Foreign Prisoner Support Service

Australian diplomats seeking release of Adelaide man

Date: November 20 2003

Australian diplomats in Jakarta are seeking to have an Adelaide man released from an Indonesian jail, where he has apparently contracted typhoid after his arrest last month.

Darin Seagrove, 38, was arrested for theft in Bogor, south of Jakarta, on October 23.

Mr Seagrove had been employed by German refrigeration company Bitzer in July 2001 to be technical manager of a new plant that the firm was constructing in Indonesia.

But friends said that, after renewing a contract in January this year, he was sacked in May after clashing with the company's new country manager, a German named Thomas Pfister.

Mr Seagrove argued with the company for several months over its refusal to pay a final termination payment, as well as to organise and pay for an exit visa with Indonesian authorities.

He also kept hold of his Toyota Kijang company car and a video projector to ensure the payment was forthcoming.

A friend of Mr Seagrove, Paul di Rosa, told AAP yesterday that Mr Seagrove eventually returned the two items in August after Bitzer began civil legal proceedings against him.

"But he was then arrested by police for theft in October," he told AAP.

"We think the company is using its connections and capacity to bribe Indonesian police to avoid its responsibilities."

He said Mr Seagrove had been jailed at Bogor prison a month ago and a doctor friend believed he had now contracted typhoid.

"He has tremors and is extremely sick, with poor circulation," he said.

An Australian embassy spokesman in Jakarta said Mr Seagrove had been arrested four weeks ago and Australian officials were hoping to organise bail for him.

He confirmed Mr Seagrove was sick with an unknown illness and said an embassy doctor had asked for more tests.

"We're hoping he will be bailed and we can resolve this in a more amicable way," he said.

He said the embassy had been aware of Mr Seagrove's dispute "for some time", but had only become directly involved following his arrest.

Prison officials in Bogor said Mr Seagrove had been arrested because he attempted to sell the car to recover the money he believed was owing.

"He got angry and sold his company's car," prison security chief Sudaryon said.

"Now the company is suing him."

AAP

Family 'not sorry' for media help plea

Posted: Mon 24th Nov 2003
NEWS UPDATE Alexander Downer has criticised the sisters of Darin Seagrove for speaking out about his case. The sisters of Darin defended their actions and said that it was only after the media confronted Mr Downer last friday that her brothers case started to move. After receiving no reply to an email asking for help sent to Mr Downers office over a month ago, sister Danielle Seagrove travelled to Jakarta. "We weren't getting any attention (from the federal government) until we did (approach the media)" said Ms Seagrove from Jakarta yesterday. Mr Downer was reported as saying that "it can often make it more difficult to get to help people when friends and family go public and say they're going to make a big media issue of it and (say), 'Lets's beat up on the federal government and try to get them to do more' he said. In typical Downer doublespeak he went on to say "The more public we go, the more it paints these other governments, these other countries, into a corner"

Family of imprisoned man appeals to embassy

Posted: Fri, 21 Nov 2003 7:50 ACST
The family of an Adelaide man being held in an Indonesian jail are appealing for Australian embassy staff to arrange for a doctor to see him over concerns for his health.
Darin Seagrove, 38, was jailed a month ago in Bogor, charged with stealing a car and a projector from a previous employer over what his family called a dispute over a job contract.
His sister in Adelaide, Lianne Christie, believes he is ill and may have a recurrence of a childhood kidney disease.
But she says her family has been unable to break through bureaucracy to arrange a doctor visit.
"We found out he was ill at about 2:30pm on Tuesday afternoon and immediately made contact with the embassy," she said.
"I can't really tell you everything that's gone on with that, but there's no doctor there still, and he appeared in court yesterday and apparently he looked terrible."

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer speaks about Darin Seagrove

Transcript - 21 November, 2003
REPORTER: Mr Downer, are you aware of the situation surrounding Darin Seagrove in Jakarta? He’s an Australian …
DOWNER: Yes, I am, yes.
REPORTER: What’s (indistinct) that?
DOWNER: Well, I'm concerned about him having been jailed; he's been charged with a number of offences in Indonesia, but the other complication in this, because Australians are often jailed charged with offences, the other complication in his case is concern about his health. Now, our Consular officials from Jakarta have been in touch with him and yesterday, the doctor from the Australian Embassy was able to gain access to him and to check his health. And we would like to feel that it'd be possible for the doctor to continue to monitor his health. I'm not saying that the doctor thought that he was suffering from any life-threatening circumstance at this moment, but I maintain some concern about his health and as a result I hope that the Indonesian authorities will continue to grant our doctor access when the doctor himself judges that need arises.
REPORTER: His family’s been very concerned at the moment that he’s very sick. In fact … and we’ve sort of … there’s sort of a semi-lock down, I suppose, in Jakarta with a public holiday coming up, that he may not be able to get the proper medical treatment he needs over the next week; is that a concern?
DOWNER: Yeah, that's why we sent the doctor and we persuaded the Indonesian authorities to allow not just the local doctor, but our own Embassy doctor to see him. The doctor's report isn't … how can I put it, the doctor's report isn't too bad, but the situation is such that we would like the doctor to be able to continue to monitor him because, you know, he does have a history of some illness and, obviously, the difficult circumstance for him; he's in prison, he's been charged with a number of offences, I gather he's pleading innocent to those charges. Consular officials have been able to talk to him about that and he has legal representation, but over and above that, his health … the health issue is a significant issue and I think the best we can do is not only alert the Indonesian authorities to our concern about that, but ensure that our own doctor is able to monitor his health.
REPORTER: (Indistinct) family who claims they've made several attempts to get in contact with your department but haven't had much luck.
DOWNER: Well, I don't know the name and address of every individual who's been in touch. There’s been a lot of contact …
REPORTER: They’re really concerned at the moment and …
DOWNER: Well, I mean, we can't change the law of Indonesia; we can't send in the army. In these circumstances, we have to do what is practical and realistic; I think we've done an excellent job to be able to get our doctor into the prison and to see him. I don't … haven't heard that the family has any complaints about that.
REPORTER: Okay; so you haven't … they're just claiming that they've actually been ignored, they've been trying to (indistinct) …
DOWNER: I have no evidence of anybody being ignored; there have been calls to my office, calls to my department by a number of people on behalf of the family, and no doubt by the family themselves, and they have been responded to and what's more … the government does everything it can. Officials work tirelessly to help Australians overseas in situations like this and it always saddens me where people think that, you know, a lot of personal criticism and internal debate and so on is somehow going to help. We're doing everything we can; we can't spring him from jail, that's beyond our capability.
REPORTER: If he were to die, maybe, that'd be a diplomatic problem.
DOWNER: Well, the doctor saw him yesterday, he wasn't on the threshold of death.

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