Renae Lawrence: Bali Nine drug courier walks free from prison after nearly 14 years
Bali Nine drug mule Renae Lawrence has arrived at the airport for her flight back to Australia after an emotional goodbye to her fellow prison inmates.
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Bali Nine heroin courier Renae Lawrence has arrived at the airport for her flight back to Australia after walking free from Bangli prison.
Lawrence, 41, who spent almost 14 years in jail for her role in the Bali Nine drug-smuggling operation, is being processed through Immigration as she prepares for her flight to Brisbane.
She will be banned for life from returning to Indonesia, according to immigration chief Agato Simamora.
Bangli jail governor Made Suwendra said Lawrence had thanked jail staff as she left and apologised for her mistakes.
A tense Renae Lawrence meets Bali's justice ministry chief before her release https://t.co/gZd85MhU3H pic.twitter.com/mBj3a0QtTS
— Zoe Smith (@zoejsmith) November 21, 2018
“She said thank you as she has already been treated well during her time in prison. And also said sorry for any mistake she’s done,” Mr Suwendra said.
He said Lawrence told him she was nervous.
Before leaving the women’s block, a tearful Lawrence hugged her girlfriend, Erna, and other female prisoners.
Renae Lawrence leaves prison after serving almost 14 years. https://t.co/gZd85MhU3H pic.twitter.com/j0eCyK4FEN
— Zoe Smith (@zoejsmith) November 21, 2018
As she walked along with officials toward the jail’s front entrance she was seen waving goodbye.
And as she talked with the Justice Ministry boss, Lawrence became emotional and wiped away tears.
Bangli jai governor Made Suwendra said Lawrence and her female cellmates were all in tears as they said an emotional farewell.
Renae Lawrence shakes hands with prison officials after she is released from jail. https://t.co/gZd85MhU3H pic.twitter.com/Hyb1St7w7U
— Zoe Smith (@zoejsmith) November 21, 2018
A smiling Renae Lawrence leaves Bangli jail for the last time. https://t.co/gZd85MhU3H pic.twitter.com/j52YDrhU0O
— Zoe Smith (@zoejsmith) November 21, 2018
“All the women prisoners took her out from the women’s block and they were hugging and crying,” Mr Suwendra said.
“Some of her friends were also crying.”
Bali’s justice officer Maryoto Sumadi said Lawrence had “completed her sentence according to the decision by the Bali High Court on April 13, 2006”.
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Before she walked out the jail doors, Lawrence had a medical check by the Bangli prison doctor who declared she was well.
As she took her first steps outside, Lawrence appeared calm and confident, wearing a black shirt and dark sunglasses but she had not covered her face.
“She said that she is sad and afraid because she has to say goodbye to her friends who she has been living together with for years,” Bangli jail doctor Gusti Putu Sumertayasa said.
“But she is happy for sure.”
Mr Simamora said earlier that immigration officials will transport her to Bali airport for her flight back to Australia tonight.
Bangli police chief Agus Tri Waluyo said 50 personnel had been deployed at the prison to escort Lawrence to the airport.
The convoy also will include medical officers and an ambulance.
Officials in Bali are starting a press conference about Renae Lawrence’s release from jail shortly. pic.twitter.com/vcyIpLOcil
— Cindy Wockner (@CindyWockner) November 21, 2018
Mr Simamora said Lawrence’s ticket and passport had been handed to the officials.
“We will complete the paperwork (for Lawrence’s release) in Bangli (jail). A letter of release, a handing over report, and letter on immigration administration action,” he said at the time.
Mr Simamora confirmed Lawrence will be given a life ban from ever returning to Indonesia.
When asked how long she would be banned, Mr Simamora said: “A life blacklist.”
He said there would be no special arrangements or VIP treatment for Lawrence.
“We do not make her special. Everything is based on the immigration consideration. We do not ask consideration from her. We ask consideration from all related institutions there. But not from her or her family. We even do not have contact with her family,” Mr Simamora said.
The life ban is far stricter than the six months imposed on Lawrence’s former Kerobokan prison inmate Schapelle Corby.
Corby was hit with a six month ban after she was deported in May 2017, after serving her sentence.
Corby was convicted after customs officials found marijuana in her bodyboard bag in 2004.
‘CO-OPERATIVE, QUIET PRISONER’
Bangli jail governor Made Suwendra addressed the media briefly outside the prison earlier today.
“Even to the God she has already said farewell, moreover to her friends,” Mr Suwendra said. He was referring to a Hindu ceremony, held in the jail’s small chapel on Monday at Lawrence’s request.
He said Lawrence was a co-operative and quite prisoner during her years in custody and was someone who had made friends and contributed to prison life.
“It’s her time to be freed,” he said.
Her mother Beverley Waterman and brother Allan will join the 41 year old on her trip home.
Justice Ministry officials requested that Lawrence be escorted by two police cars, two police motorbikes and two personnel of the Brimob paramilitary police as she travels to the airport.
The request for an escort was made by ministry chief in Bali, Maryoto Sumadi, in a letter to police.
The doors at Bali’s Bangli jail through which Bali Nine heroin courier Renae Lawrence will take her first steps of freedom later today. pic.twitter.com/JQjaDL4jOL
— Cindy Wockner (@CindyWockner) November 21, 2018
Lawrence’s 20-year sentence expired in May 2018 however she was unable to pay the $100,000 fine and opted instead to serve an extra six months behind bars.
She is the first of the Bali Nine to be freed from jail and she is flying home to an outstanding New South Wales police warrant for driving offences.
DUTTON: NO SYMPATHY, NO LENIENCY
Lawrence is being freed after serving 13 years and seven months of her 20-year sentence, which has been slashed by the twice-yearly remissions she has received.
Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said today that he had no sympathy for Lawrence.
He rejected suggestions she should be shown leniency after serving her drug sentence.
“If you commit that offence, there is a heavy penalty to pay, and it doesn’t give you credit when you get back to Australia,” he told Sky News.
“If you’ve committed offences in our country, you need to face the justice system here.”
An Australian arrest warrant alleges Lawrence was involved in a high-speed chase in a stolen car in 2005, about one month before she was arrested in Bali.
Her father told Nine she is expected to report to Gosford Police Station on the NSW Central Coast “when she gets back”.
But NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller indicated a deal with her lawyers was more likely than her being handcuffed as soon as she lands in Australia.
“I can confirm there’s two outstanding warrants for her and from our perspective we will make a time reasonable with her legal team to bring her in to have those warrants satisfied,” he said.
The remaining five Bali Nine members are in jails in Bali and Java, all serving life sentences with no prospect so far of release. Prisoners on life sentences do not qualify for remissions. They can however apply to the Indonesian President for a reprieve back to 20 years.
The group has applied each year but so far been unsuccessful.
MORE: Bali Nine: Where are they now?
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MORE: Renae’s rocky prison romance revealed
The Bali Nine were arrested at Bali international airport and at a Kuta hotel on April 17, 2005 and all were convicted of a conspiracy to smuggle 8.2kg of heroin from Bali to Sydney.
Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were sentenced to death and despite their reformation behind bars failed to gain clemency. They were executed by Indonesian firing squads in April 2015.
Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, sentenced to life in jail, died of cancer earlier this year. The remaining five are all held in jails in Bali and Java, serving life sentences.
Lawrence was one of four couriers arrested at Bali airport with a total of 8.2kg of heroin strapped to their bodies.
The group was planning to catch a similar overnight flight to Australia to that which Lawrence will board tonight.
As she flies back to Australia a free woman, Lawrence leaves behind five surviving Bali Nine traffickers; Matthew Norman, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj and Scott Rush.
REMAINING BALI NINE ‘KEEP BUSY’
Lawrence was transferred to Bangli prison in 2014 following earlier incarceration at tougher prison.
She originally was kept in Bali’s main prison, Kerobokan, with other Bali Nine members.
At Kerobokan Prison on Tuesday, Matthew Norman told journalists that he was keeping busy doing silverwork and other activities.
He and fellow remaining Bali Nine prisoners had to concentrate on themselves.
They were not bitter or negative, Norman said.
“She got her sentence and we got ours — we can’t worry about it,” he added.
Norman was only 18 when arrested.
He became religious behind bars, attending church services and reading the Bible.
Norman plays tennis and engages in boxing as well as teaching other prisoners English and getting involved in art classes.
His hopes, and those of the other members still imprisoned, rest on at some time in the future being granted clemency on their life sentences.
— Additional reporting Natasha Christian and AAP
Originally published as Renae Lawrence: Bali Nine drug courier walks free from prison after nearly 14 years
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