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Schapelle Corby

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Schapelle Corby in prison in Bali, Indonesia
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Schapelle Corby in prison in Bali, Indonesia

Schapelle Leigh Corby (born 10 July, 1977) is an Australian who is serving a 20 year sentence for the importation of 4.1 kg of cannabis into Bali, Indonesia. She is a former shop assistant and beauty student from Queensland. She was sentenced on May 27, 2005 and is currently serving her sentence in Kerobokan Prison, Indonesia.

Despite the conviction, Corby maintains that the drugs were planted in her bag, and that she did not know about them. Her trial and conviction were a major focus of attention for the Australian media.

Contents

Pre-arrest history

While in Australia, Corby lived on the Gold Coast. She did a part-time beauty therapy course at TAFE but did not finish her last module due to her father being diagnosed with terminal cancer. She then worked in her family's fish and chips shop. In 1996 Corby met and started living with a Japanese tourist named Kimi.

In 1998 Corby moved to Japan with Kimi and they were married 3 months later. Corby and Kimi separated in mid 2000. Corby stopped over in Bali on her way home to Australia. She had been to Bali five times since the age of 16--though some of those trips were stop overs on her way to or from Japan.

Arrest and trial

Arrest

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On October 8, 2004, Corby was apprehended by Indonesian customs agents at Ngurah Rai Airport on her arrival in Bali, Indonesia, from Australia. Corby was found to have 4.1 kilograms of cannabis in her unlocked boogie board bag. Customs officer Gusti Nyoman Winata stated that she tried to prevent him opening the compartment of the bag containing the cannabis.

Corby stated that she had no knowledge of the drugs. Her defense centred on the theory that she had become an unwitting drug courier for what was supposed to have been an interstate shipment of drugs between Brisbane and Sydney in Australia.

Prima facie case

According to Professor Tim Lindsey, director of the University of Melbourne's Asian Law Centre, the prosecution had a prima facie case against Corby, established merely by her possession of the narcotics, regardless of her knowledge. In a [lecture given at Melbourne University], he said, "Suffice to say that being caught with drugs on you, whether strapped to you or in a bag that is your property, is probably going to be sufficient in most instances for the prosecution to establish a prima facie case. The question then arises as to how that prima facie case is answered by a defence team."

Defence

Corby's lawyers gave a different version of the event, saying that she had no knowledge of the cannabis until the customs at the airport found it. They claimed that baggage handlers in Brisbane may have put the cannabis in her bag without her knowledge, acting as part of an inter-state drug smuggling network. According to her attorneys, the cannabis was to be removed in Sydney, but wasn't.

Three of Corby's travelling companions testified in court that they had seen Corby pack her bag before leaving for the airport and that only the flippers and yellow boogie board were inside it. They also said that Corby did open the bag herself at the customs counter.

John Ford's allegations

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John Patrick Ford, a prisoner at Port Phillip Prison who was awaiting trial and was subsequently convicted on charges of rape, was flown to Indonesia to give evidence in Corby's defence.

Ford testified that he overheard a conversation in prison between two men and alleges that one of the men planted the marijuana in Corby's boogie board bag in Brisbane with the intention of having another person remove it in Sydney. He stated that the drugs were owned by Ron Vigenser, who had been a prisoner at the same jail as Ford. He stated that a mix-up resulted in the marijuana not being removed and subsequently being transported to Indonesia, all without Corby's knowledge. He refused to name the man whom he states planted the drugs. In the Australian media Vigenser has strenuously denied any connection with the drugs and has reportedly given a statement to the Australian Federal Police.

An $A1,000,000 reward was offered for information to substantiate claims made by Ford about baggage handlers with no result. Since his return from Bali, Ford was convicted of rape. Ford was beaten and stabbed in prison and was held in solitary confinement for his own protection. [link]

The prosecution pointed out that his evidence was entirely hearsay and that he was facing trial for several serious offences in Australia. Legal commentators in Australia have remarked that Ford's testimony, as hearsay, would be inadmissible evidence in an Australian court. Professor Tim Lindsay stated that the defence case contained "virtually nothing that was admissible evidence to be given weight under Indonesian criminal procedure law" [link]. An Indonesian judge referred to Ford's evidence as "Hearsay upon hearsay".

Alleged involvement of baggage handlers

According to the Sydney Morning Herald Corby flew out of Sydney on the same day (8 October, 2004) as a large shipment of cocaine was shipped out of the airport by a drug ring involving corrupt baggage handlers. During the week of 9 May, 2005 in Australia numerous arrests occurred related to cocaine smuggling through Sydney airport. Her defense claimed that the cannabis was planted in her bag by mistake by baggage handlers.

However, the AFP commissioner Mick Keelty stated that a key aspect of her defence was not supported by the available intelligence. ([link]) and that the cocaine-smuggling ring which had been discovered involved the reception of shipments of drugs from overseas, not the transportation of drugs domestically. ([link])

Ron Bakir

Ron Bakir, a Gold Coast bankrupt, claimed that he had retained the services of the Australian law firm Hoolihans to investigate the origin of the drugs. He made statements suggesting that he would fund Corby's defense. Bakir later registered a company titled Schapelle Corby Pty Ltd [link], and made statements to Corby's family that they owed him several hundred thousand dollars.

Bakir accused the prosecution team (chief prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu) of seeking a bribe to reduce the requested sentence. The prosecution team and the Indonesian government vehemently denied that this occurred. Corby's legal team were openly angry with Bakir since this could cause the imposition of a more severe penalty.

Bakir cut ties with the Schapelle Corby case on 24 June, 2005 after Corby wrote a letter asking to disassociate himself. [link]. Schapelle Corby Pty Ltd was voluntarily deregistered on 23/10/2005.

Corby's pleas

Corby made numerous emotional pleas to be released. At the defence's last address to the court, April 29, 2005, Corby said to the three judges:

" I cannot admit to a crime I did not commit. And to the judges, my life at the moment is in your hands, but I would prefer if my life was in your hearts....And your Honour, I ask of you to show compassion, to find me innocent, to send me home. Saya tidak bersalah ("I am not guilty", in Indonesian/Malay)." [link]
Corby also wrote to the case's prosecutor, Ida Bagus Wiswantanu, and judges with a request for leniency,[link].

Controversy

The following points have been identified by many as flaws in the way Corby and her team presented her case:

Criticism of the prosecution's case included:

Verdict and sentence

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The verdict in the Corby trial was broadcast live on television in Australia, and the Nine Network television coverage was also broadcast live in New Zealand. The coverage included the eighty page trial outline, the verdict and sentencing.

On 27 May, 2005 Corby was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years jail. She was also fined 100,000,000 IDR ($A12,663 AUD), with an additional six months if unpaid. The defence and prosecution appealed separately to the High Court, the defence appealing for a retrial, the prosecution appealing for life imprisonment.

Appeals

On 5 July, 2005, the High Court ruled that the case should be reopened by the district court, allowing the defence to call new witnesses. The onus was on the defence team to call sufficient witnesses to prove that Corby did not place the drugs in her boogie board bag. A man was named as the owner of the drugs in Corby's bag. He was named as a key witness, but he said that he 'knows nothing'.[link].

On October 14, 2005, Bali's High Court reduced the sentence to 15 years. Both sides again appealed, this time to Indonesia's Supreme Court.

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On 19 January, 2006, the Indonesian Supreme Court overturned the five year reduction in her sentence on appeal and reinstated the original 20 year jail term handed down. The Court also ordered that the evidence - the boogie board bag and drugs - be destroyed, signalling that the case was now closed [link].

The three-judge panel also rejected a final appeal from Corby, whose lawyers had been seeking a lighter sentence or acquittal meaning all legal avenues have been exhausted unless exceptional new evidence can be produced to reopen the case.

News Limited photographs

It was reported that a joint South Australian-Queensland police operation [link] had seized photographs of Corby with a man charged with marijuana smuggling after a police search of the alleged dealer's home. The man is said to pictured alone with Corby and with Corby and another couple and was the target of the joint police operation into a hydroponic marijuana smuggling ring.

Rosleigh Rose, Corby's mother, said that she and her partner, Greg Martin, met the accused drug smuggler at a restaurant in Bali, and that they then visited Corby in Kerobokan jail, where the pictures were taken.

Corby family's drug links

Three of Corby's family members have been convicted on drug charges and the fourth is currently facing drug charges. Her mother says "At least I know where my kids are, even if they are in jail."

Michael Corby

Her father, Michael Corby has been fined in Australia for possessing cannabis but was not convicted. Michael Corby has a close and long standing friendship with a man, who was recently charged with growing commercial quantities of hydroponic marijuana that he sold in sealed plastic bags.

Clinton Rose

Her half-brother Clinton Rose has spent time in jail for a range of offences. He is currently serving a 15 month sentence in Queensland for drug possession, breaking and entering, and fraud. It was reported that he also has a drug possession charge. This is his second time in prison on charges involving drug possession.

James Kisina's arrest

James Kisina, was travelling with Corby when she was arrested in Bali. He had also been carrying the boogie board before the arrest and had appeared on the media to support his sister.

On the same day as the reinstatement of Corby's original sentence, he appeared in a Brisbane Magistrates Court on drug possession and assault charges. [link]. Kisina, along with two friends allegedly invaded the home of a well-known drug dealer, tied up the occupants and bashed a male occupant before fleeing with a quantity of cannabis and cash [link]. It is alleged by police that the residents were threatened with iron bar and menaced with a machete. On 17 January, 2006, Queensland Police found a quantity of cannabis in the home of Schapelle Corby's mother and half-brother.

Police stated that the house in which James Kisina broke into had been watched by police for some time and that the occupant of the home was a known drug dealer.

Kisina's lawyer has denied this and claimed his client broke into the home believing its occupants may have had information that could assist in Schapelle Corby's sentence appeal. On 8 March 2006, Kisina appeared in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court in relation to the drug-related home invasion and was remanded in custody to face a committal hearing in June.

Effect on relations with Indonesia

Schapelle Corby support poster in Sydney
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Schapelle Corby support poster in Sydney

The Corby case generated intense controversy in Australia, where public opinion, generally in support of Corby[link] and at times expressed publicly with a perceived anti-Indonesian bias, caused tension in Australia's relationship with Indonesia. Mainstream Indonesian media showed minimal interest in the story with the small exception of Bali newspapers. Some small-circulation English language publications such as The Jakarta Post and the Bali Sun gave moderate levels of coverage.

A letter was delivered to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra containing an unknown substance on May 31, 2005. It was later found to be non-toxic and was considered a hoax.

It was frequently reported in Australian and Indonesian media that many Australians called aid agencies and demanded donations for the 2004 Tsunami relief be refunded. In response, officials of Australia's largest agencies - including World Vision, run by Tim Costello (the brother of Federal Treasurer Peter Costello) - stated publicly that only a small number of people had made demands for refunds.

Australian government response

During the trial, Corby's father wrote to Prime Minister of Australia John Howard, saying in part

"as a father and as a leader, I plead for your help. I did not do this. I beg for justice. I don't know how much longer I can do this. Please bring me home."
Howard was quoted as saying in response:

"I feel for her. I understand why there's a lot of public sympathy for her; I would simply say that I hope justice is done and it's a fair and true verdict...I would ask the rhetorical question: My fellow Australians, if a foreigner were to come to Australia and a foreign government were to start telling us how we should handle (it), we would react very angrily to that."[link]
Australian Prime Minister Howard spoke publicly on the case, as did the Opposition Leader Kim Beazley. Although they were always careful to state that they were not seeking to interfere in the Indonesian judicial system, these comments were construed as applying pressure on the court trying the case. The comments from Australian political leaders and others were construed in Indonesia as interference in the Indonesian judicial system.

The Australian Government is pursuing a prisoner exchange programme with Indonesia, which may include Corby. [link]

Media and public response

There was considerable media interest in and popular discussion of Schapelle Corby's predicament. The theory that Australian baggage handlers had placed the drugs in her baggage received considerable attention. For many months, every minor development in the case was highlighted on prime-time TV. For example, a minor "collapse" in the court engendered much erroneous speculation that she was pregnant to her erstwhile financial backer, Ron Bakir.

A [poll] commissioned and published in June 2005 by the Sydney Morning Herald found that opinion was divided whether Corby was guilty but there was a perception that the trial had not been carried out fairly.

In Australia, over 100,000 people signed a petition that they believe Corby should be freed. On the other hand, in Indonesia about 40 protesters gathered on 5 June, 2005 at the Australian embassy in Jakarta calling for Corby to receive the death sentence, carrying placards with words such as '"Corby, drug dealer, must die"' [link].

Celebrity comments

Barry Gibb (Bee Gees)

There's a Letter of protest on the Barry Gibb's web site dated May 29 2005: "I would like to add my voice of outrage to the millions of Australians all over the world. This horrifying act of punishment against Schapelle Corby is totally out of order and must be condemned by the civilized world. I find myself in profound disbelief that a country of such beautiful people can be so inhumane, and that a country which has suffered so much this year from tragedy can go from such a sense of loss to such wilful cruelty on another human being. You have not only sentenced this young girl to a dreadful existence you have also sentenced her family and slapped the national face of the country who so much helped you during your time of crisis. I call on all people to write and e-mail your outrage to the office of the Prime Minister of Australia in the hope that there can yet be a happy ending to this awful story. I would like to send my deepest sympathy and total support to Schapelle Corby and her entire family. Mr Howard please act to bring this girl home safely. Sincerely, Barry Gibb and Family".

Russell Crowe

Oscar-winning New Zealand-born actor Russell Crowe suggested Prime Minister Howard should do more to secure Corby's release. He said. "The first thing I thought this morning was, like, how can I get Johnny Howard on the phone and say, "Look, what are you gonna do, mate, what are you gonna do? — that's ridiculous, what if it was your daughter"? and "Howard should point out to Jakarta that Australia had been a generous supporter following the devastating tsunami in Aceh, pledging $1 billion in aid"'' [link] [link].

Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton

Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton wrote a letter to Corby, expressing her sympathy and exhorting Corby to keep her faith strong, as after the mysterious death of her daughter she was also accused in a case that created strong opinions among Australians--Chamberlain-Creighton, though, was eventually cleared of the accusations against her.[link] Chamberlain-Creighton also wrote a public letter reminding Australians that although popular opinion in Australia might consider Corby to be innocent [link], Corby's trial was within the context of the Indonesian justice system. [link]

Henry Rollins

American hard rocker and political activist Henry Rollins said, "I just don't think anyone would be crass enough to shove 12 pounds of dope into a boogie board bag and try and traipse into Bali with it, it is just a little too obvious."

Corby supporters sites

References

See also

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
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