatrist Denny Thong, after interviewing Leslie, corroborated the contents of the letter.
"From this perspective, the defendant needs medical treatment not a jail term. Incarcerating her will certainly not solve her psychological problems," Leslie's lawyer Christo Immanuel Dugis said.
Before adjourning the trial, presiding judge I Made Sudia said he would deliver his verdict next Friday.
Leslie was arrested during a police drug raid on vehicles entering the Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) Cultural Park in Jimbaran. They found two ecstasy pills inside her handbag.
Leslie is one of a number of Australians charged with drugs abuse in Indonesia. She reportedly converted to Islam after she was arrested, and court documents identify her as Muslim. She has often been seen wearing an Islamic head scarf during her trial.
In addition, a titillating turn to the case also seems to have surfaced, as recent media reports have placed Leslie with a son of Indonesia's chief economics minister, Aburizal Bakrie, at the time of her arrest. The reports said that when the Australian model was arrested, she was riding in a Kijang van supposedly belonging to the Bakrie family company.
A company spokesperson has denied as "untrue" the reports that were published in an Australian newspaper as well as a number of local media, and added that they would consider a law suit against them.
Another Australian woman, Schapelle Corby, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in May for smuggling 4.2 kilograms of marijuana into Bali from her home country. That sentence was cut on appeal to 15 years.
Nine other Australians are also being tried in Bali on charges of attempting to smuggle heroin from the tourist island to Australia. They could be sentenced to death if convicted.