Prosecutors to send Aussie boy to Kerobokan Prison

[Kandy-Sugar]

An Australian teenager arrested in Bali could be moved to the notorious Kerobokan prison as early as Monday, after prosecutors confirmed they had signed off on the police case against him.

Prosecutors have now signed the summary of evidence prepared by police and as expected will file three charges against the 14-year-old boy, who has been in custody in Denpasar since his arrest for alleged cannabis possession on October 4.

The most serious charge, under article 111 of Indonesia's narcotics laws, could see him jailed for up to six years.

He will also be charged for drug use under article 127, which carries a maximum penalty of fours years in prison, as well as article 128, which may still see the boy avoid jail and go into rehabilitation.

The chief prosecutor in the case, I Gusti Gede Putu Atmaja, on Friday confirmed to AAP the summary of evidence had been signed, and that the teenager could face a jail term.

"Those three articles are the charges we're going to hand over to court later," Mr Atmaja said.

"Which one will actually nail him, it depends on facts found in trials. But definitely, those three articles will be used in the indictment."

Lawyers for the teenager, from Morisset Park near Newcastle, NSW, remain hopeful the court will opt for the lesser charge and order him to undertake rehabilitation.

It's also possible he could receive a custodial sentence, but with time already served taken into account, be released at the conclusion of the trial.

Once the case is formally handed over, the teenager is expected to be moved from police headquarters in Denpasar to Kerobokan prison, which is also home to drug dealers, child rapists, murderers and people on death row.

It's understood efforts will be made to keep the boy separated from adult prisoners.

"After that handing over (of the case from police), the first thing we'll do is register the suspect to Kerobokan prison," Mr Atmaja said.

"I am told that Kerobokan prison has nine rooms suitable for juveniles. We ask the prison to place him in prison and it's up to the prison's policy on where to put him, but it will still be under our supervision."

It's expected the transfer will take place next week, possibly as early as Monday.

The teenager was on Friday preparing to spend his third weekend behind bars at police headquarters since he was allegedly caught with 3.6 grams of marijuana while on holiday with his parents.

Meanwhile, Australia's Consul-General in Bali, Brett Farmer, said efforts were continuing to try to avoid the boy being sent to Kerobokan.

"As to the relocation of the boy, no decision on that has been made," he said on Friday afternoon following discussions with the teenager's lawyer Mohammad Rifan.

Source

He was carrying a pathetic amount of weed and yet they deem it okay to lock him up with drug dealers, child rapists, murderers and people on death row.

That is just pathetic. He shouldn't even be doing any jail time whatsoever.

I didn't even know they could jail minors.

I have no idea why the parents even thought it was a good idea to holiday in Bali, let alone allow their 14 year old to wander the streets on his own and explore.

The system over there is so corrupt! He could have been set up for all we know!

Such a sad story. The best thing that could come of this is that he avoids jail and goes into rehabilitation. =/

 

[Bambi]

If you go into someone elses country though, knowing fine well what the consequences are when you'd only get a slap on the wrists in your own, then, it's the risk you take if you're daft enough to even look at the stuff knowing what could happen if you so much as pick a joint up

That's just going off the assumption the kid was carrying weed and was aware of it. Cant be arsed getting into the whole but he may have been set up

 

[Rapture]

For whatever reason, this really doesn't surprise me too much

Like Kel's said, you really need to be aware of the laws of the country you are going to vacation in before you go into them...especially if you plan on doing anything of even a semi-illegal nature. This actually reminds me somewhat of that movie Brokedown Palace where the girls ended up getting framed with drugs. Although that is totally unrelated to this circumstance, you could be really screwed as far as the legal ramifications go if you were to be caught with something like drugs in another country and then you open up another can of worms when you end up going through their legal system to try and fight the charges.

Really, I think the problem with this is that this kid was still 14 years old and he is still considered a minor until he's 18 so where the heck were his parents? I know you should be able to trust them a bit but I personally would not feel comfortable even leaving my 14 year old to roam off and around by themselves in a completely foreign country to us They should've been watching him.

This is sad. Hopefully they can fight it because 4 years is a helluva long time. Especially when you are so young...and living in such dangorous living conditions...

 

[Kandy-Sugar]

His parents were fricking stupid letting him go off on his own.

Apparently he was going to get a massage at some fancy parlor or something and then ended up buying weed on the way and then he was boasting about it to the ladies at the parlor.

Any parent who lets their kid wander off at that age in a foreign country, especially Bali of all places are just idiotic!!! They're just as much to blame for this whole situation.

It's looking more like he is actually guilty of the crime as there hasn't been any mentions of him denying the claims.

Still, he hasn't done something so bad that should see him in jail next to rapists and murderers and such. They should have a seperate prison for crimes like his. It's ridiculous.

 

[Marquis of Granby]

as they say...when in rome.

pathetic as it might be, if you choose to holiday in their country you're bound by their laws. if you want to do something you know you'll get nailed for do it somewhere you're not gonna get caught...or not at all

 

[Donald Trump]

Ironic, his family leave a prison on holiday and he finds his back into another prison.

I doubt his sentence would have been this strict if australians weren't smuggling drugs into Bali all the time. Because they can't punish all the australians they'll punish him instead. The kid sounds like an idiot though, maybe he thought he'd getting a happy ending if he told them that he bought some drugs.
I do think it is a wee bit excessive though. Sending him back to australia should be punishment enough.

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

Although I do think there should be leniency in the potential length of his sentence considering it sounds like the prison has somewhat of a reputation I do find it hard to sympathize with his situation. Most kids are taught at a young age now not to be lured into having anything to do with drugs and the fact he bought it and then proceeded to 'boast' about it indicates to me that he knew fine well what he was doing was wrong - maybe not the extent of how badly the sanction would be, but wrong nevertheless.

The reality is though, whilst certain factors will work in his favour such as his age, and I'll presume he's never committed a criminal offence before and small things such as those if he's broke the law, he's broke the law. It's all down to what the jury think though.

 

[Praeliator]

The fault lies on both the boy and his parents. The boy should've known the consequences of possessing the illicit drugs in a foreign country, and his parents should've never let the boy go and do his own thing because he may very well do something illegal.

But I have to agree that there should be leniency on his punnishment, I mean, the boy is going to spend 4 years in one of the most notorious prisons in Indonesia. He should be deported back to Australia + give him a ban on visiting Indonesia for a certain period of time.