The Jakarta Globe, October 27, 2013.
Denpasar. Convicted “Bali Nine” drug trafficker Ranae Lawrence was accused on Sunday of masterminding a plan to murder two guards at Bali’s notorious Kerobokan Prison after staff discovered a knife a text message exchange detailing the plot.
Kerobokan staff conducted a raid on the prison cells earlier this week, seizing some 52 cellphones and several sharp objects from the women’s ward, chief warden Gusti Ngurah Wiratna explained on Sunday. A knife and a BlackBerry were taken from Lawrence’s cell.
When officers checked the phone, they allegedly found a BlackBerry Messenger conversation where Lawrence ordered Joaninha Maria Sonia Gonzales to murder two guards. Guards questioned both Lawrence, who was undergoing treatment for a problem with her appendix, and Sonia, who was jailed for kidnapping a French child.
“In the messages, Renae ordered Sonia to kill two of our female guards,” Wiratna said. “Upon her [Lawrence] return from hospital, we questioned her and she confessed [to the plot].”
The warden told reporters he felt betrayed by Lawrence’s alleged plot. She had always been a model inmate at the prison and rose to become something of a leader for the other women, he said. Wiranta now doubts her sincerity.
“She was like a daughter to me,” he said. “But apparently all of her good acts were just camouflage. She’s nothing more than a fox in sheep’s clothing.”
Lawrence will be moved to another prison in Bali, Wiratna said. She will also be denied a Christmas-time sentence cut. No further legal action was immediately planned.
“She has been moved to the state detention facility in Jembrana,” he said.
Lawrence, along with eight other members of the Bali Nine group, was convicted for attempting to smuggle 8.2 kilograms of heroin from Bali to Australia in 2005.
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