Corby makes emotional plea to judges to clear name

DENPASAR, Bali - A tearful Schapelle Corby has begged three Indonesian judges not to convict her of drug smuggling, saying her life is in their hands.

"Firstly, I'd like to say to the prosecutors I cannot admit to a crime I did not commit," she told the Denpasar District Court.

"And to the judges, my life at the moment is in your hands but I would prefer that my life was in your heart."

"And I say again that I have no knowledge of how the marijuana came to be inside my bag, and I believe the evidence shows (that), one, there is a problem in Australia with security at airports and baggage handling procedures.

"Two, my own mistake is not putting a lock on on my luggage.

"Three, I have never at any stage claimed ownership of the plastic bag and its contents.

"Four, had the police weighed all of my luggage for the total weight, it would have proven to show a difference from the total weight at check-in at Brisbane airport."

In a voice cracking with emotion, she told the judges she had already been punished enough for doing no more than failing to lock her bags.

"I believe the seven months I have been in prison is severe enough punishment for not putting locks on my bags," she said tearfully.

Corby said her family's reputation and her own had been "severely burdened" since her arrest last October at Bali's Denpasar airport with 4.1kg of marijuana in her unlocked body board bag.

"I don't know how long I can survive in here," she said.

"I swear that as God is my witness, I did not know that the marijuana was in my bag.

"Please look to your God for guidance in your judgment for me. For God only speaks of justice, and your Honours, I ask for you to show good judgment and send me home.

"I am the innocent victim of a ... drug smuggling network.

"I am not a person involved in drugs and I am not a person who might become involved in a drug smuggling operation."

Members of the Corby family had earlier decorated the courtroom with symbolic yellow ribbons and had written placards demanding her freedom.

Onlookers in the packed court applauded as Corby completed her statement that she had penned in her prison cell.

Moments earlier, her defence team had delivered its final submissions to the judges, who are expected to take weeks to consider their verdict.

Prosecutors last week demanded Corby receive a life jail term.

After making her statement, the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman left court room and the hearing was adjourned.

Corby has always denied smuggling the drugs into Bali when she arrived on a flight from Brisbane last October.

She claims she was an unwitting victim of an Australian drug smuggling ring, probably involving baggage handlers at Australian airports.

- AAP