Bali police let man leave villa drug bust
By Australian Associated Press
Published: 15:23 EDT, 5 June 2014 | Updated: 15:23 EDT, 5 June 2014
Bali police have confirmed they searched a man at the scene of a drug bust that snared New Zealander Leeza Ormsby, but decided he wasn't a suspect and let him go.
Ormsby, 37, is on trial for drugs possession charges carrying a jail term of up to 12 years.
The Sydney woman will not fight the charges of possessing a marijuana joint, but has maintained since the February sting that MDMA and hashish found in a Canggu villa were not hers.
On Thursday, the police who arrested Ormsby gave evidence at her trial.
They described how they staked out the villa from 11pm the night before, after being told the occupants, suspected of holding a "drugs party" were not there.
Police officer Cok Putra Sutrisna told the court Ormsby, who was staying at another villa, arrived in the early morning by motorbike, looking dishevelled.
"Her physical appearance looked messy with her hair uncombed," he said. "She looked like a drunk person."
Police officer Made Sudiarsa said they approached Ormsby as she was opening the villa door with a key.
When they found the joint in her handbag, the former Paddington shop assistant admitted it was for her own use, the court heard.
But when drugs were found in a cupboard drawer - "a black chunk of something, a big capsule and four small capsules" - Ormsby said they weren't hers.
Brig Sudiarsa confirmed reports a man named Marco, believed to be Ormsby's Australian ex-lover, then turned up.
"We then searched him and we found nothing, that's why he was released," he told the court.
After the raid, police promised to pursue the other people who had been at the villa, who had all since left the holiday island.
Instead, Ormsby's lawyer Ari Soenardi says they kept his client in custody for three months without charges, trying to link her to the other drugs.
Ormsby was relaxed in court on Thursday, wearing a loose-fitting white shirt and carrying a fan that said: "Paradise".
Through a translator, she told the court she didn't disagree with the police evidence.
Mr Soenardi says he will ask the court to treat Ormsby as a drug user and consider leniency when sentencing her.
The trial continues next week.
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