18 months jail sought for Aussie miner: Report
Monday, November 28 2005 - 09:31 AM WIB
John Michael Kelly, 45, from Warwick on Queensland's Darling Downs, was arrested in September in Sangatta, East Kalimantan on Borneo, after a tip-off by hotel security guards.
Kelly's trial was adjourned until December 5 when he is expected to hear his fate.
He had faced a maximum five-year jail term after police allegedly found him smoking crystal meth, known in Indonesia as shabu shabu, in his hotel room.
But chief prosecutor Waluyo Heryawan on Monday asked judges in the Sangatta District Court for only an 18-month sentence, plus a fine of Rp5 million ($A675) or an extra five months in jail.
They said Kelly had been "polite, regretful, and because he had a family".
"What he did was endanger himself and others, but he is cooperative and did not beat around the bush or try to hide the facts," Heryawan told AAP.
He said Kelly was facing only one charge using article 62 of Indonesia's psychotropic drug laws, which carried a maximum five-year sentence and heavy fines of around $A13,700.
Local police detective Captain Anjas Gautama Putra said officers seized 0.5g of crystal methamphetamine after raiding Kelly's room at the Hotel Amar.
Officers were called by hotel security guards, who allege they saw the Thiess Indonesia mine employee smoking the drug through a pipe with a local woman, he said.
He said security staff had noticed the pair because they left their hotel door ajar and they glanced inside during a routine check. (*)