corby - guilty until proven innocent

Funny how the judge admits Corby has to prove she is innocent instead of the prosecutors proving she is guilty.

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Schapelle Corby's emotional plea to Indonesian judges to be set free may have fallen on deaf ears.

Corby, facing life in jail for alleged marijuana smuggling, yesterday read a prepared statement to a Bali court declaring her innocence and pleading to be allowed to go home.

There was no immediate translation of Corby's appeal, but it is understood one was delivered to the three-judge panel later.

Today chief judge Linton Sirait said he now knew what Corby said, but offered little hope to the Gold Coast beauty student and her supporters.

"Not enough - he or she has to prove he or she is not guilty," he told the Nine Network through a translator.

"Every inmate would say I'm not guilty.

"I'm still looking for something that can be related to the law."

In an ominous sign for Corby, Sirait today handed a life jail term to a South African man for heroin dealing.

The federal government is continuing to seek a prisoner transfer agreement with Indonesia, which could allow Corby to serve any jail term she receives at home in Australia.

Australia has sent Indonesia a copy of its prisoner transfer agreement with Thailand, and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock today said the government was anxious for a meeting to help progress the deal.

Corby yesterday told a packed Denpasar District Court that 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," she told the judges, who must now decide whether she is guilty of smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali airport last October.

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

"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 the court she knew nothing of the drugs found in her body board bag as she passed through customs at Bali airport.

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