Corby spared death penalty due to youth

Convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby, due to return to Australia in the coming days, was only spared the death penalty due to her young age, according to a News Corp report.

The report says the prosecutor, Ida Bagus Wiswantan, gave Corby a second chance despite her refusal to admit she was guilty of smuggling 4kg of marijuana into the country.

‘‘I felt that Corby can still rehabilitate herself so the death sentence is not the punishment.

‘‘If she got the death sentence she cannot rehabilitate. But I felt that Corby has the chance to fix herself,’’ Wiswantan said.

‘‘For sure it [the death penalty] was discussed.’’

The 39-year-old Corby is expected to be deported from Bali on Saturday. She was released from prison in 2014 but was unable to leave Indonesia until this month according to parole conditions. She ended up serving just over nine years after reductions for good behaviour, and clemency from thenpresident Susilo Bambang Yudhiyono.

However, Indonesia’s drug enforcement agency says the death penalty is needed as a deterrrent.

Sulistiandriatmoko, a spokesman for the National Narcotics Board (BNN) said: ‘‘Foreign citizens, if they smuggle drugs to Indonesia, and the criteria says that they can get the death penalty, the law should be enforced consistently.’’ AAP