An Australian father facing a life sentence in a Bali prison for alleged possession of methamphetamine was rushed to hospital amid bizarre scenes just hours after Indonesian police raised his charges.
Troy Smith, 49, was transferred on Monday afternoon from his cell at Bali police headquarters to Bhayangkara Hospital, run by Balinese authorities.
It is understood he suffered a back injury.
The father of two was seen handcuffed and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit as authorities escorted him to the hospital’s emergency department.
Smith, an Adelaide Crows AFL fan, was heard shouting ‘go the Power’ (his club’s crosstown rivals) as he was led away.
The medical emergency unfolded just hours after Smith’s wife of four months, Tracy Ijusa, attempted to visit him in custody but was rebuffed by authorities.
Australian father Troy Smith (pictured in orange) was taken to hospital with a back injury on Monday.
Smith (pictured with his new wife, Tracy Ijusa) faces life in prison in a Bali prison for alleged possession of methamphetamine.
Smith’s lawyer, Ida Bagus Gumilang Galih Sakti, said he became ill while in custody.
Smith faces life in prison in a Bali prison for alleged possession of methamphetamine.
He allegedly tried to flee from police but was captured after warning shots were fired.
Details of Smith’s arrest emerged at a police news conference Monday.
He and his new wife were on holiday in Bali when Indonesian police raided their room at the Champlung Mas hotel in Legian, in the south of the island, on April 30.
They allegedly found 3.14g of methamphetamine hidden in a tube of Colgate toothpaste that had been sent to Smith from Cairns, in a package that was labeled as containing private documentation, photographs and lubricant.
Troy Smith was admitted to hospital just hours after authorities turned away his wife Tracy Ijusa (pictured) when she tried to visit him in custody.
Police allegedly found another 0.4g of drugs that had been bought in Bali, along with a water pipe and a lighter.
Ijusa, 31, was arrested along with her husband on April 30, but was later released without charge.
She fought back tears as she left the police station on Monday after being denied access to visit Smith in custody.
She has promised to support her husband.
Outside a police news conference Monday, Smith’s lawyer, Sienny Karmana, said his client tried to evade arrest “because he was afraid.”
Police allegedly fired two warning shots into the air before Smith was taken into custody.
“The police said he tried to run away but the police caught him. They shot in the air, surprised him and then he fell and then the police caught him,” said Mrs Karmana.
Australian father Troy Smith (pictured with his wife, Tracy) has been charged with drug possession in Bali.
Indonesian police allege they found methamphetamine in Troy Smith’s four-star hotel room in Bali (pictured with his wife, right)
Smith was initially thought to face a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison for possession, but his lawyers have revealed that he has also been charged with drug trafficking, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a fine of $944,860.
Smith’s attorneys allege that the package of drugs was sent to him by a friend as a thank you for helping with the purchase of a car, and Smith did not know what was in it when he received it.
Smith was expected to speak to the media today, but Karmana told reporters that his client would not appear before the media because he was “not that good mentally.”
“Mentally he’s not well… he’s still struggling,” he said.
Smith will remain in custody at Bali Police Headquarters until his matter is mentioned in court.
Once police and prosecutors have their brief of evidence ready for court, Smith will likely be sent to Kerobokan Correctional Facility, a facility with a history of violence, riots and gangs.
Australian members of the Bali Nine attackers were sent to prison, along with Queensland woman Schapelle Corby, who spent nine years there after marijuana was found in her boogie board bag.
Pictured: Tracy Injus in Bali on Monday, who tried to visit her husband Troy Smith in police custody but was turned away.
Troy Smith married Tracy Ijusa in Kenya in December. He proposed to her in October.
Pictured: Police outside Kerobokan Correctional Facility, where Troy Smith could be sent.
Another of Smith’s lawyers, Ida Bagus Gumilang Galih Sakti, said she hoped he would be sent to a rehabilitation center, rather than jail.
If he is granted the option of rehabilitation, he could avoid Kerobokan prison entirely.
“I found out from Troy… that it was a gift, because the sender knew I was a user,” Mr. Sakti said.
Sakti said Smith was “very depressed and remorseful” about the situation.
“When the police catch people in another country, they get in a bad mood… and he is quite depressed at the moment,” Mr Sakti said.
Smith was originally from Port Lincoln in South Australia, but appears to have moved to Cairns in the last two years.
He proposed to Ijusa in October last year and they married in January.
She was also arrested after the hotel room raid, but was released without charge and remained in Bali to support her husband.
It is understood Smith’s relatives flew to Bali last week.
INSIDE THE DREADED KEROBOKAN PRISON IN BALI
The prison was built to house 300 inmates but, in 2017, it had more than 1,400 inmates, men and women, of different nationalities.
Inmates have previously described it as a “hell” with frequent “murders, rapes, drug overdoses and beatings.”
Announcements and sirens over loudspeakers blare every day and inmates constantly compete for space in the crowded cells.
More than 90 percent of the prisoners are Indonesian and 78 percent were convicted on drug charges. Each prisoner is allocated 15,000 rupees ($1.08) per day.
In the photo: Inmates at the Kerobokan penitentiary in Bali.
