Pubdate: Tue, 11 Feb 2014
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Page: 1
Copyright: 2014 The Sydney Morning Herald
Contact:  http://www.smh.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/441
Authors: Michael Bachelard, James Robertson Denpasar

CORBY KEEPS IT ALL UNDER HER HAT

After more than nine years in prison, Schapelle Corby has walked free.
Wearing a hat and covering her face, Corby said nothing to reporters
as she was hustled off to an exclusive resort.

Schapelle Corby told an Indonesian official "I am happy" as she was
led through the three-step process of release on parole on Monday amid
a storming media pack in Bali.

Corby, who has spent the past nine years four months and two days in
Kerobokan prison, walked out of jail about 8.15am local time. It was a
day of conflicting emotions for the convicted drug smuggler, with
officials saying she looked nervous and had cried at the intensity of
the media attention.

Kerobokan prison's governor, Farid Junaedi, told reporters that Corby
had been "rather shaken" and had said "Wow, that's a lot of people and
reporters, isn't it?"

Agung Bagus Kusimantara, head of the Intelligence Section in the
Prosecutions Office, said: "We asked her about her condition and she
once cried, saying she's still in trauma over the journalists."

Corby said nothing to reporters, and wore a hat and full face veil,
which she talked through whenever she was required to respond to officials.

Mr Farid at the jail, and staff at the corrections office later, all
confirmed they had lifted Corby's veil just to make sure the right
prisoner was being granted parole. All confirmed it was her.

She was hustled off in a convoy of cars with journalist Mike Willesee,
who hosts a Seven Network interview program, to an exclusive spa
resort, Sentosa Seminyak. There he will conduct an interview rumoured
to have cost the network $1.3 million plus expenses.

It is still unclear where Corby's home in Bali might be, as she serves
out the more than three years on her parole until her final release on
July 25, 2017.

Her sister has separated from her husband, Balinese man Wayan
Widyartha, dampening expectations that she would live in his family's
compound located off a lane near Kuta Beach.

It is understood Mercedes' family has bought at least one property in
recent times in the vicinity of the family house.

Though Mr Wayan is Corby's official guarantor, the Bali Corrections
Board and the Justice Office have both confirmed they were not worried
that the couple had separated, only that Mr Wayan agreed to carry on
as guarantor. He was by Corby's side on Monday.

The Australian government has also officially promised the Indonesian
government that Corby would be of good behaviour.

Conditions on her release on parole are that she must report monthly
for counselling and guidance, act respectfully towards officials, have
the Kuta compound as her home base (although she is not required to
live there) and commit no crimes.

Australia's celebrity prisoner, jailed for smuggling 4.2 kilograms of
cannabis in a boogie board bag into Bali, stepped from the prison
after police guarding the exit yelled "sip" (ready). Corby, 36, was
hustled out wearing a white and blue hat and a full face cover. Her
head was bowed and she said nothing.

Mr Farid later said Corby had been searched before her release, and
that she "took only make-up and clothes".

After leaving prison in the transport bus, her first stop was at the
Denpasar office of the prosecutors - who in 2005 asked the judges to
imprison her for life - to fill in paperwork and be fingerprinted. She
was then taken to the Bali corrections board, Bapas, where the process
was repeated.

Bapas head Ketut Artha asked whether she understood what the parole
card meant, to which she replied yes. He said Corby's mind did not
seem to have been on what she was doing, so he would "wait for her
next visit, next month, to talk to her".

Corby told her parole officer, Putu Adiani: "Saya senang", Indonesian
for "I am happy."

In Queensland, her mother Rosleigh Rose and family and friends
celebrated with champagne and dancing.

An elated Ms Rose told the Seven Network: "It was just beautiful to
see my beautiful Schapelle come out from those doors."

There are early indications that the release may provoke a political
backlash against Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is
accused by some Indonesians of giving the Australian an easy run after
conspiring with the Australian government.  
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