Corby to fight on as term cut by 5 years

Schapelle Corby

DENPASAR - Lawyers for convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby have vowed to take her legal battle to Indonesia's highest court after an appeal court cut only five years from her 20-year jail term.

The Bali High Court shortened the 28-year-old Australian's sentence yesterday to 15 years following a protracted legal appeal and several trial reopenings.

"There is a verdict. They reduced by five years to 15 years," said lead lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea.

Corby's family and high-powered legal team had been hoping the court would free her or at least slash her sentence for drug smuggling by 10 to 15 years.

The former Gold Coast beauty student was arrested by Indonesian police at Denpasar Airport on October 8 last year where customs officers found 4.1kg of marijuana in her unlocked boogie-board bag.

She was jailed for 20 years in May in a case that strained relations between Canberra and Jakarta.

Corby claimed the drugs were not hers and had been planted by an Australian gang using her as an unwitting drug courier.

Her sister Mercedes said the family was distraught and weighing up whether to tell Corby by phone, or wait until a regular visit to Denpasar's Kerobokan Prison today.

"She didn't do it. She should be free," she said.

Corby's next avenue of appeal is to the peak Supreme Court in Jakarta. Hutapea said he believed the 15 years was "not too bad". "But I hope we get a better result from the Supreme Court." However, he believed the prosecution would also appeal against the Bali High Court's sentence reduction.

- AAP