Latest from the Torres News
Merauke 5 'healthy and in good spirits'
Monday, 20 October 2008
By MARK BOUSEN
The five Torres Strait residents held in Merauke in Indonesian say they are healthy and in good spirits.
William Scott-Bloxam said in a prepared statement to the Torres News that the group is being "fairly treated by the authorities and very kindly by the local people".
Mr Scott-Bloxam said the group had prepared the statement collectively and he spoke on behalf of all of them.
The five are William and Vera Scott-Bloxam, the operators of Cape Air Transport; Hubert Hofer works for the Torres Strait Island Regional Council; Karen Burke is a receptionist at the Jardine Motel Resort and Keith Mortimer a builder.
The four-sentence statement, which was released only to the Torres News and the local Merauke newspaper, said:
"Owing to incomplete paperwork, we have been detained by Immigration and have been interviewed by the authorities.
"We understand from our lawyers a court hearing is to be scheduled soon.
"We are being treated fairly by the authorities and very kindly by local people.
"Everyone is healthy and in good spirits and we would like to thank our friends and relatives for their messages of support."
Mr Scott-Bloxam declined to answer any questions, saying he did not want to jeopardise the current situation.
Asked about a time table for a court appearance, Mr Scott-Bloxam said: "Things happen at their own pace here."
He did inquire about the current situation with the suspension of Aero-Tropics, and I discussed the matter briefly with him before the conversation ended.
The Torres News understands from independent sources that the court hearing could be as long as three weeks away.
The Indonesian prosecutor handling the case has returned from a two-week vacation and perused the files on the five last week.
However, he is believed to have returned the files to the Police for further questioning of the five Torres Strait residents.
Although accurate information is difficult to obtain from Merauke, the Torres News believes the cases initially could have gone to court as soon as this week, but the reality is it will most likely by the next two to three weeks given the latest delay.
Information provided to the Torres News confirms the statement that the five are well.
One relative told this newspaper that they are safe. "They’re really well looked after."
They are being detained in an Indonesian Immigration centre which also includes the staff and their immediate families, with one estimate of about 500 people living within the compound.
In fact, the Immigration staff prepared a huge cake filled with ice cream for them last Friday, and have built a make-shift barbecue for them.
"There’s no beef, but there seems to be an endless supply of seafood for the barbie."
The relative also believes they went shopping last Saturday morning. The centre even has an ATM machine.
The five have employed a local legal team of representatives – one from each of the four legal firms in Merauke – and who are working on a flat-fee basis.
Susan Skyvington whose harrowing experience of her son, Saul’s, incarceration in Indonesia featured in the Torres News last week said: "At one stage my ‘phone calls to Saul were cut out totally for a whole three weeks - I was eventually able to find out that they had pulled the plug on the whole phone link to West Papua."
From her experience, Susan says a preliminary hearing is set down for the next week or so, but a trial – if it is to happen – would start much later.
"We believed at the time of Saul’s case that he would be home by Christmas – it was in fact mid-February."