Australian gets 7 years jail in Indonesia

An Australian man has been sentenced to seven years in an Indonesian jail for possessing a stash of drugs.

Australian Andrew Roger

Australian Andrew Roger reads a statement during an appearance at the Surabaya District Court, Indonesia, Monday, Jan. 5, 2014. (AAP Image/Witanto)

Lawyers for an Australian man sentenced to seven years jail in Indonesia after police found his drug stash will appeal, arguing he deserves sympathy and rehabilitation.

Andrew Roger, 52, has been in Indonesian custody for eight months after police found marijuana, crystal meth and various pills in his home at Surabaya, East Java.

Prosecutors argued the former Darwin resident should serve 16 years from a maximum 20 years, because of the quantity and variety of drugs involved.

On Wednesday he was sentenced to seven years in jail and a Rp1 billion ($98,000) fine that could be traded for an additional six months in prison.

When the sentence was read, Roger only nodded in response.

His lawyers argue he needs rehabilitation for proved marijuana dependence spanning 35 years of his life.

Outside court, lawyer Budi Sampoerna said he would appeal.

"Even though it's less much than the prosecutor demanded, he's a user," he said, meaning his client was entitled to leniency.

Prosecutors will also appeal for a more severe sentence.

In court last week, the waste management contractor pleaded to be spared from prison.

He said a 16-year term amounted to a life sentence because of his age and poor health.

When Roger was arrested, he was being treated for injuries from a motorbike crash that almost claimed his leg.

He has told the court he also suffers anxiety, panic and insomnia if he doesn't smoke pot.

A father of adult children and grandfather, Roger said his months in jail had been "terror".

"The mental effect and terror of this has been incredible," he said.

He added that jailing him would only victimise his family - two children and a grandchild from his first wife in Timor Leste, and the three children and grandchild of his de-facto partner in Indonesia, all of whom he was raising as his own.

According to Roger, the youngest of those children, a boy aged 12, needed treatment for kidney disease, which he was funding.

The trial heard if Roger doesn't smoke at least six grams of marijuana a day he finds it "impossible to function as a human being".

He had sought medical help in both Australia and Indonesia, but when he was offered marijuana at a cheap price from a man in a Surabaya car park, he gave in.

"Ganja took over my senses and I agreed," he told his trial last week.

The dealer had included crystal meth and various pills in the package police found in a raid at Roger's Surabaya home in May.


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Source: AAP

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Australian gets 7 years jail in Indonesia | SBS News