Welcome Guest   |  Login   |   Signup
JG Logo
Fri, May 25, 2012
Archive Search

Australian Faces 15 Years for Narcotics
Made Arya Kencana | March 30, 2010

Robert Paul McJannett went on trial on Tuesday on charges of bringing a small amount marijuana into Bali, leading to his arrest in December. (JG Photo) Robert Paul McJannett went on trial on Tuesday on charges of bringing a small amount marijuana into Bali, leading to his arrest in December. (JG Photo)
Share This Page
0
0
0
3
Share with google+ :


Post a comment
Please login to post comment

Comments

Salimharko
8:22am Apr 1, 2010

The prosecutor demands 15 years jail term.

It is not the sentence handed down by the court.

The case has not come to full trial as yet.

Still 15 years is far too high a term for a mere 1.7 gm of the weed.

Its not even heroin.


Roland
4:31pm Mar 31, 2010

15 years for 1.7 grams of cannabis is a bit harsh - there's drugs which kill for sure and make you addicted at first use and there's drugs as cannabis which has in this amount probably the same effect as a couple bottles of Bintang, enjoyed at the beach besides the harm it does to the lungs if smoked! Also, really stupid from this fellow to take it into the country as basically in Bali, especially Kuta, you can buy it easily (illegally of course!) under the common name Ganja on the street. And it can be hardly declared a gateway drug as studies have showed that cigarette smoking has a better predictor than inhaling a joint once in a while!

On the other side - punishment "YES", it is clearly declared a drug and every visitor in Indonesia should know the position this country takes against drug possession and consumption!

However the Indonesian justice system is truly a strange and mysterious one: a couple of years for terrorists, killers and corruptors, 15 years for not even 2 grams of ganja.

And what about the bible in the hands of McJannett? Did he find God in jail?


balikiwi
3:14pm Mar 31, 2010

While 1.7 grams of cannabis is hardly a threat to Indonesia's youth and 15 years imprisonment for possessing it seems manifestly excessive, one has to wonder why these Australians keep trying to smuggle drugs into the country.

Indonesia's hardline on drug possession is no secret, especially in Australia with all the publicity that Schapelle Corby and the so-called Bali Nine have received.

This latest Aussie must be a total idiot and deserves to go to jail just for being so witless.

  • Previous
  • 1
  • Next

Denpasar. Prosecutors are seeking a 15-year jail term for an Australian accused of smuggling drugs into the country.

Robert Paul McJannett, 48, was arrested in Ngurah Rai International Airport after his Virgin Blue flight from Perth landed on Dec. 28. When his luggage passed through an X-ray machine, a customs officer detected a suspicious box inside his suitcase.

According to customs, the officer discovered 1.7 grams of marijuana hidden in a folded sheet of metal tucked into black socks in the trade unionist’s luggage.

“We ask the judges to convict him to 15 years in prison,” said Nyoman Sucitrawan at McJannett’s indictment on Tuesday.

Prosecutors charged McJannett with violating at least three articles of the country’s Narcotics Law.

Bali Police said that when questioned, McJannett admitted to using the drug on the day he flew to Bali.

“[McJannett said] his purpose for smoking marijuana is just to make him sleep,” Sucitrawan said. Drug tests indicated the presence of drugs in McJannett’s urine and blood.

In response to the indictment, the accused’s attorney, Nyoman Gede Sudiantara, said he would not file an exception or defense memorandum.

“We asked judges to continue the trial with witness examination,” Sudiantara said.

In January, McJannett claimed he had been set up, saying he believed the marijuana allegedly found in his luggage had been wrapped in metal deliberately to set off X-ray machines.

The defendant told The Australian newspaper that he suffered from Meniere’s disease, diverticulitis, hepatitis C and a lung infection. He said his medications had been taken from him when he was charged.

“There’s smokers everywhere and every time I’m exposed to that it aggravates my childhood asthma,” he said.

McJannett ran in the last two elections for assistant secretary of Australia’s Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, losing both times to incumbent Joe McDonald.

In a Jan. 1 interview with The Australian newspaper, McJannett claimed that the leaders of the powerful trade union “hate my guts” and accused them of setting him up with the narcotics.