An Australian model gets busted for drug possession in Indonesia and is now appealing for mercy from the court. From the AFP:
Michelle Leslie told a court on the resort island of Bali that a friend gave her the pills and told her they were medicine for stress that would replace Ritalin, a drug prescribed by her Australian doctor, lawyer Christo Imanuel Dugis said. “A day before she was arrested, she ran out of Ritalin. Her friend gave her a drug which she said had similar effects. She didn’t exactly know what it was until she was arrested,” Dugis said.
“Miss Leslie apologised to the people of Indonesia for violating the law here. She said it wasn’t her intention and she did it out of ignorance. She appealed for mercy,” he said.
The lawyer said he expected Leslie to be sentenced to three months in prison if the court considered her an “occasional user”. This means she could walk free as soon as the verdict is passed because of time already served. In their indictment, prosecutors said Leslie had “unlawfully possessed psychotropical drugs”, an offence carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years.
Denny Thong, a doctor testifying as an expert witness, said that Leslie had sought occasional refuge in stimulant drugs to overcome anxiety and stress due to her career as a model and troubled childhood, lawyer Dugis said. Thong said Leslie as a child was often in conflict with her mother, who is from the Philippines, because of their different cultural backgrounds.
Leslie was arrested during a police raid near a party in Bali’s Jimbaran area in August. She said last month she had converted to Islam a year ago and that her new faith had prevented her from going “crazy” in her police cell Bali. The 24-year-old had modelled lingerie and swimwear before her arrest but she has been wearing an Islamic headscarf in Bali. Leslie is among 12 young Australians facing execution or long prison sentences in Indonesia for drug offences.
Is this some sort of reversed taqiya? Before and after images of Ms. Leslie’s transformation can be seen here (scroll down). Whatever may be the case, who can blame her?