The most noteworthy characters in the Schapelle Corby saga
FROM a gun-toting celebrity lawyer to a string of friends, translators and family members, these people had a real impact on Schapelle Corby.
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SCHAPELLE LEIGH CORBY
Arrested on October 8, 2004 at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport. She had just arrived in Bali on Australian Airlines Flight AO 7829 from Sydney. A vacuum-sealed plastic bag, containing 4.2kg of marijuana was found inside her boogie board bag. She protested her innocence and in May 2005 was found guilty of drug trafficking in the Denpasar District
Court and sentenced to 20 years in jail. The Denpasar High Court reduced the sentence to 15 years and the Supreme Court increased it back to 20 years. In 2012, Indonesia’s then President granted her clemency and slashed five years off her sentence, back to 15 years. In February 2014 she was released on parole.
Sentence expires on May 27, 2017.
ROSLEIGH ROSE
Mother of Schapelle Corby. She drove Schapelle and her travelling companions to Brisbane airport on the morning of October 8, 2004 and waved them goodbye. She has six children. Has staunchly supported Schapelle throughout, visiting her frequently in Bali. Still lives in Loganlea, Queensland.
MICHAEL CORBY
Late father of Schapelle Corby. He too staunchly supported Schapelle until his death, in January 2008, from cancer. He admitted that in the early 1970s he was fined for possession of two grams of marijuana.
After Corby’s death, a man called Malcolm McCauley claimed that he was selling hydroponic marijuana to Michael Corby, a claim furiously denied by the Corby family, saying it was a slur on the character of man who had died and could not defend himself. Corby always said he was there and watched his daughter’s boogie board being packed the night before her flight to Bali and there was no drugs in it.
RELATED: Seven things Schapelle will miss about Bali
MERCEDES CORBY
Schapelle’s loyal sister, who has stood by her for the past 13 years. Schapelle was coming to Bali for Mercedes’ 30th birthday party when she was arrested. Mercedes then put on hold her plans to return to Australia with her Balinese husband Wayan Widyartha and their two children and remained living in Bali to support her sister. The couple’s third child was born after Schapelle’s arrest. Mercedes helped research her case, took her food every day to the jail and visited, supported her when she succumbed to mental illness and found her a place to live in Bali when she was granted parole. Mercedes has since split with husband Wayan and moved back to the Gold Coast to live. She is now embroiled in a new legal tussle, with her former best friend, professional surfer Trudy Todd, with whom she opened a bar and restaurant at Coolangatta.
Todd has applied for an AVO against Mercedes. Mercedes denies the accusations and the case is due to be heard in June.
WAYAN WIDYARTHA
Mercedes’ former husband. The couple, who have three children together, were in Bali at the time of Corby’s arrest, ready to celebrate Mercedes’ 30th birthday. They planned to return to Australia to live on the Gold Coast after the party but stayed in Bali for a decade caring for Schapelle. Wayan became Corby’s parole guarantor when she was released from jail on parole in
February 2014. The couple has since split and Mercedes moved back to the Gold Coast, while Wayan remained in Bali.
MICHAEL CORBY JNR
Schapelle’s brother. He previously ran a fish and chip shop at Southport on the Gold Coast, which has since been sold. He has supported his sister throughout, was in Bali at the time of her arrest, also to attend Mercedes’ birthday party. Since Schapelle’s release on parole he has lived, on and off, in Bali with her in a rented home in Kuta. He is regularly seen surfing and is close to Corby’s boyfriend Ben Panangian and Mercedes’ estranged husband Wayan Widyartha.
JAMES KISINA
Corby’s half-brother. As a 17-year- old school student, he was on the plane with Schapelle when she flew to Bali on October 8, 2014. He was actually carrying Schapelle’s boogie board bag when approached by a Customs officer and asked to open it. Schapelle intervened, saying the bag was hers. He was not implicated in the marijuana bust and was freed by authorities. He
testified as a witness at Schapelle’s Denpasar District Court trial and denied any knowledge of the drugs.
In January 2006 he was arrested in Qld with two others and charged over a violent home invasion at a Rochedale home in which a package of marijuana was stolen. At the time a Qld Police sworn affidavit was tendered to the court, alleging that Kisina was “suspected of some involvement in the exportation of cannabis for which his sister has received a 20-year imprisonment sentence”.
Police later admitted there was no evidence to support the allegation. His lawyers told the court that he had gone to the home to obtain evidence from
drug dealers that might help clear his sister. He was jailed for four years, suspended after serving 10 months in jail.
In November 2011 Kisina and another man were charged with burglary and assaulting two of the brothers of rugby league star Ben Te’o after going to the men’s home to confront him over a domestic matter. Kisina pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 months jail, suspended after three months.
In 2013 Kisina was fined $750 after pleading guilty to possessing 0.8 grams of cocaine, worth $300.
MELEANE KISINA
Schapelle’s half-sister. She has remained loyal to Schapelle throughout and frequently visits Bali. She was not involved in the 2004 arrest. Still lives on the Gold Coast.
CLINTON ROSE
Corby’s half-brother. In January 2002 he was convicted in Qld of drug possession. He had previously been jailed for a series of 62 burglary, stealing and motor vehicle crimes committed over a six-month period. At the time of his sentencing, in Southport District Court, the Judge said he had engagedin a campaign of crime showing a complete lack of respect for other people’s interests or their property. He was sentenced to three years’ probation and in August 2004 jailed for 12 months for breaching his probation conditions. He was in jail at the time of Corby’s arrest in Bali. He has since stayed out of the spotlight.
KATRINA RICHARDS
Travelled to Bali on the plane with Schapelle on October 8, 2004. Then 18, she was studying to be a kindergarten teacher and worked part-time in the Corby’s fish and chip shop at Southport. It was her first overseas trip. After Corby’s arrest she phoned Mercedes telling her to come to the airport. She remains loyal to Schapelle.
ALYTH MCCOMB
Was also travelling on the plane with Schapelle on October 8, 2004. She was 25 at the time and had been friends with Schapelle for about four years previously, at one stage sharing a flat with her. She testified at Corby’s trial she watched Corby pack her boogie board bag the night before flying to Bali and there were no drugs in the bag. She is now married and known as Alyth Jeffers and remains a close friend.
BEN PANANGIAN
Corby’s Indonesian boyfriend. His full name is Bernard P Simanjuntak, hailing from Sumatra. He is a well-known stand up paddle boarder in Bali. The couple first met in Kerobokan jail in 2006, in the jail’s chapel. At the time Panangian was serving a three and a half year sentence on drugs charges. The pair became a couple in jail and remained close after he was freed. In August 2014 he was again arrested and charged with possession and carriage of marijuana in three packages weighing 0.64 grams, 0.99 grams and 6.58 grams. He was sentenced by Denpasar District Court to 10 months in jail on the basis that he was a user. He and Corby regularly swim and surf together and appears to be living with Corby at her Kuta home.
JODIE POWER
Mercedes Corby’s former best friend. She spent months in Bali supporting Corby after her arrest. But the relationship soured and in late 2006 she was paid $100,000 by Channel 7’s Today Tonight for a tell-all interview about the Corbys, in particular Mercedes and her mother Ros. In the program she alleged that Mercedes dealt marijuana and smoked it. Mercedes sued Ch 7 and in a sensational defamation trial, alleging she was defamed in a number of ways, including by the program’s claims that she was knowingly involved in her sister’s drug importation. Rosleigh Rose also sued. During the high-profile trial, in the NSW Supreme Court, Mercedes’ legal team said Power was motivated by money, hatred and celebrity and had a drug problem. In the end the jury found only that Channel 7 had established that Mercedes had possessed and smoke marijuana in the past but never dealt in drugs. Channel 7 settled the case with both Mercedes and Ros for an undisclosed sum.
ERWIN SIREGAR
One of Corby’s original lawyers. He has always believed she was innocent. One of the first things he asked her, after meeting her, was to tell him the truth. I am not guilty she told him so he vowed to fight for her. He was on her legal team to the end. When Corby sacked the original team, after her trial, she then rehired Siregar. A native of Sumatra and a Christian, he is affable and well-known in Bali’s legal circles, regularly representing Australians in trouble in Bali, most recently Byron Bay woman Sara Connor, accused of her role in the death of a Bali police officer. He still believes Corby is innocent.
LILY LUBIS
Corby’s first lawyer after her arrest. She believed passionately in Corby’s innocence and frequently cried in court during her trial. It was her first big case and first big drug matter. She dealt mostly in civil cases. After the verdict she was sacked by Corby. She still works in Bali in a legal practice with her husband. She prefers not to talk about the Corby case these days.
HAPOSAN SIHOMBING
The most junior of Corby’s original legal team. At the time of the trial he was a baby-faced lawyer on the wings. He too was dispensed with after the verdict. Has now become one of Bali’s sought after lawyers for foreigners in trouble and has his own firm. While not criticising the way Corby’s case was run he now says this — this is Indonesia and we are using Indonesian law. Most recently he represented Brit David Taylor, accused of killing a Bali police officer, securing a six-year sentence.
VASU RASIAH
Corby’s case co-ordinator after her arrest and during her trial.
The Sri Lankan born Australian passport holder was initially believed to be a lawyer on Corby’s team but was actually a Bali-based property developer brought into the case by Lily Lubis. He ran the campaign and dealt with the media. He was accused, in 2005, after the verdict, of asking for $500,000 from the Australian Government to bribe the appeal court Judges, an allegation he
denies. Along with the original legal team, he too was sacked by Corby after the verdict. He still lives in Bali as a director of Panorama Development.
EKA SULISTIOWATI
Acted as the courtroom translator for Corby during her Denpasar District Court trial. She was not a translator but was called in on the first day of the trial when the official translator was late and remained on the case until the verdict. At the time she worked for Corby’s case co-ordinator Vasu Rasiah and was studying law. It was on her that Corby leaned during her most emotional and stressful days in court. Now has her own law firm in Bali, has embraced her Islamic faith and does not want to talk about the case, which she considers in her past.
WAYAN ANA
Acted as Corby’s translator during the initial police interrogations and at her later appeal hearing. He has been a court and police translator in Bali for the past 30 years and translated for pretty much every Australian arrested in Bali. He liked Corby, felt at the time she was innocent and still questions her guilt.
RON BAKIR
Former Gold Coast mobile phone entrepreneur who was Corby’s so-called White Knight after he decided to bankroll her defence and do everything to have her freed. He came into the case after her arrest, bringing with him his solicitor mate Robin Tampoe. The pair passionately believed in Corby’s innocence and were regulars in Bali during the trial. After the verdict Bakir had a bitter falling out with the Corbys and left the team. He is now a Gold Coast property developer and prefers not to talk about the case.
ROBIN TAMPOE
Former Gold Coast lawyer who came into the Corby case with Ron Bakir. He too had an acrimonious split with the Corbys after the verdict, going on to tell a TV documentary that the so-called baggage handler defence employed by her lawyers was all made up. He went on to make vile comments about the Corby family. In 2009 he was struck off the solicitors roll for professional misconduct for the “scandalous and offensive” remarks about the Corbys and for his comments about having invented the baggage handler defence. He now lives and works as a businessman in Dubai.
HOTMAN PARIS HUTAPEA
The millionaire celebrity Jakarta lawyer, wearing diamonds and toting guns, bought serious star power to the Corby case. Working pro bono, he was brought in to run Corby’s appeal and promised 12 witnesses to prove her innocence. He managed to get the case reopened but only three witnesses eventuated. He became embroiled in an acrimonious war of words with the Australian Government, accusing them of failing to provide any assistance to the case.
“Your country, your people, always think you’re the best human beings on earth, but in fact your bloody airport is sending all marijuana to my own country.
Like the Bali Nine.” he raged. “So don’t say any more that Australians are the most human law-abiders. In fact, your front yard is very dirty.” Referring to the mountain of letters to the Australian Government, Hotman was angry. “The only letter I haven’t sent is to the kangaroo in Australia or to Kylie Minogue.” He
managed to have Corby’s sentence cut by five years — to 15 years — and then left the case, saying he needed to move back to fee-paying cases so he could buy a new model Ferrari.
IDA BAGUS WISWANTANU
Was the lead Prosecutor at Corby’s Denpasar District Court trial. He never, for one moment, doubted she was guilty. Hard-nosed and ambitious, Wiswantanu prosecuted the case to its fullest. He had previously tried some of the 2002 Bali bombers and was there on the night of
their executions, ordering the firing squads to shoot them. Described as “huge lies” claims by Corby’s White Knight Ron Bakir that he had sought a bribe, in claims that caused outrage in Indonesia. He is now the number two in the Bali prosecutions division.
JUDGE LINTON SIRAIT
The lead Judge in Corby’s trial, he and his two fellow Judges found her guilty and sentenced her to 20 years in jail. He has never doubted her guilt and says now that he still believes 100 per cent that she was guilty. On the verdict day Corby’s mother Rosleigh Rose screamed at him that he would never sleep at night. He says he still sleeps well and that the abuse he received during the trial doesn’t bother him. After the verdict he received mountains of letters from Australia, criticising him. Is now working in the Medan High Court, in his native Sumatra.
GUSTI NGURAH WINATA
The Bali Customs officer who first discovered the marijuana in Corby’s boogie board bag. He was working on the Bali airport x-ray scanner, scanning passenger luggage from her flight when he noticed an orange colour. He followed the bag to the carousel and asked Corby to open it. He testified that she tried to stop him from opening the bag and was nervous, a claim hotly denied by Corby in court. The Corby team called him a liar. He claims to this day that he was telling the truth and questions how he could possibly benefit from lying about it. He believes she was guilty. Now works in the freight section of Customs and says he doesn’t think much about the case anymore.
MALCOLM MCCAULEY
South Australian drug dealer, he spent 15 months in jail after being convicted of role in a drug syndicate transporting 100kg of cannabis from South Australia to Queensland. He was photographed visiting Corby in Kerobokan prison and the photo was seized by police during a raid and leaked to the media. After his release from jail, McCauley went public, claiming that he was in a drug ring with Corby’s father Michael, supplying the marijuana which Corby then smuggled to Bali, along with $US1000 to bribe the Customs officials. Michael Corby had died six months earlier and the Corby family described it as lies and an outrageous slur on a dead man who could not defend himself. The story was broken by Fairfax reporter Eamonn Duff who went on to write a book, Sins of the Father, about the Corby case. The Corby family sued over the book and won.
J OHN PATRICK FORD
A former prisoner at Port Phillip Prison in Victoria, he became the star defence witness at Corby’s trial after he made a statement that he had overheard two other prisoners talking about the true owner of the marijuana in Corby’s bag. He was flown to Bali to testify at her trial, telling the court that he heard two prisoners talking about the fact that a man called Ronnie Vigenser had owned the marijuana and that it had gone missing after being planted in her luggage at an airport. But he refused to name the owner of the marijuana, saying he and Corby would be killed if he did so. Vigenser denied the claims. Ford was later found guilty of stalking and rape charges in Australia.
THE EXPENDABLE PROJECT
A group of largely faceless Corby supporters who set up a website and brought together thousands of documents in a bid to prove her innocence and to highlight a conspiracy involving the political sacrifice of Corby. They accuse the media of ignoring the facts. Their website says: “The Expendable Project is a global collaboration documenting and exposing the wilful political sacrifice of an innocent woman.” They describe the Corby story as a grotesque political horror story. One of its architects, a man known as Roy Reeves, passed away in March of this year. He was eulogised on the Facebook page of People for Schapelle Corby as a “genuine Australian hero” who had been planning to welcome Corby home to Australia with yellow ribbons, balloons and banners at the airport.
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