Jakarta Globe, Jun 30, 2015
Jakarta. A New Zealand man has escaped the death penalty after being found guilty of smuggling crystal methamphetamine into Bali in December last year.
New Zealand national Antony de Malmanche waits inside a holding cell at the Denpasar court on Bali island on Tuesday. (AFP Photo/Sonny Tumbelaka) |
Jakarta. A New Zealand man has escaped the death penalty after being found guilty of smuggling crystal methamphetamine into Bali in December last year.
Antony de
Malmanche, 52, was sentenced on Tuesday to 15 years’ jail fined Rp 4 billion
($300,000), or an additional three months in prison.
Denpasar
District Court found him guilty of smuggling 1.7 kilograms of crystal meth
inside his backpack from Hong Kong to Bali, where he expected to meet a woman
named “Jessie” whom he had been chatting with online.
Prosecutors
had demanded 18 years’ jail, and the verdict was light given the court could
have imposed a maximum sentence of death.
De
Malmanche’s legal team argued that he was a victim of human trafficking and was
duped into carrying the drugs by a transnational crime syndicate.
The New
Zealander’s lawyer, Chris Harno, said he would consider an appeal, Australian
Associated Press reported.
De
Malmanche is currently in Kerobokan jail, where Australian drug traffickers
Myura Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were imprisoned before they were executed in
April.
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