Bali nine Renae Lawrence, other Australians recommended for sentence cut

Bali's Kerobokan prison

Jakarta: Bali nine drug mule Renae Lawrence is expected to have her jail sentence cut by six months which would see her complete her prison term by the middle of next year.

However it is likely she will serve an additional six months behind bars rather than pay the one billion rupiah ($100,000) fine that accompanied her jail sentence.

The prison governor of Bangli jail, Diding Alfian, told Fairfax Media that Lawrence had been recommended for a six-month remission as part of Indonesian Independence Day celebrations on August 17.

Meanwhile Bali authorities said Australian fugitive Shaun Edward Davidson could have been a free man on Thursday if he had been granted a sentence remission.

Davidson escaped from Kerobokan jail via a waste tunnel in late June with just 10 weeks left of his 12-month jail sentence for using another man's passport.

"He was in for forged documents, we would have recommended him for remission if he behaved," Bali Corrections Chief Surung Pasaribu told Fairfax Media.

"He should have been free by tomorrow. Even without it, he would have only served a little more time."

Sentence reductions are handed out on Independence Day and some religious holidays to thousands of prisoners who have demonstrated good behaviour.

To be eligible, prisoners must have served at least six months of their prison term and cannot have been sentenced to death or be serving life terms.

This means the remaining members of the Bali nine, including Matthew Norman and Si Yi Chen, will not qualify for remissions because they have all been jailed for life.

However they can apply to have their sentence reduced to 20 years.

Lawrence, from Newcastle, was arrested at Bali's airport with 2.7 kilograms of heroin strapped to her body in 2005.

She was originally sentenced to life in jail but in 2006 this was reduced on appeal to 20 years and a one billion rupiah fine, or additional six months' jail time.

However she has received multiple remissions to her sentence for good behaviour and if the latest cut is approved she will complete her sentence mid next year

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Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, Jewel Topsfield, Amilia Rosa, August 16, 2017

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