Indonesian prosecutors have asked judges to hand life imprisonment sentences to four alleged drug smugglers and a 20-year sentence for another, the sole female in the group dubbed the Bali Nine.
Source:
SBS
25 Jan 2006 - 12:00 AM  UPDATED 22 Aug 2013 - 12:18 PM

Prosecutors said Renae Lawrence should be found guilty of heroin smuggling and handed a 20-year sentence.

Earlier, they said the so-called Melasti Three should be found guilty of being part of a conspiracy to smuggle heroin to Australia, during a hearing at the Denpasar District Court in Bali.

They later called for Martin Stephens to be sentenced to life behind bars.

Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, 23, of Brisbane, Si Yi Chen, 20, of Sydney and Matthew Norman, 19, also of Sydney, were arrested on April 17 in a room at the Melasti Hotel at Kuta Beach last year, along with Myuran Sukumaran, for whom prosecutors on Tuesday demanded the death penalty.

Chief prosecutor Olopan Nainggolan said the trio had acted secretly and tried to cover their tracks from Indonesian police.

All three remained calm as the sentence demand was read out.

Shortly afterwards, Stephens, 29, of Wollongong, appeared in court to hear prosecutors calling for a life term.

Earlier he told AAP that he was expecting the sentence demand, and hoped the judicial process would result in a 10- to 15-year sentence.

Stephens was one of four arrested at Bali airport on April 17 with heroin allegedly strapped to their bodies.

"The defendant is still young and during the trial he confessed frankly," said prosecutor I Wayan Samantana.

Later in the afternoon, prosecutors said Lawrence, 28, of Newcastle, should receive the lighter sentence of 20 years, saying she was rewarded after informing on some of her co-accused the night of their arrest.

"She was very cooperative from the start of the investigation and through the trial," said prosecutor Puti Indriati.

Lawrence has claimed from the beginning that she became a courier only after the alleged bosses of the gang threatened to kill her and her family.

Outside the court, Lawrence's mother Bev Waterman criticised the Australian Federal Police for tipping off Indonesian authorities, saying they knew their actions would likely result in the death penalty.

"In doing this they threw away any chance they had of apprehending the recipients of these drugs in Australia, following the clues," she said, reading from a prepared statement.

Earlier on Wednesday, the federal opposition said it would join with the government in seeking clemency for any members of the group handed death sentences by Indonesian judges.

Foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said the Labor party opposes the death penalty.

"What we will do as a responsible opposition is work with the Howard government to make representations to the foreign government in question, seeking clemency," said Mr Rudd, adding that his party has done the same in similar cases, including that of Van Nguyen, who was executed last year in Singapore.