A British man on trial for drug offences pleaded for leniency in an Indonesian court in Bali on Tuesday after a charge that could carry the death penalty was dropped.
Thomas Parker, from Cumbria, was arrested near Kuta beach in January after allegedly collecting a package from a taxi driver at a nearby street.
The package contained slightly over a kilogram of MDMA, a party drug and the main ingredient in ecstasy, according to a lab test result cited in court documents.
Parker, a 32-year-old electrician by trade, was initially charged with drug trafficking and could have faced the death penalty by firing squad if found guilty.
But the trafficking charge was dropped after police investigators determined that the package was not directly linked to him.
Parker repeatedly expressed his remorse in his final plea today, and asked the panel of three judges in Denpasar District Court to consider his situation and impose a lenient sentence.
‘I am very sorry and apologise, I know it was a mistake,’ Parker said, ‘I promise not to repeat it again, because I really didn’t know that (the package) was drugs.’
After Parker read out his plea, Presiding Judge Gusti Ayu Akhirnyani adjourned the trial until May 27, when the judges will read out their sentence in a verdict.
‘Until now, they (prosecutors) cannot prove that our client is a middleman or trafficker,’ Pangkahila said.
‘He has no connection with any drug network, we hope the judges will come to the same conclusion.’
He said his client is nervous and depressed as he faces trial.
According to the court document obtained by The Associated Press, Parker was noticed ‘acting suspiciously’ by officers while he was collecting the package.
He allegedly discarded it in a panic and fled when police approached him. He was traced back to the villa where he was staying and was arrested.
But Parker, in court, has maintained that he did not order the package and had initially refused to collect it, doing so only after a friend assured him it was safe and would not endanger him.
The package was sent by a drug dealer friend, identified only as Nicky, who Parker had known for around two years and spoke to regularly through the Telegram messaging app.
Parker was told someone would pick it up shortly from him, his lawyer, Edward Pangkahila said.
Parker was not promised money or anything else by Nicky in return, Pangkahila said.
During the police investigation, Parker was able to prove that he did not order the package.
Authorities reduced the charge from trafficking to the less serious offence of hiding information from authorities.
Prosecutors on May 6 sought a one-year prison term for Parker.
However, under Indonesian legal system, judges have an important role as legal determinants in a trial.
They could seek further charges if applicable laws are unclear or non-existent, meaning that the trafficking charge could be reinstated.
Pangkahila said that Parker last met Nicky a year ago when he was on vacation in Thailand.
As his friend was a dealer, Parker worried the package was filled with drugs.
He panicked when he saw police officers on the street and and was approached by them, Pangkahila said.
He was traced back to the 7 Seas Villas in North Kuta, where he was arrested.
Police showed the discarded package to Parker, who allegedly admitted it was the package he had received earlier.
They claimed they had found a light-brown powder inside later identified as MDMA.
Police took the suspect to the narcotics office for processing back in January, and he has been remanded in custody since.
The case went unreported until authorities showed a handcuffed Parker at a news conference on March 6.
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office told they were supporting a British man detained in Bali and are in contact with the local authorities.
Indonesia has very strict drug laws and convicted traffickers can be executed by a firing squad.
About 530 people are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, including 96 foreigners, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections’ data showed.
Indonesia’s last executions, of an Indonesian and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016.