16:27
El NACHO
AN AUSTRALIAN man facing 16 years jail in Bali has personally apologised for the distress and negative impact of his drugs arrest and told of his efforts to keep fit while behind bars.
Appearing in Denpasar District Court yesterday Michael Sacatides, 43, chose to make his own personal plea to the judges who will decide his fate.
Reading from a two-page document, Sacatides, formerly from Sydney's west, told the three judges: "I would like to apologise for the distress that my arrest has caused to Indonesia and in particular Bali.
"I realise that your country does not deserve this type of negative attention."
Sacatides said that he intended to make amends, during his imprisonment, and do everything he can to repair the damage.
"I have already started a Thai boxing program and a health and fitness class.
"I am currently 43-years-old and have never committed a crime."
Interpol and the Australian Federal Police have confirmed this as fact.
Sacatides also thanked the officials and law enforcement for treating me with the utmost respect and dignity.
He told of his commitment to rehabilitate himself in the jail. However, he has from day one maintained his innocence and denied any knowledge of the drugs found in the suitcase he was carrying. He did not explain why he would therefore need to rehabilitate himself.
"I come from an honest and religious family who has never been in any trouble with the law and I have already learned a lot in prison and I am committed to rehabilitate myself," Sacatides said.
Sacatides, a kickboxing instructor living in Bangkok, was arrested on Ocotber 1 last year shortly after arriving in Bali on a flight from Thailand. Customs officials found the 1.7kg of methamphetamine or ice secreted in the side panels of the suitcase he was carrying.
The charge of importing the drug carries the maximum death penalty however prosecutors recently made a sentence request suggesting that he was worthy of a 16-year jail term.
The sentence request is just a guide however and the panel of three judges can give a sentence higher or lower than this.
From day one Sacatides, who has the same lawyer as Schapelle Corby originally employed, has employed the same defence that he had no idea the drugs, worth up to $A400,000, were inside the bag.
He has said he borrowed the bag from an Indian friend in Bangkok.
Sacatides has supplied the name of the Indian man to authorities but there is no evidence he has been tracked down or located or questioned about the bag or its contents.
His lawyer, Erwin Siregar, who also represented Corby after her 2004 arrest, told the court as part of the 26-page defence response to the sentence demand that his client was a victim of a drug syndicate.
Mr Siregar submitted that when approached by Customs and asked to unlock his bag that he did so quickly and smoothly, he did not exhibit nervousness and looked calm and relaxed. And he said that the code of the lock on his suitcase was the standard 000, meaning that anyone could have opened it.
Further, the authorities had failed to take any fingerprints of the surface containing the drugs, Mr Siregar said.
"Based on the facts during the trial, the element of evil intention could not be proven at all in this case ... and the legal consequence is the defendant must be declared innocent of committing the crime of importing narcotic," Mr Siregar submitted.
He called for Sacatides to be found not guilty and freed when his verdict is handed down on April 25.
The prosecution had earlier submitted that Sacatides crime was contrary to Government programs to combat narcotic abuse and could tarnish Bali's image as a tourist destination and damage the young generation when the drugs got onto the street.
Sacatides is in Bali's Kerobokan jail along with 11 other Australians - including the Bali Nine and Schapelle Corby. Three of the Bali Nine are on death row and awaiting the outcome of their final appeals, while Corby is waiting for the result of a presidential clemency plea against her 20-year sentence.
There is no date or time limit for any of the appeals or clemency plea.
Another man, Angus McCaskill, was recently sentenced to seven years in jail after being found guilty of possession of 3.58 grams of cocaine and fined $A89,000. He is appealing his sentence.
0 comments:
Post a Comment