Mercedes Corby reveals Schapelle’s battle on Sunday Night program

THE Schapelle Corby on Seven’s Sunday Night program was a different woman to the one we met all those years ago, writes Cindy Wockner.

NINE years ago Schapelle Corby was an ordinary young woman trying desperately to cope with an extraordinary situation.

There were times during the months after her arrest when she was clearly stressed but the Schapelle her family knew was still there.

She was gutsy but naïve and quick to trust anyone who came forward promising to help her.

I first met her the day after her arrest, in October 2004 and over the years since then I have interviewed and seen her at regular intervals.

During one interview before her trial, through the bars of the jail cell at the Denpasar Prosectuors office, she was lucid, laughing and joking and loving all the supporters who were sending her letters and presents.

Devoted sisters ... Mercedes Corby has detailed the dark truth of her sister Schapelle’s prison struggle. Picture: Sunday Night, Channel Seven.

Then later, after she was convicted, I interviewed her again, in the women’s block of Kerobokan Jail.

This was at the start of her decline into mental illness and it was obvious.

She appeared to be off with the fairies and told me people were saying she wasn’t “right in the head”.

She was not the same person as the woman I interviewed before her trial. She was withdrawn and gave me some bracelets she had made.

On the day of her release from jail, on February 10, it was hard to tell what was her state of mind. We couldn’t see her face. Her hand shook as she signed the parole papers and stuck close to brother-in-law Wayan and the Channel 7 security guard.

Schapelle is clearly ecstatic about being released - now she must adjust to life on the outside. Picture: Sunday Night, Channel Seven.

We saw her last night on TV and she is a different Schapelle Corby to the one I met all those years ago. But it’s hard to say because we heard very little from her expect the much-repeated “crab” line.

Indonesia’s Justice Minister had famously banned Corby from doing any media interviews in the wake of her release from jail, scuttling Channel 7’s plans for the full tell-all interview where she would have answered the “hard questions”.

So last night we saw an interview with Corby’s sister Mercedes and a series of still photographs and video of Corby in the days after her release from jail.

Favourite aunt ... Schapelle Corby with her niece Nyeleigh. Picture: Sunday Night, Channel Seven.

With the famous scarf/veil that she had worn for her release and two hours afterwards removed and her face visible, she looked better than I expected her to look.

She was clearly ecstatic about being released and about being with the family who had been there through thick and thin with her in the past decade.

It was the widest smile we have seen in years – indeed in recent times when I have been inside Kerobokan Jail she has hidden away in her cell, desperate to avoid the media and to avoid being photographed. On the rare occasions she was spotted she was quick to hide, scowling and often shouting abuse at the media.

But those closest to her say that for the cameras the smiles are there and she has not lost her wicked sense of humour. But privately she is struggling and will do even more when she and the family leave the luxury villa where she has been holed up since her release from jail.

She will be in the real world or the first time in almost a decade.

Meanwhile Justice Ministry officials in Bali said they will scrutinise the Sunday Night program and report to Jakarta about its contents. It’s difficult to see that the short segment, which included only a few uttered words from Corby herself, would cause too much concern.

On Friday last week , three members of Corby’s parole team made a special visit to her at the Sentosa villa where she has been since her release from jail.

The team met and spoke with Corby, Mercedes and Wayan for about 30 minutes. The aim was to ensure that Corby herself was not in any way interviewed in the Sunday Night program. They were assured it was only Mercedes.