SCHAPELLE CORBY: HER LIFE NOW The former inmate makes a grand return. But what now for the 39-year-old?
The former inmate makes a grand return. But what now for the 39-year-old? And does she still claim innocence?
S itting aboard Malindo Air flight 157 bound for Brisbane on the evening of May 27, business-class passenger Gabrielle Amies could see Australia’s most famous convicted drug smuggler sitting directly in front of her in seat 1B. Schapelle Corby had just left her final appointment at Bali’s parole office and now, having completed her three years of parole, was heading home for the first time in nearly 13 years. “She seemed happy, she was laughing,” Aimes told reporters at Brisbane airport. “When we landed we went to get off and the flight attendant said, ‘No, you have to wait. The special guest has to get off first.’ ”
She may have spent a decade in prison for trafficking 4.2kg of marijuana into Bali, but Corby returned home a VIP. Apparently hidden within a convoy of black SUVS, the 39-year-old was whisked away from Brisbane International Airport to an unknown location, confounding the media who had documented her life since her arrest in 2004. “It is with gratefulness and relief
that this morning we mark Schapelle Corby’s return to Australia,” said a spokeswoman from security company Tora Solutions, which facilitated her elaborate return to Brisbane. “Priority of focus will now be on healing and moving forward.”
WHERE WILL SHE LIVE?
It had been speculated Corby would return to her mother Rosleigh Rose’s house in Logan, just south of Brisbane. But Corby has so far been a no-show there. She is also not holed up at sister Mercedes’s home in Tugun on the Gold Coast. So where is she? “Didn’t you know?” said a teasing Rose to reporters on May 29. “She caught a flight yesterday to Cairns.” Hmm. The most likely location is Brisbane’s Sofitel, the luxury five-star hotel at which some of the SUVS arrived on the morning of May 28.
WHAT ARE HER PLANS?
Though she can legally work in Australia, her criminal history and the mental effects of her long stint in Kerobokan prison could be a factor in whatever livelihood Corby pursues. At the time of her arrest she was a budding beautician on the Gold Coast. “She is not comfortable with a lot of people around her or people she doesn’t know,” her friend Ally Jeffers, 38, told WHO after Corby was released from jail. “Being in prison for that long has taken a toll on her.” And what other hopes does she have for the future? “She loves kids, so one day, [to] have kids of her own,” said Jeffers.
HOW DID SHE SPEND HER FIRST DAYS?
On Sunday May 28 she was “resting up,” according to Mercedes, before having
some bubbly. Posting a picture of three flutes of champagne on Instagram in the evening, Mercedes said: “Its [sic] finally time to cheers. Then looking forward to a good nights [sic] sleep!” During the day, well-wishers were spotted arriving at Rose’s home, where it is believed there was a celebration sans the guest of honour. Corby’s Aunt Jen came brandishing a large bottle of Grey Goose vodka and a Cheesecake Shop driver delivered a pavlova-flavoured cake inscribed with the message: “Welcome home Pelly.”
WHAT WAS THE COST OF GETTING HER HOME?
A lot, according to Jarris Fuller, owner of Brisbane-based private-investigation company JFA. “It would definitely have been in the six figures,” he tells WHO. Tora Solutions director John Mcleod, a former cop turned celebrity bodyguard, was Corby’s personal escort as she made her way for the final time to Bali’s parole office. She was then transported to Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport— her first time back there since her 2004 arrest. While she had booked a businessclass seat on a Virgin flight, she flew home on Malindo Air, leaving the media aboard the Virgin flight with nothing to film but an empty seat.
On arrival at Brisbane International Airport early on Sunday morning she was ushered into a separate VIP waiting area before a motorcade left through a cargo-delivery door. It is unclear if Corby was part of the motorcade or if this was also a decoy. A video uploaded to Corby’s Instagram on May 30 showed her watching Seven’s Weekend Sunrise as the program covered the journey of the SUVS through Brisbane (the Sunrise clock showed it was 6.14 AM). Eventually, some of the hired SUVS branched off on an apparent breakfast run to KFC (it was closed), some drove to Rose’s home, while others drove to the Sofitel, which has an underground entrance.
CAN SHE SELL HER STORY?
No. The Queensland government has stated it would seek to stop Corby receiving any payment under the proceeds-from-crime legislation. Her loved ones and friends can be paid for interviews, but if it is proved that the money flowed back to Corby then the funds could be recovered by authorities. Given the amount of money spent ushering Corby into the country, some media commentators have speculated cash has already changed hands. “They would have done a media deal,” says Fuller. “It’s just too expensive.”
CAN SHE RETURN TO BALI?
Not for six months, which might prove difficult for Corby. Not only has she left behind her beloved “puppies” (see box, p. 23), it is believed she and Bali paddleboard instructor Ben Panangian, who Corby met in prison, are still an item. And with a history of drug convictions, Panangian may find it difficult to get a visa to Australia. Further, Bali’s drug-enforcement agency wanted her to stay in prison, for fears she would “reconnect” with drug suppliers. Said a spokesman for Indonesia’s National Narcotics Board: “She must have a network.”
DOES SHE STILL CLAIM INNOCENCE?
When she was released in 2014, authorities warned Corby not to cause a “social disturbance” by declaring her innocence, as that would breach her parole terms. She is now off parole but Corby has yet to broach the subject. Jeffers was one of her travel companions that fateful day in 2004 and told WHO she believes in her friend’s innocence: “I said to Schapelle, ‘What’s happened?’ ” Jeffers recalled of Corby’s arrest. “She replied, ‘They’ve found pot in my bag.’ She was saying that it was her bag. They interpreted that as her admitting it was her pot. So that was all very confusing.”