Schapelle Corby’s friends: where are they now?

A PHOTO of Schapelle Corby shows her with two friends the night she was arrested in Bali in 2004. But where are they now?

Schapelle Corby and Alyth Jeffers (nee McComb). Picture: Patrick Hamilton

IT WAS the year when MySpace ruled, Facebook didn’t exist and Australian model Jennifer Hawkins was crowned Miss Universe in a competition then owned by Donald Trump.

In 2004, John Howard was the Prime Minister of Australia, Nokia mobile phones were top of the range and the ‘Bali Nine’ hadn’t yet reached infamy.

A lot has changed since then: The nation has endured five leadership changes; Apple has released its seventh version of the iPhone; and two of the ‘Bali Nine’ have been executed by firing squad for their crimes.

But for convicted Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby, in many ways the world has stood still for the past 13 years.

Her past life on Queensland’s Gold Coast has been reduced to only a memory, locked in time from when she was just 27 years old.

As of this weekend, Schapelle, now 39, will pick up where she left off before she embarked on a fateful trip to Bali, Indonesia more than a decade ago.

Although life will never again be as she once knew it.

Schapelle will be deported from Bali back to Australia on Saturday after completing three years of parole on the island.

It will be the first time back on home soil since her arrest for smuggling 4.2kg of marijuana wrapped inside her bodyboard bag into Bali in 2004.

Schapelle spent more than nine years behind bars in Kerobokan Prison until she was released on parole in 2014. She was finally free.

But her parole conditions prevented her from leaving Indonesia. Those restrictions will be lifted Saturday and the tables will turn on Schapelle — she’ll be banned from returning to Indonesia for at least six months.

Katrina Richards, Alyth Jeffers (nee McComb) and James Kisina with the seized bag of marijuana in Customs on the night Schapelle Corby was arrested in Denpasar, Bali. Picture: Mercedes Corby.

Alyth Jeffers (nee McComb) told the Balinese court she watched her friend Schapelle Corby pack her bag before their flight to Bali and there was no marijuana.

Schapelle Corby broke down and refused to leave the court room in 2005. Picture: Gary Ramage.

It’s been a long time coming for the former beauty school student who has reportedly developed severe mental illness during her time behind bars.

Author Tony Wilson, who wrote Schapelle: The Final Chapter: Coming Home, said Schapelle would not be returning to Australia as the same “fun-loving ... giggly, young girl” she was when she left.

“She has a real genuine paranoia about being looked at,” he told news.com.au.

Schapelle was travelling with friends Alyth Jeffers and Katrina Richards and stepbrother James Kisina at the time of her arrest.

Katrina Richards, Mercedes Corby, Alyth McComb and James Kisina waiting to give evidence at the trial of Schapelle Corby. Picture: Supplied.

Schapelle Corby listens to her friend and witness Alyth Jeffers (nee McComb — during her trial at Denpasar District Court in Bali.

The group was in Bali for Schapelle’s sister Mercedes’ 30th birthday party.

But what was supposed to be their trip of a lifetime turned into a nightmare before they even left the airport.

Alyth and Katrina were in the ‘nothing to declare’ lane of Customs and went through first.

The Courier Mailreported Alyth had told James to help his stepsister with the luggage as she struggled with her suitcase and the bodyboard bag. So James grabbed the bodyboard bag. Corby was annoyed because the bag’s handle had been slashed. And the zips were done up in the middle. She never zipped the bag this way, it was always on the side, the newspaper reported.

Katrina Richards, Alyth Jeffers (nee McComb) and James Kisina visiting Schapelle Corby in jail for the first time. Picture: Supplied.

Alyth McComb visiting Kerobokan prison to see friend Schapelle Corby on May, 23, 2005.

Alyth and Katrina were already outside waiting for the siblings to come through.

But the only gates that would open for Schapelle over the next decade were those into a prison.

She was sentenced to 20 years behind bars but had that reduced when she was later granted clemency.

As the saying goes: the rest is history.

Alyth Jeffers (nee McComb) at her Nobby Beach unit in 2005. Picture: Patrick Hamilton.

Alyth Jeffers (nee McComb) and husband Glen Jeffers.

One of the constants for Schapelle has been the support from her family and friends.

Most of Corby’s family, friends and former associates remain living between Logan, south of Brisbane, and Tugun, near the Gold Coast Airport.

Among those who have maintained their support for Schapelle are the friends she was travelling with at the time of her arrest, Alyth and Katrina.

News.com.au has contacted Alyth and Katrina for comment ahead of their friend’s return home.

Alyth, Corby’s best friend, lives in a quiet street away from the Glitter Strip, just a stone’s throw from where Corby grew up.

She shares with husband Glen and their young children.

Alyth describes herself as “Aries- headstrong, outgoing and friendly, positive thinker, energetic. Loving being a full time mum” on her Facebook profile.

Alyth, who testified at Corby’s drug smuggling trial that “if anything she’s against drugs” has repeatedly returned to Bali to visit her friend and show her support.

Alyth Jeffers (nee McComb) was travelling with Schapelle Corby when her friend was infamously arrested for drug smuggling in 2004.

Alyth Jeffers (nee McComb) was travelling with Schapelle Corby when her friend was infamously arrested for drug smuggling in 2004.

Alyth Jeffers (nee McComb) and her husband Glen.

News.com.au understands Katrina — who has also visited Schapelle in prison — still lives on the Gold Coast.

She and Alyth were also a part of a support group of Corby’s friends and family who gathered to celebrate her parole at her mother’s home in Loganlea, south of Brisbane just three years ago.

“It’s beautiful, tastes like freedom,” Katrina told reporters at the time.

Katrina Richards was travelling with Schapelle Corby to Bali when her friend was arrested for drug smuggling in 2004.

Alyth described the development as “a new beginning”.

“Forget about the past, this is a new slate,” she said.

It’s a party that is likely to be replicated at some stage in the near future when the group of friends reconnect. This time outside the walls of a prison. Back at home, where a new normal awaits Schapelle.