Two South Africans arrested with more than R7 million worth of the drug tik in their possession in Bali last month could face the death penalty.
Brett Savage, of Townsview in Joburg, was arrested on October 19 carrying just under 3kg of crystal methamphetamine.
Four days later, Kedibone Sheila Motshweneng was arrested with just under 2.5kg of the same drug.
Article 113 of Indonesia’s anti-narcotics laws, which outlaws the offence, dictates that both South Africans could be executed if found guilty.
Savage’s family, who do not want to be named, said yesterday they were still shocked by his arrest.
“We do not know the nitty-gritty details. We do not even know what happened. We have not been officially informed that he was arrested,” said his sister on Sunday night.
Savage, who turned 43 in September, had been a restaurant manager at the Grand Central restaurant in Melrose Arch for several years, they said.
“He was working. He had just bought a car. We thought he was doing OK,” the sister said.
He lived in Townsview with another sister and none of them knew he was going on the trip to Bali.
“When I heard that Brett had been arrested for drug trafficking, my heart sank. He doesn’t even do drugs. He does not drink excessively. If Brett knew it was drugs, or any critical item, he would never have done it,” she explained.
Currently they were trying to work out the logistics of his two children. He has a 14-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son.
The daughter has a two-week-old baby, born just six days after Savage was arrested.
The children’s mother is in the UK.
“We feel terrible about the fact that he could face a death sentence. We are praying that it is not going to be a death sentence.
“We hope that they will be a bit more lenient with him,” said his sister.
The family has questioned whether the authorities in Bali would test him for drug usage, and they are sure that this will show that Savage is not a user.
“A death sentence will tear our family apart. We know he has to serve time, but we are hoping we will be able to go to the airport and pick him up after he has done his time,” the sister said.
She explained that the family could not afford the flights to Bali to visit him.
Reports in the Jakarta Post newspaper claim that Savage and Motshweneng were among six drug mules arrested as part of a Bali syndicate.
Savage was arrested at the Ngurah Rai International Airport after arriving on a Singapore Airlines flight from Joburg via Singapore.
Custom officials had apparently noticed an unusual item in his luggage during a routine x-ray scan. Officers opened his suitcase and found the drugs hidden inside.
Reports said Savage’s arrest was quickly followed by another two.
An Indonesian citizen allegedly meant to have received the drugs, and a Nigerian accomplice, were arrested in Jakarta.
Four days after Savage was taken into custody Motshweneng – believed to be a librarian and a single mother in South Africa – was arrested on arrival at the Ngurah Rai International Airport.
After her arrest another two Indonesian suspects were taken into custody. The first, a woman, was arrested in a hotel in Bali. The second, a man, was arrested in East Java. - The Star