Tom Percy: Perth barrister who represented Bali Nine welcomes home drug mules, says release ‘long overdue’

A Perth barrister who once represented one of the Bali Nine says the release of five of the drug mules was “long overdue” but it was unfortunate his former client did not get the chance to return home. Tom Percy advised Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen and his family after his 2005 arrest in a Kuta hotel room over a plot to smuggle more than 8kg of heroin from Indonesia to Australia. Mr Nguyen, who was serving a life sentence, died of cancer in Jakarta in 2018. His death followed those of ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who were executed by firing squad in 2015. At the weekend, the surviving five traffickers, Matthew Norman, 38, Scott Rush, 39, Martin Stephens, 48, Si Yi Chen, 39 and Michael Czugaj, 38, were returned to Australia after 19 years in an Indonesian jail under a deal brokered by Anthony Albanese. On Monday, Mr Albanese hailed their release as an “act of compassion” from Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and insisted there was no “payback arrangement”. Mr Percy said it was a “very unfortunate thing” that Mr Nguyen died before he was able to return to Australia like his co-offenders. He said Mr Nguyen would contact him from time to time about his life — and his illness — even after he ceased to act for him. Mr Percy said Mr Nguyen was always “perturbed” by the prospect of being executed. After initially being sentenced to life in prison, Mr Nguyen had his sentence upgraded to the death sentence on appeal, before it was reduced again on appeal to life. “That was something that although he didn’t articulate it regularly, it was always on his mind,” he said. Mr Percy said the return of the five drug smugglers was “long overdue”. “I think we need to ask ourselves the question, what would they get if they did this in Australia?” he said. “Here, if you got six or seven years for it here, to do four, or even if you got 10 to do eight, they got way more than any Australian citizen would get for any offence here. “So a question arises, is it appropriate for our statesmen to intervene and to articulate on their behalf? “I think it very much is and I think the people who were behind the ultimate decision have done a very good thing, my only regret is they didn’t do it about 10 years earlier. “I can only hope that this will inspire the government to look at other Australians languishing in jails overseas subject to conditions that are far less humane than we have here, and (are subject to) far longer sentences that we as a community find acceptable here and intervene on their behalf and bring those people home.” Mr Percy said he expected it would “take a great deal of adjusting” to life in Australia. “I think the sort of jail they have been kept in up there would be doubly hard to adjust and whilst I wish them well I think there’s a long road ahead of them,” he said.