P

rosecutors at the Denpasar District Court have demanded that an Australian boy charged with marijuana possession be sentenced to three months in jail.

“We demand that the defendant be sentenced to three months in jail,” prosecutor I Gusti Gede Putu Atmaja said after Friday’s closed hearing.

The demand was made based on Article 127, Clause 1A of the 1999 Narcotics Law, under which a person found guilty of illegally using Type I narcotics, including marijuana, could be sentenced to a maximum of four years in prison.

The sentence demand shocked many as the prosecutors had appeared sympathetic to the boy’s plight during last week’s hearing. During the hearing, witnesses testified that the 14-year-old boy, identified only as L.A.M., would be better off being sent to a rehabilitation center instead of serving jail time.

However, the prosecutors charged the boy under Article 127 instead of Article 128, which his lawyer had not expected.

Atmaja explained that one important mitigating factor in the trial was the fact that the defendant was a
minor who had ample opportunity to improve himself in the future.

The defendant’s lawyer, Mohammad Rifan, said he had filed a defense statement stating that the prosecution had criminalized a minor by using Article 127.

“That’s why we filed a defense statement, to demand that the judge use Article 128 in deciding the verdict, because all evidence and witnesses’ testimonies are in favor of Article 128. We hope the judge will give the fairest verdict possible,” he said after the hearing.

The judge will hand down the verdict on Nov. 25.

The boy, who wore a balaclava, was immediately escorted out of the courtroom after the hearing finished, along with his parents.

Asked about how the family had reacted to the sentence demand, Rifan said: “Everyone was shocked. The boy and his parents cried, and so did I.”

“The boy should be given a chance at rehabilitation. He doesn’t belong in jail. Sending him to jail doesn’t reflect justice at all. This child, as well as other children that might get involved in legal problems, still have their future before them.”

Rifan said it would be difficult for his client to spend more time in detention.

“We expected that he could go home soon, next week at the latest. With this situation, he’ll have to follow the process for another two weeks. The boy said he wanted to go home and back to school,” he said.

The boy was arrested on Oct. 4 in Legian, with 6.9 grams of marijuana in his pocket.

He admitted that he bought the drug from someone near the hotel where he and his family were staying since arriving for a holiday on Bali on Oct. 1.