Woman to testify against Bali nine co-accused

Renae Lawrence in court yesterday. Picture / Reuters

DENPASAR, Bali, - The intense pressure on the lone female among the Bali Nine is set to increase after her lawyer revealed she will testify against her alleged cohorts in a bid to escape a possible death penalty.

Dressed in a black suit and white shirt, Renae Lawrence yesterday became the last of the group to begin their trials at Denpasar District Court for alleged heroin trafficking.

She sat impassively with a translator as the prosecutor read out the charges against her, alleging she helped to organise the smuggling attempt before leaving Australia.

After the hearing, lawyer Yan Apul Girsang sat her down at the defence table and broke the bad news to her.

"The prosecutor is not charging you with article 55 of the criminal code (which applies to crimes committed by people together), that means you are going to be charged individually," he said.

"We are going to be victimised, we need your support," he told her, urging her to remain strong as she prepares to testify against other members of the nine.

The Newcastle woman, who turned 28 this week, appeared shell-shocked and nodded numbly before being led to the police van to return to Kerobokan jail, where she has apparently made several suicide attempts.

Lawrence again appeared distressed and under pressure.

Next, Girsang told journalists, she will have to testify against her co-accused to prove she is a victim of a conspiracy.

All nine are facing a possible firing squad under article 82 of Indonesia's narcotics law after being arrested in Bali in April following an alleged Australian Federal Police tip-off.

Lawrence was arrested at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport with Wollongong man Martin Stephens, 29, and Brisbane men Scott Rush, 19, and Michael Czugaj, 20, with a total of 8.2kg of heroin strapped to their bodies.

Sydney man and alleged organiser Andrew Chan, 21, was also arrested at the airport but with no drugs on him.

Alleged kingpin, Sydney martial arts expert Myuran Sukumaran, 24, and three other men, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, 27, Matthew Norman, 19 and Si Yi Chen, 20, were arrested at Kuta's Melasti Hotel.

Girsang said Chan and the Melasti four planned the whole operation so that the alleged mules would take the fall if the mission failed.

"Andrew Chan and friends could be free," he said.

"They should all be tried together. There are people who give orders and who take orders.

"It is impossible that she exported without the Melasti group."

Lawrence and Stephens claim they only took part in the botched operation because Chan and Sukumaran threatened to kill their families.

After briefly visiting Lawrence in her cell and kissing her through the bars, her father Bob and stepmother Jenny sat in the front row of the court with Australian consular officials.

Jenny fanned her face and became teary-eyed watching Lawrence double over in the witness chair and cradle her head in her lap to hide from the cameras.

She stayed that way for several minutes before the trial began.

Lawrence heard prosecutor I Wayan Nastra allege that under orders from Chan, her boss at a Sydney catering company, she helped plan the smuggling mission.

"She took to Bali the plastic wrapping, tape and bicycle shorts that she and the three other alleged mules would be found wearing packed with heroin eleven days later at Bali airport en route back to Sydney," Nastra told the court.

"Lawrence had no intention of backing out of the operation; the only reason she did not get on the plane was because customs officers stopped her," he said.

Bob Lawrence defended his daughter.

"We hope things go well for her. She was forced into it," he said.

Lawrence's trial was adjourned to next Friday, when her lawyers will lodge an objection to the charges.

- AAP