Australian couple Michael and Lynley Le Grand front court over Bali brothel charges
There has been a major update after an Australian couple facing criminal charges for running a brothel appeared in an Indonesian court.
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An Australian couple has admitted they ran a Bali brothel, as prosecutors demanded a nine-month jail term.
Michael and Lynley Le Grand dropped their defence in a court hearing in Denpasar late on Thursday.
The pair conceded that their Pink Palace Spa was operating as a brothel in Bali, breaching Indonesia’s pornography laws.
Their defence lawyer Joniono Raharjo did not submit a defence, saying the couple wanted to do their time to then be reunited with their three children.
“I think the prosecutors demand has been quite fair, so we will not submit a written defence statement. We have conveyed a defence statement verbally today,” Mr Joniono said after a court hearing.
“They said that they feel remorse, They said they have kids that should be cared for.
“Therefore, they have promised not to commit the act again. They have kids that should be cared for, they are their family’s backbone. The point is, they feel regret for what they have done and promise not to commit again.”
Michael Le Grand, 50, and his wife Lynley, 44, arrived at Bali’s Denpasar District Court wearing flouro orange vests ahead of their court hearing.
Prosecutor Ida Ayu Sulasmi released a document, written in Indonesia, after the appearance detailing their sentencing demands and officially laying charges for the first time.
A translation of the document revealed that prosecutors only asked for a nine-month sentence for the Le Grands, including time already served.
If the sentence was accepted, they could be released as early as June.
The couple’s children are believed to have returned to Bali after spending several months in Australia.
They were arrested in raids in October last year, which also netted the estranged wife of former AFL star Ricky Olarenshaw who will be back in court next week.
Saranitha Olarenshaw has claimed in court that her former partner was running the brothel along with his brother and two other Australian men, which the former footballer has denied.
Olarenshaw, his brother and the two Australian men have not been charged with any wrongdoing.
Saranitha is charged with breaching Indonesia’s pornography laws for allegedly running a brothel.
Prosecutor Sulasmi told the court that the Le Grands had been “proven legally and convincingly guilty of committing the crime of pornography.”
The Le Grands came to the attention of Bali authorities when they opened the Pink Palace Spa in Seminyak last year.
They had advertised “sensual body slide and hand relief” for $100, with the couple hiring mobile billboards to drive around Bali, similar to the advertising used for strip clubs in Australia.
The spa was painted bright pink and raised concerns among locals and expats in Bali that it was attempting to turn the island paradise into another version of Thailand’s tawdry red light districts.
“Prosecutors demanded the panel of judges to sentence defendant Lynley Jane Le Grand together with defendant Michael Jerome Le Grand to 9 (nine) months imprisonment, each minus the time the defendants have been in detention, with the order that the defendants remain in detention,” the prosecutor demanded.
The prosecution reduced their sentencing demand because the “defendants have openly admitted and regretted their actions and had never been convicted.”
The case will return to court on March 6.
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