THE CAST OF CORBY
WHERE ARE THEY NOW
FEW families have endured – and at times embraced – the public spotlight like the Corbys. Now, with the headline act finally set to return to Australia, we recall the cast of characters who have made the Schapelle saga one of the country’s most talked-about stories of the century.
SCHAPELLE CORBY
From 12.01am tomorrow (Bali time), Australia’s most famous female convict since Lindy Chamberlain will be a free woman – if you can call the life that awaits her “freedom”. Now 39, the former beauty therapist student from Tugun has done her best to live a quiet existence since trying to smuggle 4.1kg of cannabis into Bali. She now faces a life ban from Indonesia – and a forced separation from the boyfriend she met in prison – for a life in Australia that will be anything but quiet.
ROSLEIGH ROSE
Mothers don’t come more passionate than Southport’s most famous former fish and chip shop owner. Ros has been a loud and proud voice when it comes to her family and many have felt her wrath for speaking against them or not believing in her daughter’s innocence. A long-time resident of Loganlea, she hosted a memorable bash when Schapelle was granted parole and is no doubt preparing something even more special for her homecoming.
MICHAEL CORBY SR
In the wake of Schapelle’s arrest, stories abounded about how she had been caring for her sick father at his Tugun home and the enormous stress her conviction had caused him. The focus later changed to revelations Michael Sr had been convicted of marijuana possession in the 1970s and allegations he played a key role in the dope ending up in her boogie board bag. He never got to see his daughter a free woman, dying in 2008.
MERCEDES CORBY
Schapelle’s nightmare began when she landed in Bali to celebrate her sister’s 30th birthday. A fortnight ago, it was Mercedes flying to the island to finally bring her little sister home. Famous in her own right for her fiery public outbursts and once wearing very little in a lads’ magazine, she long called Bali home before returning to Tugun in 2015 after separating from her husband and the father of her three children. Mercedes was back in the news this year when her tapas bar at Coolangatta closed and fighting an AVO sought by her ex-business partner.
WAYAN WIDYARTHA
Mercedes’ ex-husband acted as guarantor for his sister-inlaw’s parole and continued to honour the commitment in the wake of their marriage breakdown. The owner of a small surf shop in Kuta, he employed Schapelle during the early stages of her parole before she found she couldn’t work there without being hounded by tourists and media. Wayan’s uncle, a Hindu priest, recently said their family had paid a price for its involvement with Schapelle: “(Wayan) understands he brought shame on this family”.
MICHAEL CORBY JR
Having lived with Schapelle and their father at Tugun before her ill-fated trip, Michael Jr is believed to now be sharing digs with her behind the high fence of a modest villa in a quiet part of Kuta. A well- known face on the southern end of the Coast and a keen surfer, he holidayed in Hawaii last year with loved ones including mother Ros.
JAMES KISINA
Schapelle’s half-brother, just a teen when he was by her side at the arrest, did little to boost public faith in the Corby clan when jailed for drug possession and assault charges on the day his sister’s second appeal was rejected in 2006. On that occasion he and two friends had invaded the Brisbane home of a drug dealer. In 2015 he added to his rap sheet when fined $750 for possessing cocaine.
BEN PANANGIAN
Having met Schapelle in Kerobokan Prison in 2006 while serving his own sentence on drugs charges, the Indonesian has been one constant in her Bali life. While the couple has not been seen together publicly, they are said to have spent many days at local beaches where he excels at stand-up paddle boarding and she catches waves on her boogie board. Six months after her release on parole, Panangian was arrested for possessing eight grams of marijuana and sentenced to another 10 months. The only certainty now is they face an uncertain future.
JODIE POWER
In little more than two years, Power went from describing herself in media reports as a “close friend” of Schapelle to making a false claim on Today
Tonight that her close friend’s sister had previously asked her to transport drugs to Bali. It was the stuff of tabloid television gold – at least until Channel 7 was forced to pay an undisclosed sum for defaming Mercedes Corby with the baseless allegation. Power, meanwhile, seemed happy to once again drift into public anonymity.
MALCOLM McCAULEY
Police officers’ eyebrows were raised when, prior to Schapelle’s sentencing, they found photos of the convicted marijuana dealer visiting her
in jail. Then he knocked them – and the rest of us – for six in 2008 when he publicly claimed her late father had been involved in the Bali drug trade, a claim he has never backed down from.
EAMONN DUFF
Arguably the Corbys’ least favourite person, the journalist thought he was on a winner when he wrote Sins of the Father, a bestseller based on McCauley’s claims linking the dope to her old man. A judge later awarded Mercedes, Michael Jr and their mother almost $1 million in damages and legal costs after the book wrongly claimed they were part of a drug syndicate run by the late Michael Corby Sr. Today Duff works as an investigative reporter for Fairfax Media.
RON BAKIR
In a short period, the mobile phone retailer went from being Schapelle’s potential saviour to being told to “butt out” of her life. Fearing a miscarriage of justice, he reportedly wanted to fund her defence but earned the ire of the family for making unfounded claims prosecutors wanted a bribe to reduce her sentence and registering a company called Schapelle Corby Pty Ltd. Bakir now runs a luxury construction business and continues to decline to talk publicly of Corby.
ROBIN TAMPOE
As the Corbys’ Gold Coast lawyer, he trumpeted Schapelle’s innocence with the famous “baggage handler defence”. The only problem was he later admitted making it up and was struck off by the Queensland Law Society. He reinvented himself as a successful property businessman in the UAE.
TONY WILSON
Initially covering the saga as the Bulletin’s chief police reporter, Wilson became part of the story when he formed a close bond with the Corbys and threatened the life of Ron Bakir. He left this newspaper in 2008 after that moment was shown in a documentary and went on to write a book proclaiming his friend’s innocence. Now editor of the Vanuatu Independent, he has re-released the book to coincide with her return to Australia.
ALEXANDER DOWNER
Following Schapelle’s arrest, Team Corby accused the then foreign minister of “not doing enough” to get her back to Australia. A decade on he said the government hadn’t gone out of its way to help her “just because a few talkback radio hosts were campaigning for (her).”– He is the High Commissioner of Australia to the United Kingdom.
MICK KEELTY
To this day the Australian Federal Police remains the focus of several Corby conspiracy theory websites, with the man in charge at the time of her arrest howled down by her supporters in 2004 for describing intelligence supporting her defence of being an unwitting drug mule as flimsy. Keelty has held various academic and consulting positions since retiring.