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News (Media Awareness Project) - Australia: The Ecstacy And Agony Of Aussie Model
Title:Australia: The Ecstacy And Agony Of Aussie Model
Published On:2005-11-13
Source:Sunday Times (Australia)
Fetched On:2008-01-15 08:51:55
THE ECSTACY AND AGONY OF AUSSIE MODEL

JAKARTA - An Australian model has apologised and appealed for mercy
from an Indonesian court trying her for possession of two ecstasy
pills, her lawyer said.

Leslie told a court on the resort island of Bali that a friend gave
her the pills and told her they were medicine for stress that would
replace Ritalin, a drug prescribed by her Australian doctor, lawyer
Christo Imanuel Dugis said.

"A day before she was arrested, she ran out of Ritalin. Her friend
gave her a drug which she said had similar effects. She didn't
exactly know what it was until she was arrested," Dugis said.

"Miss Leslie apologised to the people of Indonesia for violating the
law here. She said it wasn't her intention and she did it out of
ignorance. She appealed for mercy," he said.

The lawyer said he expected Leslie to be sentenced to three months in
prison if the court considered her an "occasional user".

This means she could walk free as soon as the verdict is passed
because of time already served.

In their indictment, prosecutors said Leslie had "unlawfully
possessed psychotropical drugs", an offence carrying a maximum
sentence of 15 years.

Denny Thong, a doctor testifying as an expert witness, said that
Leslie had sought occasional refuge in stimulant drugs to overcome
anxiety and stress due to her career as a model and troubled
childhood, lawyer Dugis said.

Thong said Leslie as a child was often in conflict with her mother,
who is from the Philippines, because of their different cultural backgrounds.

Leslie was arrested during a police raid near a party in Bali's
Jimbaran area in August. She said last month she had converted to
Islam a year ago and that her new faith had prevented her from going
"crazy" in her police cell in predominantly Hindu Bali.

The 24-year-old had modelled lingerie and swimwear before her arrest
but she has been wearing an Islamic headscarf in Bali.

Leslie is among 12 young Australians facing execution or long prison
sentences in Indonesia for drug offences.
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