Criminal Trial
Criminal trials for the accused commenced in the Denpasar District Court on 11 October 2005. Chen, Nguyen, and Norman were tried together, with Czugaj being one of the remaining six defendants tried separately.
When asked why he chose to travel to Bali on a paid holiday, Rush replied "Basically that he (Nguyen) didn't have anyone to come to Bali with him." Nguyen refused to testify. Rush also claimed that when he met Chan, threats were made against his family:
- "The threat made me very frightened, and we were forced to follow whatever they told us to do. I had no opportunity to be away and escape from the threat as I love my family and my mother and my father."
Czugaj confirmed Rush's account of events as being true. Czugaj testified that he and Rush had never met Lawrence or Stephens, both since convicted and of New South Wales, until they were all arrested together at Ngurah Rai Airport. Rush told the court Chan told him:
- "You do as I say, don't mess around with me. I've got a gun with me and I could kill you. If I wanted to, I could kill you right now."
Chan protested his innocence, saying before the court, "A lot of lies have been set against me, but the true reality is I'm not what people put me out to be. I've never threatened anybody in my life." During court proceedings, Rush initially refused to handle strapping material admitted as evidence, saying "No, no", before agreeing to handle the evidence after being urged to by the judge.
Read more about this topic: Scott Rush
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