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Defence Accuses Prosecutors Of Failure To Seek Justice
Philip Cornford | SMH.com.au | 04/29/2005

Schapelle Corby's defence lawyers painted a picture of an innocent traveller, a 27-year-old student coming to Bali to celebrate her sister's birthday on a ticket paid for by her family, a victim of a cruel mistake.

They attacked the prosecution for neglecting important clues. "Worst of all," lawyer Lily Sri Rahayu Lubis said, "they failed to seek truth and justice" and "manipulated facts" to make Corby look guilty.

The defence attack focused on what it described as important failures by customs, police and the prosecution to carry out standard investigative procedures which might have proved Corby was innocent.

They had not weighed the luggage of Corby and her travelling companions - her brother and two female friends - to check Corby's claim that 4.1kilograms of marijuana had been put in her boogie board bag after they checked their luggage in at Brisbane airport on October 8.

They had refused requests by Corby's sister, Mercedes, and defence lawyers to fingerprint the plastic bag which contained the marijuana to see if it held Corby's prints. Customs officers had allowed the bag to be contaminated by their own fingerprints.

Lawyer Erwin Siregar said the prosecution had accepted evidence by a customs officer who spoke "poor English" even though Corby, her 16-year-old brother, James, and friends disputed his version. The officer said Corby had refused to open the boogie board bag. Corby and her brother said she opened it without being asked.

Customs officers said Corby had been present when they took the contents - the boogie board, flippers and the marijuana - out of the boogie board bag and that Corby had identified herself as the owner of all the items.

But James testified that he had been ordered to take the boogie board to the customs interview room where he was ordered to remove the contents. Corby was not in the room at the time. When she came to the room, the items were laid out on a table. She had never admitted the marijuana was hers.

How "stupid would she be", Mr Siregar asked, to pay $50,000 in Australia for marijuana that would sell in Bali for $10,000? How would Corby get the money to buy the marijuana in Australia?

The prosecution had rejected evidence by Corby, her mother, sister, brother and a friend that they had seen Corby put the flippers in the boogie board bag in Brisbane and there had not been marijuana in the bag.

It had rejected evidence by an Australian policeman that criminals in Australia transported drugs by placing them in luggage and removing them at the destination airport.

The prosecution had also rejected evidence by a witness who had overheard others describing how the marijuana was put into Corby's boogie board bag.

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