British Grandma- Death Penalty in Bali

[rdhopkins2]

A British Grandmother has received the death penalty in Bali for drug trafficking- namely cocaine. Indonesian prosecutors had recommended 15 years in gaol.
Yet another foreigner in serious trouble in Indonesia.


http://www.news.com.au/world/britis...ocaine-smuggling/story-fndir2ev-1226559509016

 

[Grizzly_82]

Well that's what happens when you snuggle in drugs to a third world country, you have to accept their laws no matter how much you disagree with it.

 

[childeric]

Well that's what happens when you snuggle in drugs to a third world country, you have to accept their laws no matter how much you disagree with it.

And there's nothing your own government can do to help

 

[rdhopkins2]

I don't disagree that Indonesia is entirely allowed to implement their own judicial penalties (whilst being vehemently against the death penalty). Just a shame that people don't learn to respect the laws of foreign nations and find themselves in such horrible situations, whether under duress or not at the time of their actions. I can't fathom how she thought she would remain undetected.

No matter your view on corruption in Indonesia and the drug trade there, it's not something you would be wanting to tempt fate with.

 

[childeric]

Waiting for the calls to boycott travel to Bali

 

[Illinois Nazi]

She's a grandmother? Then she must be innocent!

Bit rough getting the death penalty when even the prosecutor didn't think it was warranted.

 

[CAS79]

Waiting for the calls to boycott travel to Bali

We wont be having any. Calls to boycott Bali is a philosophical stance not connected to crime board.

 

[Drewpac]

I've read a lot of the books on Bali (schapelle book, Hotel K, Snowing in Bali) and from what I can gather from all this is that the reason she got the death penalty is because she didn't formally apologize to Indonesia and kept banging on about the story about how she was forced to do it because of her families safety ect..

If you check out the Aussie bloke, Michael Sacatides who got busted with close to 2kg of ice going into bali, he admitted it, apologised to Bali and slowed down on his story about how he didnt know it was there and only got 16 years when he could have got death.

strange system

 

[childeric]

We wont be having any. Calls to boycott Bali is a philosophical stance not connected to crime board.

I was referring to the public and media in general, not just BF

Note to self- be more specific in future when posting

 

[Grizzly_82]

I've read a lot of the books on Bali (schapelle book, Hotel K, Snowing in Bali) and from what I can gather from all this is that the reason she got the death penalty is because she didn't formally apologize to Indonesia and kept banging on about the story about how she was forced to do it because of her families safety ect..

If you check out the Aussie bloke, Michael Sacatides who got busted with close to 2kg of ice going into bali, he admitted it, apologised to Bali and slowed down on his story about how he didnt know it was there and only got 16 years when he could have got death.

strange system

To be fair 16 years prison sentence there I would rather death tbh

 

[grizzlym]

I think the other surprising thing with the death penalty is she assisted the police etc.

 

[Paul Kersey]

Whole thing reads pretty average to me.

 

[Drewpac]

To be fair 16 years prison sentence there I would rather death tbh

Yep true but 16 years you can get parole after two thirds serve or something and with sentence cuts It comes down heaps. Would rather be in kerobokan than bang kwang prison in Bangkok. That place looks crazy

 

[Grizzly_82]

Yep true but 16 years you can get parole after two thirds serve or something and with sentence cuts It comes down heaps. Would rather be in kerobokan than bang kwang prison in Bangkok. That place looks crazy

How often do they give paroles in Bali tho ...

 

[Selective Retention]

And there's nothing your own government can do to help

I've been buying books from the $5 bin to kill some time at work reading. Picked up a copy of a book called Once a Jolly Hangman by Alan Shadrake. It's about drugs and death sentences in Singapore. While Singapore is a different landscape to Indonesia, as Singapore's economony is heavily reliant on international investment, if it is done right then it can be influenced. Once the sentence is handed down, they will not back down on it, but if the pressure is applied from the beginning then they can find the loophole to avoid the death penalty and cop the long jail sentence instead.

The book uses the case of Nguyen Van Tuong as the base case and relates a few other examples. There was some German national busted and the Singaporean judicial system dogged the death penalty there when the pressure from the German media and government was turned right up, compared to the Australian reaction to Nguyen Van Tuong where they basically let it through to the keeper until it was way too late, as all the attention was on Corby instead. There was another Aussie woman from Perth who was on a drug run with her young kids as cover and "miracalously" managed to get through Singapore customs and was picked up by the Feds in Australia instead. There was strong insinuations in the book that that was too hot for Singapore, the PR of hanging a mother with young kids would have been nasty, and that there was no way the Singapore authorities would have missed finding the drugs the way they were transported. It goes without saying that if you were a local busted, you were completely screwed.

 

[Drewpac]

How often do they give paroles in Bali tho ...

Still better than facing the firing squad! Although i reckon the grandma will get her sentence commuted to life on appeal

 

[Grizzly_82]

Still better than facing the firing squad! Although i reckon the grandma will get her sentence commuted to life on appeal

Might as well be death, wouldnt have many years left and can you imagine being her age facing the rest of her life in that hellhole

 

[CAS79]

Might as well be death, wouldnt have many years left and can you imagine being her age facing the rest of her life in that hellhole

Think she would be hoping at some kind of appeal downgrade to 15 or 20 years and than a prisoner exchange deal where the sentence would still be served but back in the UK, where the health program would give her a better chance of walking out alive.

 

[Grizzly_82]

Think she would be hoping at some kind of appeal downgrade to 15 or 20 years and than a prisoner exchange deal where the sentence would still be served but back in the UK, where the health program would give her a better chance of walking out alive.

Again what % does Bali allow a exchange deal/parole to occur.

From memory the only one I can recall is the proposed Corby exchange deal....which to my mind will fall through.

 

[CAS79]

Again what % does Bali allow a exchange deal/parole to occur.

From memory the only one I can recall is the proposed Corby exchange deal....which to my mind will fall through.

I said it would be a hope, not necessarily a reality.

To date I don't think they have done a prisoner swap however there have been talks over the last couple of years both with us and the UK that may still open up a chance for her if the appeal is successful in dropping not only the death penalty but a sentence with a release date too.

There's a lot of water to flow under the bridge for all of that to happen but we humans like to fight to survive.

 

[Grizzly_82]

All well and good but at so,e point the person has to see the reality of their situation and what would be more humane to them in the long term.

 

[Drewpac]

All well and good but at so,e point the person has to see the reality of their situation and what would be more humane to them in the long term.

100% right about her age and having to face life in kerobokan. would suffer pretty badly mentally and physically you'd imagine.

i know britain has prison swap deals with thailand and a few other countries, not just about indonesia though. watched a doco on Bang Kwang prison in Bangkok, also known as big tiger. There was this 19 year old brit in there who was serving 99 years (got appealed to 30 years, then 20, but last week after 9 years in that prison he got moved to a prison in england somewhere and is eligible for parole in 6 years. After escaping the death penalty, and being sentenced 99 years, i guess this is a good result.

not sure if this happens with Indonesia though

 

[lemon chicken]

Son of the year. Not sure how someone could get themselves into this mess if you believe the excuse given, surely just going to the UK cops and telling them the story is what a normal person would do. I have no sympathy for her.

 

[rdhopkins2]

Surely you would go to your local police and inform them of any current threats. Drug couriering is not the answer. Even if she got away with it by fluke first time, she would still be sucked in to going again by these people.