Schapelle Corby: Judge Refuses to Hear Baggage Claims

Revelations about the involvement of Sydney Airport baggage handlers in drug smuggling will have no bearing on the verdict in Schapelle Corby's case, which is to be delivered a fortnight from today, the chief judge has ruled.

On the last hearing day in the case against the Queensland woman, Judge Linton Sirait rejected attempts by Corby's lawyers for the court to consider as evidence information from Australian police detailing how Qantas baggage handlers had been paid $300,000 to help smuggle cocaine into Sydney.

Erwin Siregar told the court there was "involvement of baggage handlers" in smuggling in Sydney and that "it's not impossible that someone put something in Corby's bag".

Corby has maintained that someone placed a 4.1 kilogram sack of marijuana inside her boogie-board bag sometime after she checked it into Brisbane Airport where she boarded a plane to Denpasar, via Sydney.

Judge Sirait said Corby's lawyers could write to him about the latest disclosures, but it was too late to call witnesses. He gave little hope any such letter would have any influence on the verdict.

"We only examine events that take place within the Denpasar jurisdiction," he said.

The main prosecutor, Ida Bagus Wiswantanu, said after the proceedings the judges could not consider evidence provided "outside the sitting of the court".

In a further rebuff for Corby's lawyers, Judge Sirait rejected their attempt to play a recording of a television interview during which the head of the Bali drug squad, Colonel Bambang Sugiarto, talked about how airport officials had contaminated the marijuana bags, making it impossible to fingerprint them properly.

He allowed the lawyers to write a summary of the interview but said "it's not necessary for us to listen or see the pictures".

Corby's main lawyer, Lily Lubis, said after the hearing she was "disappointed" with the judge's ruling. She had wanted the judges to watch the program which includes footage taken with a hidden camera showing baggage handlers rifling through luggage.

Despite the setbacks, Corby remained calmer than she has been and did not break down as her three lawyers took turns reading their final appeal to the court.

Their major point was that Corby did not own the marijuana. Their evidence for this was provided largely by Corby's travelling companions, Alyth McComb and Katrina Richards and stepbrother James Kisina, who all said her boogie board bag contained only the bodyboard and a pair of flippers when checked in at Brisbane.

Corby's mother, Rosleigh, flew from Queensland for the hearing, determined she would not go home without her daughter. "She's not going to get sentenced . . . if the verdict is on the 26th, then hopefully she will be flying home on the 27th," she said.