An uncertain future
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR SCHAPELLE CORBY ONCE BACK IN AUSTRALIA?
BALI: A trial, two appeals, a presidential clemency, books, a TV movie, Australian court cases and public friendship breakdowns.
Schapelle Corby’s 2004 arrest has spawned a myriad of twists which have kept her story alive in Australia for more than a decade.
Now the anxious former beauty student is set to step into an uncertain future — leaving behind her life of 13 years.
In the back streets of Kuta, Schapelle has been sitting inside her house, nervously awaiting her deportation to Australia on Saturday.
Security cameras have been installed and sarongs assembled around the home’s gates in a bid to block photographers and cameramen.
The man reported to be her boyfriend, former drug prisoner Ben Panangian, as well as brother Michael and sister Mercedes, have been some of the few people spotted going in and out of the home.
Mercedes, who returned to Bali last week to ‘‘bring her home’’, visited the island’s law and human rights office on her sister’s behalf on Thursday, complaining of how the 39-yearold had been ‘‘stalked’’ by the media.
During a visit to the home that night, Schapelle emerged to greet correction officials with a sarong covering her face.
She would sometimes open and close the covering to speak, Bali Provincial Correction Division’s head Surung Pasaribu said.
‘‘She’s afraid . . . she’s stressed,’’ he told reporters, later adding: ‘‘It is normal that people who were about to be freed are feeling unease. It’s our job to make her calm.’’
Schapelle, who by her own account is ‘‘petrified’’ of flying, is due to report to parole officers on Saturday for the last time since her release from Kerobokan in February 2014.
Immigration officers will then take her to the airport.
While flight details are unknown, Indonesian authorities want her out as quickly as possible — straight home to Australia, if not Brisbane.
Life as a ‘free woman’ will still have its limitations.
It is too soon to say whether she will be allowed to return to Indonesia.
Standard procedure states she will be banned from returning for six months.
But due to the seriousness of her crime, Immigration Directorate spokesman Agung Sampurno said the six-month ban could be extended again and again on request.
Her first steps will also be monitored closely by media — which she has described as an ominous and ‘exploitative’ force.
‘‘It has been a part of our lives for 13 years, it has been of enormous interest,’’ celebrity agent Max Markson said.
‘‘People want to know what she is doing with her life.’’