Corby given 20 years in jail

Schapelle Corby has tried to put on a brave face but has been crying a lot, her lawyer said. File picture / Reuters

CANBERRA - Schapelle Corby has been sentenced to 20 years in jail by a court in Indonesia after it convicted her of smuggling marijuana into Bali.

Judges earlier said she had admitted the marijuana found in her bag at Bali airport was hers in the summing up of the case today.

Corby was in the Bali court listening to her fate as a three-judge panel reads its 80-page verdict.

Chief Judge Linton Sirait began reading the judgment in Indonesian, his words relayed to Corby by a translator.

Sirait said it was "true" Corby admitted the bag containing the marijuana was hers, according to the translation.

Sirait said the "suspect" Corby had admitted the drugs were hers, referring to testimony by Indonesian customs officers.

After nearly two hours of the judgment, Corby's composure began to crack, and tears rolled down her face.

It could take between two to three hours before the 27-year-old former beauty student from the Gold Coast finds out if she has been found guilty or not guilty of smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali in her body board bag in October last year.

Corby looked more composed compared to previous appearances as she arrived in the Denpasar District Court at about 1pm today (9am local time). Police whisked her via a side entrance, avoiding the large group of media waiting for her arrival.

Once inside the court, Corby, wearing a black shirt and light coloured pants with her hair tied back, smiled and waved to supporters, but momentarily clutched her chest as she took deep breaths. As she sat in the defendants chair she occasionally looked over her right shoulder to acknowledge her parents behind her.

Corby's apprehensive looking parents Michael Corby and Rosleigh Rose were earlier escorted into court by police and supporters, forcing their way past scores of journalists.

Earlier today her Australian lawyer said Corby was terrified ahead of today's verdict.

"She's probably the worst I've ever seen her," lawyer Robin Tampoe told the Nine Network.

Corby is said to be worried that an extremist might try to attack her at the hearing.

Bali police spokesman A S Reniban said more than 100 officers would guard the court complex while members of the elite mobile brigade, sometimes used to quell rioting and unrest, would be on stand-by nearby.

Everyone attending, including Corby's family as well as supporters and Australian tourists, will pass through a metal detector, while there will also be weapon searches.

The Indonesian prosecutor said yesterday that he hoped Australians would accept the judges' decision, but Mr Tampoe said he was still hoping for a positive result.

But an expert in Indonesian law says Corby's plea to the Indonesian president for clemency may have been a major strategic error.

Corby has sent a letter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pleading for him to help her and telling him how much she loved Indonesia.

Simon Butt, associate director of the Asian Law Group, said: "In Indonesian legal circles... an attempt at a pardon is actually an implicit admission of guilt, because there's nothing to be pardoned for if you haven't been found guilty yet."

Sirait claims to have never acquitted a drug case during his career of more than 500 criminal trials.


- AAP and NZ Herald