Brisbane man could face death penalty in Bali over drugs

Brendon Luke Johnsson, 43, from Brisbane, and his partner Remi Purwanti, 43, an Indonesian national, have been indicted on two counts and face two possible charges by Indonesian authorities.

Despite the possibility that Johnsson could face the most severe of consequences – the death penalty – if found guilty, it is unlikely that a judge would impose such a harsh sanction on the Australian man for the relatively small amount of drugs in his possession.

Indonesian authorities executed Bali Nine ringleaders Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan in 2015 for their part in that drug smuggling plot, but the other seven members were ultimately handed prison sentences ranging from 20 years to life in prison for attempting to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin to Australia.

Prosecutor Yuli Peladiyanti claimed in a court appearance on Wednesday that the couple had 11.6 grams of cocaine in their possession, in 13 plastic clips, when they were arrested back in August.

Yuli said that police had investigated the pair after another woman, Bena Silvia Magusta, had been arrested on August 4th by Bali police for possession of four clips of cocaine and claimed she had bought the drugs from the couple.

Police travelled to the home Johnsson and Remi shared and knocked on the door. When no one answered they shut off the electricity, which prompted Remi to open the front door.

"Remi was then asked if she ever handed over cocaine to Bena which Remi said yes, she did. Police then asked who she gets it from, to which Remi said she gets it from defendant Brendon who at the time was sleeping in the bedroom," the prosecutor said.

"After they turned the electricity back on, police searched their bodies and found nothing. They continued searching the home and found on the floor of the room a helmet box containing a blue bag with 13 plastic clips of powder suspected of cocaine, empty plastic clips, 2 plastic spoons and an electronic scale."

"When asked by the police the defendants admitted that it belonged to them without a permit from the authorities. They then were brought to police station along with the evidence."

The prosecutor alleged Johnsson had bought the cocaine from a man name Made in Legian street – near the Ground Zero memorial for the 2002 Bali bombings – for 40 million Rupiah (about $3850) and had then separated it into 20 packages.

The primary indictment is under article 114-2 of Indonesia's strict drugs laws, which states that the defendants "do not own a licence from the authorities to offer for sale, to sell, to buy, to receive, to be a mediator in the sale, exchange or hand over of category one narcotics [of the] cocaine-type non-plants of more than five grams".

If the pair are eventually charged under this article and then found guilty the maximum penalty is death, while the minimum penalty is six years in prison.

Alternatively, the pair have also been indicted under article 112-2 of Indonesia's drug laws. This article states the defendants, "without a licence from the authorities to keep or possess or provide category one narcotics [of the] non-plant cocaine-type of more than five grams".

If the pair are instead charged under this secondary article, they face a maximum of 20 years in prison and a minimum of five years.

A decision on which article they will be charged under will be made later in the trial.

Johnsson is believed to have been living in Bali for four years and is described as a design specialist.

Outside court, his lawyer Edward Pangkahila said the Australian "was shocked when he found out that he faced the death penalty".

"He said 'my life is in your hands', please help me. We will do our best, we hope and pray, but we will do our best to represent him."

The next scheduled court appearance is January 9, 2019.

Johnsson made no comment in court and entered no plea, as is standard practice in Indonesia, during the appearance.