This could be Your Daughter!

"There but for the Grace of God go I"

Corby delivers emotion-charged last plea
18:52 AEST Thu Apr 28 2005

With her voice breaking, Schapelle Corby has made a last-ditch plea to three Indonesian judges to look to God and let her go free, claiming she's an innocent victim who has been punished enough.

Before a packed Denpasar court decorated by her family and friends with yellow freedom ribbons, Corby denied any involvement with drugs and said her only crime had been to leave her luggage unlocked.

"My life at the moment is in your hands, but I would prefer it was in your hearts," the former Gold Coast student beautician told the judges, who must now decide whether she is guilty of trying to smuggle 4.1kg into Bali.

"I would like to say to the prosecutors that I cannot admit to a crime I did not commit."

With tears streaming down her face, Corby pleaded to head judge Linton Sirait for mercy.

"I ask for you to show compassion, to find me innocent, to send me home."

Reading from a three-page, hand-written statement penned in her jail cell, Corby told Denpasar District Court she knew nothing of the drugs found in her body board bag as she passed through customs at Bali airport last October.

"I swear that as God is my witness, I did not know that the marijuana was in my bag."

Corby, who is facing a life sentence, claimed she had been the victim of lax security at Australian airports which have been exploited by domestic narcotics smuggling gangs.

"My only mistake is not putting a lock on my luggage," she said.

Her plea, which came at the end of her defense team's final statement, was watched by family and around 20 Australian tourists who waved flags and carried banners demanding judges "free Corby" and saying "Corby did no wrong".

The 27-year-old, speaking in English without a translation for judges, said she had never admitted owning the drugs.

She also accused police of deliberately choosing not to fingerprint the evidence bags containing the pillow-size drug stash.

"I am not a person involved in drugs and am not a person who might become involved in drug smuggling operations," Corby said.

"I love Bali and would never want to create problems for any of its people.

"I believe the seven months which I have already been imprisoned is severe enough punishment for not placing locks on my luggage," she said.

"My heart and my family is being painfully burdened by accusations and rumors about me, and I don't know how long I can survive all this," the anguished Corby said, before handing the head judge a copy of her speech.

"Please look to your God for guidance in your judgment of me, for God only speaks of justice."

She ended her statement in Indonesian: "Saya tidak bersalah", or "I am not guilty".

Corby's speech drew applause from supporters.

Her defense team told the court the prosecutor, who was present to hear Corby, "had failed to do his duty and seek truth and justice", accusing him of proceeding "without mercy".

Chief lawyer Lily Lubis said customs and police had refused to test the quality of the drugs or do fingerprints, and had wrongly asserted that the marijuana was high quality.

"Is there any justice for a defendant in this beloved country?" she asked.

Corby hugged Lubis after the court was adjourned and said she feared she had not made a strong enough impression on judges to avoid a life sentence.

"She was worried she was not good enough," Lubis said.

Corby's Australian lawyer Robin Tampoe said the prosecutor would make a reply to the defense summation when the trial resumed next week.

Latest News: Corby's judge offers little hope.