Kiwi man Antony de Malmanche starving in Bali jail after 'drug scam'

A New Zealand man is begging for help for his father, who is starving to death in Bali prison after being caught up in a drug scam while trying to find love.

Antony de Malmanche may never step foot in his home country again after he was arrested for allegedly smuggling 1.7kg of methamphetamine in his backpack at the international airport in Denpasar, Indonesia, in December 2014.

De Malmanche has also recently revealed he is a survivor of abuse as a former child patient in the notorious Lake Alice Hospital, making him a vulnerable target to a cartel scam.

He maintains his not-guilty plea, claiming that he was set up by a sophisticated criminal organisation that he believed to be an online lover.

The 61-year-old Whanganui man is in his ninth year of a 15-year sentence in Bali’s Kerobokan Prison, and his health has been deteriorating ever since he was put there.

His son Shaun de Malmanche has sent up a Givealittle page to raise funds for his father who he says “is guilty of nothing but being gullible”.

“It’s getting more and more expensive to pay for everything that’s happening there.

“He’s lost a lot of teeth and needs dentures. He has hospital bills from injuries sustained while there, as well as health problems.

“We already have to cover the cost of accommodation and food costs there, and on top of that, it’s quite difficult,” the son wrote on the page.

De Malmanche has angina, and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder) an incurable group of lung diseases that block airflow and make it difficult to breathe.

“This is a man who lived in a very small, cheap rental house in Castlecliff, Whanganui, and spent his days fishing and or diving with friends, giving extra fish away to friends or people who needed it more than he did,” his son wrote online.

The nightmare began when De Malmanche started talking to a woman online named “Jessie Smith”, who claimed to be a wealthy South African businesswoman and cocoa company owner.

She offered de Malmanche money for flights, clothes and a passport in return for meeting her in Hong Kong.

“Jessie’s” associates told de Malmanche that his online girlfriend was not in Hong Kong and that he had to fly to Bali to meet her.

They bought him a new suitcase for his flight to Bali and after de Malmanche had a quick look for anything suspicious, he proceeded with his trip.

When de Malmanche arrived in Bali, customs officers found almost 2kg of methamphetamine in his bag.

The Bali jail is a re-traumatising environment for de Malmanche, who told Woman’s Day he will often have flashbacks of when he was sent to Lake Alice Hospital as a child.

“I can still smell the paraldehyde.

“There was a charge nurse who used to give me injections – a nasty little man whose eyes seemed to glow red with pure evil” de Malmanche said.

Systematic abuse of children, including the use of electric shocks and painful paraldehyde injections was used to punish children at Lake Alice Hospital in the 1970s.

While de Malmanche struggles daily in the inhumane conditions of the prison, his family wonders whether they will ever see them again.

“Dad is extremely scared of dying there, without ever seeing his grandchildren, children, or his country ever again,” his son said.

His current release date is set for December 28, 2028.