About 11:30am on Monday morning, Jake Drage was involved in a tragic motorbike accident in Indonesia.
Jake is a 23 year old from Geraldton, who his mother describes as someone who loves life, is spiritual, has a heart condition, and was loved by all and wouldn't hurt a fly, was on the holiday of a lifetime. He had been in the Philippines, before heading to Indonesia.
On the fateful day he had been surfing, and was heading back to his accommodation. Tiena Drage, Jake's mother, described the incident to Everything Geraldton.
"He was on a motor bike, behind a little truck" Tiena says. " They were facing up a hill and the truck came to a complete stop. Jake was concerned the small truck might roll back on top of him. There were no lines or markings on the road at all.
"He's nudged his head and the front of the bike out a small amount, perhaps a foot, to try and see if it was safe to pass the stationary truck. All of a sudden a motorbike with two people on it was there and clipped Jake's bike."
"The bike was being driven by a 16 year old girl, and her mother was on the back not wearing a helmet."
"Jake said the girl panicked when she saw Jake. Their bike crashed an the mother on the back of the bike was taken to hospital."
This happened on Monday 30 June at 11:30am.
The woman on the back of the motor cycle died the following day in an Indonesian hospital.
Jake was taken into custody by police immediately following the accident. He has been held without charge since then.
"I found out about the accident about 7:30pm on Tuesday" Ms Drage tells us.
"Jake had been working in the mines for 6 months and been saving for this holiday" says Tiena.
"Jake had been in discussions with the family of the deceased woman over the following days, and even negotiated compensation or a payment that would be made to them, but due to being in custody without charge was unable to really do anything about it" Tiena says. 'The family of the woman has been bringing Jake food as well."
Following the embassy's meeting with local authorities, it was confirmed to Tiena Drage that Jake could be held for potentially 40 days before being charged.
She has not been advised what he will be charged with.
Friends of Jake chose to set up a fund raising site for him, but Tiena expressed to Everything Geraldton that she was not trying to get money from people, she just cared about her son.
Tiena has been speaking with Everything Geraldton over the last couple of days about the incident and her concerns at this time. Many people have asked us to publish something earlier about Jake's situation but after discussing the matter with Tiena we decided to hold off to prevent complicating things for Jake.
After learning that media members had been contacting friends of Jake, Tiena decided to speak with Everything Geraldton. Friends of Jake say random journalists have been trying to add them as friends on Facebook in order to get more of the story.
Tiena Drage, who is currently in Geraldton, arrives in Indonesia tomorrow. She says she is going to do whatever it takes to help her son.
Everything Geraldton will be keeping in touch with Tiena and we'll let you know how things develop.
An update on Australian Citizen JAKE DRAGE, who is held in Indonesian custody following traffic accident
Tiena Drage, the mother of Jake Drage, is currently organising to fly to Indonesia to work with the Australian Consul, lawyers and Indonesian Authorities to secure the release of Jake as soon as possible.
The family wishes to thank the many people who have sent messages of support and contributed to a fund to assist with the costs associated with helping Jake.
The family’s heartfelt condolences go out to the deceased’s family following their tragic loss and any excess contributions to Jake’s fund will be donated to the family of the deceased.
At this time, the family requests that the media do not interfere with the processes that Jake’s mother will engage with in Indonesia by way of any unauthorised reporting. While there is public interest in respect to this story, Tiena needs to first engage with lawyers, the Australian Consul and Indonesian Authorities and do not want any reporting, unapproved by the family occur, that may potentially undermine the family’s efforts and therefore potentially impact negatively on Jake.
They respectfully request any future reporting to be authorised by the family’s media representative prior to any publication.
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