Corby on stand, states innocence
By Marian Carroll in Denpasar
March 24, 2005
From: AAP
News.com.au
A TEARFUL Schapelle Corby took the stand at her drug smuggling trial in Bali today, saying she had no idea how a stash of marijuana got into her luggage.
The panel of three Indonesian judges hearing the case meanwhile gave the defence until April 7 to produce a key witness who is now in a Victorian jail.
Ms Corby, 27, is facing a possible death sentence over accusations she tried to smuggle 4.1kg of cannabis into Bali's Denpasar airport in her boogieboard bag last October.
"I don't like drugs," she said, pleading with judges to make the "right decision" and let her go home to Australia
"It's not my drugs. I wouldn't even know where to get the drugs from."
Ms Corby's fate may now hinge on the testimony of a Victorian prisoner - named in court today as John Ford.
The judges gave three possible dates for Ford to testify about an alleged Australia-based drug ring: next Tuesday, March 29; Thursday, March 31; or April 7.
Ms Corby hopes his evidence will clear her name.
Earlier, she told Denpasar District Court that she had never been involved with illegal drugs.
Asked to examine the pillowcase-sized sized stash on the witness stand, Ms Corby refused even to touch the bag, saying: "This is destroying my life."
Ms Corby said she had surrendered her luggage and placed her faith in airport security when she checked in at Brisbane Airport for a Bali holiday with family and friends last year.
"I surrendered it at the airport," she said of her luggage.
"I have nothing to do with it after it leaves my hands."
Challenged by judges to explain where the stash could have come from, she said: "That's what we're here to find out."
"I have many theories in my head. It's been six months. I'm still here."
Offered a last chance to defend herself, Ms Corby said she could add nothing more to prove her innocence.
"I didn't do it," she said. "I would not jeopardise my life like this."
The court had earlier burst into applause after an Australian criminologist said he had no doubt Ms Corby was an unwitting drug mule who had been used by a criminal gang.
Bond University professor and criminologist Paul Wilson - who has studied similar cases in Thailand - said Ms Corby did not fit the profile of a typical drug trafficker.
"Is this the face of a drug criminal?" the judge asked Professor Wilson, instructing Ms Corby to stand up.
Professor Wilson responded: "Your honour, I can not look at her face alone".
"I can listen to her talk to my questions, which I have done. I can look at her face and I can speak to people who know her well," he said.
"Using all of that information, I can honestly say that she did not know there were drugs in her bag."
A senior Qantas baggage handler from Brisbane airport, Scott Stephens, meanwhile testified it was highly possible that anyone from engineers to catering staff could have gained access to Ms Corby's luggage as it waited to be loaded onto the plane.
Australia's consul in Bali Brent Hall said he had written to Indonesian authorities in support of Ms Corby's bid for an adjournment to allow Ford to be flown to the holiday island to testify.
If the Melbourne prisoner was unable to attend in person, authorities could consider arranging a videoconference to allow him to testify, Mr Hall said.
Prime Minister John Howard also took a personal interest in her case, saying the Government was doing everything it could to help Ms Corby.
"We will do everything that we are properly and reasonably asked to do (by Ms Corby's lawyers) to see that any relevant evidence is presented," he said.
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