WA mum arrested on drugs charges to be released from Indonesian jail

A West Australian mother who served eight months' jail in Indonesia for drug possession is expected to be released from custody.

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Australian woman Julie Anne Joseph (centre) leaving Mataram District Court, Indonesia. (AAP)

Julie Anne Joseph, of Port Hedland, was arrested on the island of Lombok in October last year, after police found 1.73 grams of crystal meth in her handbag.

Prosecutors accepted the meth was for the 32-year-old's personal use and pushed for charges carrying a maximum four years' jail.
 
But after Joseph apologised to the court and begged to be spared a lengthy jail term for the sake of her two children, she was sentenced to eight months with credit for the time she had already served, and is expected to walk free on Wednesday.
 
It was reported that Joseph, who is a truck driver, came to the attention of police after being involved in a motorbike accident.

Her lawyer told the trial his client had accepted a small package from a man she had just met in a bar in the tourist area of Senggigi.

She was in "a state of depression" at the time, he argued.


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