There was no reason why he chose to die rather than be sentenced to 13 years for his pedophelia case. He wrote a letter that he would appeal after his trial in the first court. 

William Stuart Brown, called Tony, 52 years old, is Australian. He was accused of sodomy to 20 boys (only two boys were proven) in Bali, Indonesia. He was sentenced to 13 years in jail, Rp 150 million (US $16,700) fine, and his Daihatsu Espass car was confiscated by Pengadilan Negeri Amlapura (Amlapura District Court), Bali. This sentencing is a new horizon for children's protection in Indonesia.

In the other cases: on 10 May 2004, Babe had been sentenced for 1 year 8 months by Pengadilan Negeri Lombok (Lombok District Court) because of sodomy to 13 boys; and Mario Mannara (Italian) had been sentenced on January 2004 for 10 months by Pengadilan Negeri Singaraja (Singaraja District Court) because of sodomy to 9 boys. 

The big difference in sentencing was caused by the use of regulation. For Babe and Mannara, the judges used Kitab Undang-undang Hukum Pidana (KUHP, the book of Criminal Law Act) article 292 which has a maximum sentence of 5 years  in jail and no fine.  There is also another Act as a special regulation for children's protection. It is Act No. 23 Year 2002 about Children's Protection. On article 82 of this Act, the sentencing is much heavier, with a maximum 15 years in jail and a fine of Rp 300 million. 

Thus, there are two Acts regulating this case. Yes! But the judge is supposed to use the Act of Children's Protection because this Act is a special regulation which deleted general regulation (lex specialis derogat lex generalis). 

In case of Tony, the judge I. Nyoman Sutarna used the Act of Children's Protection which is the reason the sentencing was heavier than the others being sentenced for the same crime.  

Tony was a diplomat of The Australian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 1982 to 1995. In 1986, the Australian government withdrew him from Indonesia because the government suspected him of pedophilia disease. Because there was no proof of the suspicion, the government made him return to Indonesia until he retired. After he retired in 2003, he lived and built a house in Banjar Glumapang, Karangasem, Bali. Unfortunately, the case sent him to jail for 13 years. One day before his sentencing, he wrote a letter of confession in both Indonesian and English and asked for the letter to be forwarded to some media. In the letter, he wrote that he had been treated unfairly. He said I am so stressed because the media besmirchs me. He confessed that he was not involved in Dunns Network (Robert Dunn, Australian, who was sentenced for 30 years in Australia in a case of a sexual crime and has an international pedophilia network). He said that there was no sodomy, and if there was, it was only hugging until masturbation. There was no violence and no forcing. He objected if the judge used the Act of Children's Protection. I will appeal, he said. 

On Wednesday morning, 12 May 2004, he was found hanging in his jail using the rope of a folded mattress. 

Source: Magazine of Gatra No. 27 Year X 22 May 2004, p. 66-67.