Drug trial moves forward

Drug trial moves forward

JAKARTA (JP): A defendant told the Central Jakarta District
Court on Friday that someone gave him more heroin than he
expected in a drug transaction at Hotel Hannover in Tanah Abang,
Central Jakarta, last April.

"Joey handed me 100 grams of heroin at the hotel, although I
earlier told him only to bring several grams," Christian Chinedu
Ejionye, a Liberian national, said in the hearing presided over
by judge I Gde Sumitra.

Asked why he accepted the large amount of heroin, the
defendant said he did not have the chance to argue because the
police had already arrived.

"A number of police officers were around us. Joey managed to
flee the scene, leaving me alone along with the drugs," he said.

The 49-year-old defendant said he contacted Joey on April 22,
or four days before the transaction. "I told him I needed a few
grams of heroin."

"I used heroin only when I was stressed," Ejionye said, adding
that when he used heroin it was always less than a gram.

In the hearing on Friday, the court also heard testimony from
Sadroh, 38, who owns a house in Cilandak Timur, South Jakarta,
which has been rented by the defendant and his wife since last
year.

"The defendant always left me his keys whenever he left the
house. He only let his wife pick up the keys from me," she said
during the trial.

In a previous hearing, prosecutor Fachruddin said police
detectives Antonius Paryadi and Sutriyanto arrested the defendant
as he purchased the drugs from Joey at the hotel on April 26.
Joey is still at large.

Fachruddin said police raided the defendant's rental home
three days after the arrest and found 250 grams of heroin packed
in three transparent plastic packages which were kept in milk
cartons. The defendant said during the hearing that nobody but he
and his wife had access to the house.

The prosecutor indicted the defendant under Article 82 of the
1997 Law on Narcotics, which carries a maximum sentence of 15
years in prison. Judge I Gde Sumitra adjourned the trial until
Nov. 5, at which time the prosecutor will read out his sentencing
demand.(asa)