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Australian police to appear in Corby appeal

Posted on: Monday, 18 July 2005, 06:04 CDT

BALI, Indonesia (Reuters) - Fresh witnesses, including an Australian police officer, will appear at a July 20 appeal hearing for the Australian beauty therapist convicted of smuggling drugs to Indonesia's resort island of Bali, a lawyer said on Monday.

The witnesses will testify in Denpasar District Court in the appeal of Schapelle Corby, 28, jailed for 20 years for importing 4.1 kg (9 lb) of marijuana in a case that sparked public outrage in Australia.

Corby's high-profile Jakarta-based lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, was optimistic the three witnesses -- an Indonesian legal expert, a Bali police official and an Australian policeman -- could help her case.

"I just know that our neighbor is sloppier than us. It is strongly proven that Corby is just a victim," said Hutapea. "(Australia) will be embarrassed by the dirty facts of Sydney International airport."

Corby, from the state of Queensland, has insisted the drugs found in her bodyboard bag by a Bali customs officer at the island's international airport were planted there by someone at an Australian airport.

The prosecution sees the case as open-and-shut drug trafficking because Corby told Bali customs the bag was hers.

Legal experts say that to overturn the conviction, Corby's defense will have to provide hard evidence Australian airport luggage handlers put the cannabis into the bag without her knowledge.

Hutapea said the defense team would present a news report on drug smuggling and an essay written by a New South Wales policeman about Sydney airport.

Source: REUTERS

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