Schapelle Corby tentatively tastes freedom while on parole in Bali

WITH a sarong around her shoulders and riding a motorbike, Schapelle Corby makes a rare public appearance in Bali.

WITH a sarong around her shoulders and riding a motorbike, Schapelle Corby was this week spotted in Bali buying supplies and reporting on parole.

She has another 18 months to go before she will be allowed to return to Australia and this month marked two years since her chaotic release from Bali’s Kerobokan prison.

But so far few there are few plans in place for what she will do upon her return to life as a free woman when her parole period expires in August 2017.

Sister Mercedes, who is currently on Queensland’s Gold Coast, said yesterday that it was so far too early to make any plans for what she will do once she is back in Australia.

“We haven’t discussed any plans yet. We are just waiting to see what happens,” Mercedes told News Corporation.

“She is doing well. The family is going back and forth to be with her,” she said.

Schapelle Corby's trial at Denpasar District Court in Bali, 20005.

‘FAR FROM FREE’

Schapelle is required to report monthly to her parole officers. This week she spent only five minutes reporting, where she is understood to have spoken with the officials in Indonesian. The parole officers are responsible for ensuring that she is regularly reminded of her obligations under parole to be of good behaviour.

Recently, amid rumours that she was pregnant, Corby told her parole officers she most certainly was not. Sister Mercedes also denied the rumours.

And parole officer Nyoman Sundri, who saw Corby this week, said she had noticed nothing different about her and harboured no suspicions that she could be pregnant.

“She looks like she has little bit more weight. It’s a normal thing. Maybe because she has no activities and mostly spends her days at home,” Ms Sundri said.

Mercedes, who had lived in Bali, caring for Schapelle during her years behind bars and for the first two years of her parole, is currently in Australia so that her children can attend school here.

And she is in the midst of setting up a bar and restaurant business.

Schapelle Corby looks on during a ceremony inside Kerobokan prison in Denpasar, in 2008. Picture: AFP

FAMILY TIES

A steady stream of family and friends travels frequently to Bali to spend time with Schapelle and keep her company.

Brother Michael Corby spends time in Bali with her and her mother Rosleigh Rose visits frequently as well.

Once her parole expires Schapelle will be deported immediately from Bali to Australia. This follows the same procedure as for any Australian who is released from jail after serving time for drugs. She will likely then be banned from entering Indonesia again for a period of time determined by Immigration authorities.

Corby was originally sentenced to 20 years jail after being found guilty of trafficking more than 4kg of marijuana from Australia to Bali. The sentence was reduced to 15 years after Corby, who suffered from mental illness during her time behind bars, was controversially granted clemency by Indonesia’s then President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Having served two-thirds of the sentence, with her annual remissions taken into account, she was then eligible to be released on parole, where she must live in Bali until the expiration of her term in August 2017.

She cannot travel overseas and must be granted permission to travel outside Bali by the parole authority.

Schapelle Corby in Denpasar, Bali. Schapelle must stay in Bali until 2017.

VENTURING FORTH

Since the day of her arrest, in October 2004, Corby has maintained her innocence. She has a vocal group of supporters whose Facebook page, People for Schapelle Corby, recently noted that despite being out of jail “she is far from free”.

At the time of her release on parole a deal to speak exclusively to Channel 7 was thwarted when furious Indonesian authorities threatened to throw her back in jail if she conducted any media interviews, saying it would be a breach of her parole conditions.

Since then she has not spoken publicly and in Bali shuns the media.

When she reports on parole Corby wraps herself in a scarf or sarong and frequently covers her face to avoid any cameras.

Her family has previously said that they have to work hard at encouraging Corby to go outside by herself.