Australian arrested for drug possession in Bali

AN Australian facing a stiff jail term on drug charges in Indonesia has told a court she is a long-term addict who turned to drugs after watching her mother die of an overdose.

Michelle Dawn Condon, 35, of Port Melbourne, is on trial in Bali's Denpasar District Court after allegedly being caught doing a drug deal on the resort island in November last year.

Prosecutors have said she was found with 0.2 grams of crystal methamphetamine.

If Ms Condon can convince the court that she's a drug user – as Australian model Michelle Leslie did after she was found in possession of ecstasy in Bali – she could be released within three months.

If not, she faces up to five years in jail if found guilty of drug possession, or up to three years if convicted of receiving drugs.

Ms Condon today told the court that she is addicted to a range of drugs.

Her history of drug abuse began at the age of 15, when she witnessed her mother's death from an overdose, she said.

The court was told Ms Condon had sought treatment for drug problems at several clinics in Melbourne, and had gone through the methadone program in a bid to beat her heroin addiction.

Ms Condon said she came to Bali six months ago for a holiday and to seek additional treatment, and had consulted the same Indonesian doctor that Leslie had used.

Several documents were handed to the court today, detailing her various drug treatments in Australia and Indonesia.

Ms Condon's trial resumes next week, when prosecutors will tell the court what penalty they believe she should be given.

AN Australian allegedly caught doing a drug deal in Bali is addicted to a range of drugs, a doctor told her trial yesterday in a defence that strongly echoes the Michelle Leslie case.

Michelle Dawn Condon, 35, of Port Melbourne, faced the first day of her trial in Bali's Denpasar District Court yesterday, where she is trying to avoid a lengthy jail term.

Prosecutors have submitted an indictment against Condon, saying she was caught doing a drug transaction in Denpasar on November 16 last year.

It alleges she was found with 0.2g of crystal methamphetamine.

If Condon can convince the court that she is a drug user, she could be released within three months.

If not, she faces up to five years in jail if found guilty of drug possession, or up to three years if convicted of receiving drugs.

Australian model Michelle Leslie, who was caught with an ecstasy pill at a rave party in Bali last year, successfully argued in court that she was a regular user of amphetamines. She received a three-month sentence.

At Condon's trial, evidence was given by doctor Denny Thong, the same physician used by Leslie.

The trial was adjourned until Tuesday.

BALI'S Kerobokan Jail now has its 11th Australian inmate – Melbourne woman Michelle Condon, who faces a maximum five years' jail for drug possession.

The 35-year-old's case was yesterday handed to prosecutors and a court date will be set shortly.

It is understood that Condon is not housed in the same cells as the other two Australian females in Kerobokan – Schapelle Corby and Renae Lawrence.

Condon, from Port Melbourne, was arrested in Bali in late November in possession of 0.2 grams of methamphetamine, known locally as shabu-shabu.

Until this week she was held in the police cells at Denpasar's Polda police headquarters but has since been moved to the jail as her case progresses to court.

Condon was holidaying in Bali at the time and has told police she bought the drugs for personal use from a local for 200,000 rupiah or about $30.

Court documents reveal that she faces two charges – a primary charge of owning, keeping or possessing drugs under article 62 of Indonesia's psikotropika drug laws which carries a maximum sentence of five years' jail.

Condon also faces a secondary charge, under article 60, which deals with narcotic addicts and users receiving psikotropika drugs where the maximum penalty is three years. But for those who can prove that they are addicts and the drugs were for personal use the maximum sentence is three months' jail.

Condon has already told police, during interrogations, that the drugs were for her own use and it is understood she will present medical evidence to the court to show she is a user.

This is similar to the defence of Australian model Michelle Leslie, who was caught in Bali with two ecstasy tablets and claimed she was an addict - earning a three month jail term.

Condon's move to Kerobokan Jail comes as authorities plan to move its most high-profile inmate, Schapelle Corby, to a women's prison in the town of Malang in East Java.

Authorities already have the letter authorising the move but say they currently have no money to action the plan - which involves flying her and several guards from Bali to Surabaya then driving the remaining hour to Malang.

The move is being resisted by Corby, her family and consular officials because the 29-year-old's support base, including her sister Mercedes, is in Bali.

However jail officials say the move is necessary to ease overcrowding in Bali, where the jail was never designed for women or drug prisoners.