‘Stressing’ Corby steps into uncertain future

INDONESIA: 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 that has 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, Corby has been sitting inside her house, nervously awaiting her deportation to Australia on May 27.

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 her 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 last week, complaining of how the 39-year-old had been ‘‘stalked’’ by the media.

During a visit to the home that night, Corby emerged to greet correction officials with a sarong over her face.

She would sometimes open and close the covering to speak, head of Bali Provincial Correction Division, 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.’’

Corby – who by her own account is ‘‘petrified’’ of flying – is due to report to parole officers on May 27 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 upon request.

If she is allowed to return, Sampurno said she should expect to be watched closely.

‘‘If you ask should we be suspicious over her – that’s natural, isn’t it? ... that we supervise her, that we follow her.’’

Her first steps will also be monitored closely by media – which she has described as an ominous and ‘’exploitative’’ force. – AAP