Bali drug arrests: David Van Iersel and William Cabantog’s drug addiction ‘spiralled’ in Bali
Two Melbourne nightclub promoters started using drugs as teenagers and fell deeper and deeper into their addiction while living in Bali, a court has heard.
National
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Melbourne nightclub promoter David Van Iersel’s rollercoaster cocaine addiction spiralled in tandem with professional demands and ended in Bali with the Australian supporting his addiction with a local variant of the ADHD drug Ritalin as well as the illicit narcotic, a Bali court heard.
Van Iersel, 38, is on trial for drug possession, and charged with two articles of Indonesian narcotics’ law – Group 1, which carries a maximum sentence of 12 years’ prison.
Personal use carries a maximum four-year sentence, some of which can be served in rehabilitation, if Van Iersel, and his co-accused William Cabantog 35, can prove they are addicts.
The men were allegedly in possession of 1.12 grams of cocaine and both urine-tested positive to the narcotic.
Denpasar District Court heard the head of the drug assessment unit, Mr Ririn Wijayanti, outline years of drug abuse that began when Van Iersel was 18 years old. Cabantog was 15 when he started using narcotics.
Mr Wijayanti said both men had “routine dependence” and classified them both as heavily dependent with a score of 5/6 for addiction.
The court heard that Cabantog had been abused at the age of five, had a bad relationship with his father and that he started using drugs, including marijuana and cocaine, when he was 15 years old, “precisely when his cousin died of cocaine,” Mr Wijayanti said.
By the time he was 20, he was using cocaine up to three times a week.
Cabantong suffered from bouts of depression, which intensified when his aunt died, and he became increasingly reliant on cocaine, the court heard.
“The accused (Cabantog) is (was) increasingly consuming cocaine – even one gram can be used at one time,” she said.
The court heard that Cabantog relied on Valium when cocaine was not available.
His co-accused shared a history of mounting drug use.
Mr Wijayanti detailed Van Iersel’s nearly two decades of drug abuse.
She said he started using at parties after he finished high school in 2000, which continued until his arrest in July at the Lost City Bali nightclub in trendy Canggu – where Van Iersel worked and a public tip off led the police directly to the office in which they allegedly had just “snorted”, a line of cocaine each.
“The defendant first tried cocaine at a party and he did that from 2000 to 2003. After college and work (his) use of cocaine increased because he worked extra hours so he used cocaine to increase stamina.
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“In 2010 the defendant used cocaine weekly because (he) worked in two different places and there were no holidays. In 2011, cocaine use increased to five times a week,” Mr Wijayanti said.
When Van Iersel secured a job with standard hours, his drug use diminished to twice a week and further reduced to one to three times a month.
“In 2017 the defendant broke up with his girlfriend and (his) business failed,” Mr Wijayanti said.
It was during this time that Van Iersel claims he suffered depression.
“His cocaine use increased to four or five times a week and also his alcohol (consumption increased),” she said.
In 2018, Van Iersel moved to Bali and replaced using cocaine with an antidepressant called Prohiper, which he bought without a prescription.
Prohiper is the Indonesian medication that is prescribed for ADHD, similar to Ritalin.
“The defendant uses Prohiper two to three times a week. But the effect was not as strong as cocaine so the defendant continued to use cocaine. When using cocaine, the defendant felt more confident, active, happy, focused at work and comfortable,” she said.
Mr Wijayanti reported that, since his arrest, Van Iersel has felt weak with unfocused thinking because he was without the narcotics.
She recommended that both men undergo six months of rehabilitation.
The trial continues next Monday.