DENPASAR (Herald Sun/Pacific Media Watch): A 14-year-old Australian will be released within days after being handed a two-month sentence in Bali today, reports the Herald Sun.
The sentence, handed down in Denpasar District Court this afternoon, includes time already served.
The teen has already spent nearly two months in a Balinese detention centre and will be free on December 4.
He was also fined 2000 Indonesian rupiah.
He was caught with 3.6 grams of marijuana when police swooped on him outside a supermarket near Kuta Beach on October 4.
In sentencing, the judge noted the claim that the teen had used the marijuana for personal purposes and had also apologised for buying the illegal drug.
Home for Christmas
Yesterday, the teen's lawyer Mohammad Rifan said he was hopeful the boy would avoid spending Christmas behind bars.
Prosecutors had demanded a three-month custodial sentence for the boy, from Morisset Park near Newcastle in NSW, in relation to "drug use" under a charge that carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison but no minimum term.
Rifan said the boy had not been sleeping or eating in the lead-up to the verdict.
"He and his parents - sick with worry for verdict day,'' Rifan said.
The boy's older brother is understood to have flown to Bali with some other family members for today's verdict.
His mother has been in Bali since his arrest.
"It has been very hard time for all of them...they want good result and go home,'' Rifan said.
It is likely he will serve out the remaining days of his sentence at an immigration detention centre in Jimbaran, about an hour's drive from the court.
Rumours of media deal
The court was told the teen is a regular drug user, who has had an ongoing struggle with marijuana addiction.
Under Indonesian law, people who are considered addicts or long-term drug users are often treated more leniently.
It is understood rumours the boy's family were looking to sell his story to a television network for around $300,000 damaged his chances of immediate release.
"It didn't help, put it this way,'' a prosecution source said.
Alleged Bali chequebook journalism may lead to jailing
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