Schapelle Corby Baby joy
As Schapelle finally touches down on home soil, we can reveal the family dream she hopes will see her reunited with the man she adores
Schapelle Corby returned home to Australia with a broken heart after farewelling the love of her life last week, but Woman’s Day can reveal the couple have a secret plan to be together again.
“Schapelle is very much in love with her Balinese boyfriend Ben [Panangian]. She wanted to remain with him in Bali,” an Indonesian friend from the 39-year-old’s small, close-knit group confides exclusively to Woman’s Day. “They were desperately trying to get pregnant before she left – that way she’d have an Indonesian baby and it would make her path back to seeing Ben a whole lot easier. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Schapelle is already pregnant – we’ve all been expecting the news by now,” she adds. “Ben has been living with Schapelle and her brother in Bali for months, and they’ve been open about trying for a child. They both want a family together more than ever before.” Another Indonesian source close to the Aussie agrees. “Schapelle is crazy about kids and she’s aware that at her age, she is running out of time. But more than just wanting a baby, Schapelle wants Ben’s baby. He is her rock, the one person she trusts completely. I hope she is pregnant for both of their sakes.” Described as “a really nice, easygoing surfer dude”, Ben studied marketing at Surabaya University but gave up his studies to become a surfing instructor and now runs a paddleboarding operation for tourists. He and Schapelle are “two peas in a pod”, both enjoying the outdoors and appreciating the quiet, private life they had in Bali.
“No one really bothered them in Bali,” Schapelle’s friend confides. “She and Ben would go to the beach together, eat out at the local warungs and live a modest and private life with their two dogs, Luna and May.
“Schapelle is really dreading being back in Australia where she knows there will be photographers and constant press intrusion again. She hates being famous and just wants to hide. She is always saying she just wants to be normal.”
A baby may be the only thing that could allow Ben and Schapelle to be reunited, either in Indonesia or Australia. The couple met in Kerobokan prison in 2006, where Ben was serving a three-and-a-half year sentence for drug possession, his first of two drug convictions.
As Ben has a criminal record, it’s unlikely the Australian government will allow him a visa. And the Indonesian government has placed a six-month ban on Schapelle returning to the
country following her deportation. There is even talk she may never be allowed back into Bali. Anti-drug campaigners such as Nyoman Adi Peri – Chairman of the National Anti-narcotics Movement – have called for her to be banned from the country for 10 years to life.
“If she is pregnant, we would all be over the moon because the baby would be half Indonesian and half Australian,” Schapelle’s friend explains.
“With this in mind, the Indonesian government might look favourably on her returning to Bali. And the Australian government might allow Ben to come to her.
“It’s their only real hope of staying together.”
Friends claim Ben, too, is concerned about what is waiting for Schapelle at home.
“Ben wants to protect her from all of that unwanted attention.
“After seeing her mental health deteriorate while she was in Kerobokan, he is terrified she will return to being depressed and suicidal again. He wants to be there for her, but he can’t.”
Another factor tearing at Schapelle’s heart is that she also had to leave her two dogs, Luna and May, behind in Bali.
“Those dogs are like her children and now there’s a chance she’ll never see them again, either,” her friend says. “It’s like her family is being ripped away from her.”
But there is some family joy for Schapelle in her sister Mercedes’ modest duplex in Tugun on Queensland’s Gold Coast – she is back with her much-loved niece Nyleigh, 15, and nephews Wayan, 17, and Nyoman, 10, who adore their “Aunty Pelle”.
“Schapelle is crazy about Mercedes’ kids and so is Ben,” her friend says. “I know she’ll be happy to see them again but at the same time, it will remind her of what she desperately wants but doesn’t have – a family of her own with the man she loves.
“It’s heartbreaking that Schapelle is still being punished. She’s done her time.”
‘If Schapelle is pregnant, we would all be over the moon ’