Australian national sentenced to five years for cooking up cocaine in Bali
Yesterday, the Denpasar Court sentenced an Australian man, Ryan Scott William, to five years in prison for cooking up his own cocaine in Bali.
“The defendant was found guilty of producing narcotics … and we sentence him to five years in prison,” said Bambang Ekaputra, who heads the court’s panel of judges, as quoted by Detik.
William was found guilty of violating Indonesia’s 2009 Law on Narcotics. His final sentence was significantly heavier than what prosecutors demanded, which was 15 months’ imprisonment.
The 45-year-old was arrested earlier this year in March when police found 43.1 grams of cocaine at the villa he was staying at in Kerobokan, North Kuta. During his trial, Williams reportedly explained that he had been trying to make his own cocaine in order to treat his medical condition – brittle bone disease – without having to pay.
“He made cocaine as part of an experiment, and to lessen the pain he experiences. If he could produce it himself, he would not have to buy, and he also said that he has brittle bone disease,” Bambang told the court yesterday.
The judges at the Denpasar Court also rejected a request from William’s defense lawyer that he be sentenced to rehabilitation at the police hospital in Bali, citing the fact that police seized more than a daily dose’s worth of narcotics during his arrest.
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