Michelle Leslie Keeps Quiet

Too Risky To Tell Story: Leslie
From AAP

A Tearful Michelle Leslie has broken down while speaking about her three months in a Bali jail at a press conference today but has refused to answer questions about her arrest.

Leslie said it was still too dangerous for her to tell the full story of her imprisonment in Bali.

"I'd always expected that if I got free I'd be able to tell the Australian public what really happened," a distressed looking Leslie said of her jailing in Indonesia for drug possession.

"But now that I'm back here I still don't believe it's safe for me to do so because there's still a number of other young Australians in Indonesian jails, and I simply won't take the risk of making it worse for them than it already is."

Leslie returned to Australia this week after spending three months in a Bali jail for drug possession.

Reading a statement through tears, Leslie also apologised for offending the Islamic community by wearing Muslim dress at her trial, and appealed for privacy to let her get on with her life.

She also said her parents had spent their life savings and mortgaged their house in Adelaide to get her out of prison.

Leslie hit out at Prime Minister John Howard, who had warned the model to keep mum over her story, saying she could jeopardise the cases of other Australians facing drug charges in Indonesia.

She said she had never intended to sell her story.

"What has really shocked me though is the amount of anger that has been levelled at me, especially from the Prime Minister," she said.

"I know there has been a lot of speculation about whether I was going to tell my story – let me tell you now, all I ever wanted to do was clear my name and also that my story is not for sale."

Leslie broke down only moments after appearing at the press conference at a Sydney hotel, which was delayed more than an hour.

She said she had been criticised for not wanting to talk to the press.

"To be honest I was really overwhelmed and I needed a few days to be with my friends and family before I felt strong enough to talk to everybody and to deal with all of this," she said.

She said she had spent the past three months with 13 women in a Balinese jail cell "which was infested with cockroaches and had no ventilation, no sunlight".

Her only relief was a daily shower with "a bucket of cold water in an open sewer", she said.

"I really believed I would spend the next 15 years of my life rotting in an Indonesian prison," she said, before apologising for breaking down.

"I can't begin to describe how frightened I was and how confusing it was to find myself in that situation."

Leslie said she understood she may have offended Muslims by wearing traditional dress while facing trial in Bali, but it was an "extreme situation".

"As for the hurtful allegations that I pretended to be a Muslim, let me say first of all it was never my intention to offend anyone in the Muslim community," she said.

"I am a Muslim and I do understand the significance of wearing the burqa, I should have thought more carefully about wearing it in that situation and I apologise for any offence I have caused, it was an extreme situation."

Leslie said her parents spent their life savings and mortgaged their house to get her out of jail.

"As you can imagine I feel terrible about this and I want to be able to work and repay them the money that I owe them," she said.

"I am, however, extremely fortunate, I'm surrounded by friends and family who love and respect me and I'm home.

"But please understand this has been extremely life-changing and a terrible experience and I hope that I will be granted the privacy and understanding to be able to recover and get my life back.

"And even while I'm doing that I know that there are other Australians in prison in South-East Asia in far worse situations than I was ever in and my heart goes out to them.

"I still think about all of the people there – you can't walk away from a situation like that and not be affected."

Leslie said she watched many people leave the jail while she was there and she always wished it was her.

Source: News.com.au
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