DENPASAR ~ A prosecutor recommended to the Denpasar District Court on Thursday that judges sentence an Australian man to eight months in jail for possessing 0.4 grams of heroin.

Prosecutor Agung Atmaja told the court that defendant Franklin Maxwell, 45, was only proven guilty of consuming drugs and being an addict, rather than the main charges of possession and keeping an illegal dangerous substance, which could carry a 10-year jail term.

Under Indonesian law, drug sentences are more lenient when the defendant is proven to be an addict.

Judge Nyoman Sutama said the trial would resume on May 22 for sentencing.

Maxwell was arrested in Kuta in January with 0.4 grams of heroin. He told police he had bought the drugs from a woman on Kuta beach for Rp800,000 (US$87).

A string of Australians have been detained for drug possession or trafficking in recent years on Bali, including the so-called Bali Nine gang, three of whom are on death row for attempting to smuggle heroin from the island.