Corby Schapelle - Schapelle: the facts, the evidence, the truth

First published in Australia in 2008 by
New Holland Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd
Sydney Auckland London Cape Town

www.newholland.com.au
1/66 Gibbes Street Chatswood NSW 2067 Australia
218 Lake Road Northcote Auckland New Zealand
86 Edgware Road London W2 2EA United Kingdom
80 McKenzie Street Cape Town 8001 South Africa

Copyright 2008 New Holland Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd
Copyright 2008 in text Tony Wilson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.

A record of this book is held at the National Library of Australia

ISBN 9781741107111
e-ISBN 9781921655104

I dedicate this book to my wife Elaine, who is my best mate,
my soul mate and a truly top class editor. Without her help,
patience, support, encouragement and professional assistance,
this book would never have happened.

First, to Schapelle Corby herself, whose amazing courage and determination to still prove her innocence was an enormous and overwhelming incentive to write this book. I acknowledge her wonderful familyRos, Merc, Wayan, Michael junior, James, Meleane, Wayan junior, Nyeleigh, Nyoman, Shun, Julianne, Sandra and Peter, and Melissa Younger, and I admire their strength and unity in this fight.

In memory of two great guysMichael Corby and Greg Martinyou are sorely missed. And in memory of my dad, Arch Wilson and father-in-law Dr Ian McCready.

To my loved ones for their support ofmy wife Elaine, my mum Shirley, and mum-in-law Muriel, whose advice in this case I have sought often.

Also thanks to family members Alison and Martin, Fiona and Jim, Debbie and Alastair, and John.

To my special friendsDavid and Karla and my goddaughters Stella and Grace, David, Nicky and Danielle; Feyne, Joan, Ellie, Kassie and Paul; Murray and Chellamah (Shelly); Mark and Cam; Cliff and Bob; Footy Pete, Alan and Diane; Lino and Sue and the mighty Kay Danes.

Special thanks to former workmates Sarah Vogler for her amazing loyalty and backbone, both for this book and in the workplace, and Daniel Meers for his unwavering support over the past four years, plus all those brilliant young cadets that have graced the Bullys scanner den in recent years.

To Fiona Schultz for believing in Schapelle and for giving this project life, plus a big thank you to all the highly professional team at New Holland Publishers, with a special thanks to Lliane Clarke, the marketing team and the creative design crew.

To all supporters of Schapelle Corbykeep up the good fight, we will prevail. Special mention to all official supporters, you are just great and the Corby family is most appreciative.

They can be contacted through www.freeschapelle.net which is the official support site or its Australian websitewww.freeschapelle.com au.

There is also the Schapelle Support and Lobby Networkan International Network of Support for an Australian Wrongfully Detained in Bali, PO Box 1202, Waverley Gardens Vic 3170, Australia and its email address is: nwyndom@optusnet.com.au.

Finally there is the wonderful site of Kay Danes who helps the families of numerous prisoners in foreign jails, www.foreignprisoners.com

THIS is a truly disturbing story. One of the most frightening aspects is that it could happen to anyone. I am hoping that throughout this book, you will place yourself in Schapelles shoes. Ask yourself: What would I do now?, how would I handle this situation?.

Would you know who to contact if one of your loved ones suddenly landed in a foreign jail? How would you cope if your family was suddenly caught in the glare of a powerful media spotlight and they remained frozen in that revealing glare for years, with everything they did and said scrutinised and hung out in the public arena, often swathed in lies and half truths? How would you deal with the anger, the frustration and the complete lack of privacy?

Well, it happened to a person from my home city, the Gold Coast in Queensland and for Schapelle Leigh Corby, her family and close friends, the shock waves of her arrest in October 2004 are still being felt with the full force of a strong earthquake.

I began my journalistic career more than 30 years ago, with the majority of those years spent as a crime/police reporter in Victoria, England and Queensland. I have covered all manner of horror stories from grisly murders to tragic natural disasters with major loss of life. But never have I covered anything that has touched me so deeply and even changed the way I look at certain people and events.

I became involved in the story two days after Schapelle was arrested. At that time it was just another routine story, although I do remember thinking, after I had interviewed the late Michael Corby for the first time: What if his daughter is innocent and the drugs were not hers? What a truly horrible situation to be in.

Since then, Ive written more than 150 newspaper stories on Schapelle and her family. I dont know exactly when I first believed in Schapelles innocence but it was fairly quickly. Her verdict day on May 27, 2005, was one of the most difficult days of my life thus far. After I met Schapelle for the first time on May 30, 2005, I knew I had to do all in my limited power to help her and her family to tell as many people as possible the truth about her case.

That was my original motivation to write this book. As the lies and hype about Schapelle and her family mounted, and then seemed to gather momentum, that motivation became far stronger and it seemed more important than ever to tell the whole story as honestly and fairly as possible.

My involvement with the Corbys also gave me a rare (for a journalist) perspective that I had not experienced before and that was of a vicious and inaccurate media that has attacked Schapelle and her family, sometimes just because her name is a guaranteed newspaper seller or ratings gatherer, and even sometimes just for the sake of attacking an almost defenceless woman who cannot sue anyone.

Being close to the Corbys and being as involved as I have been, also meant that there were times when I was present at, or even part of, events that became news. This also gave me, as a journalist, the unusual perspective of not always having to rely on others to tell me what had occurred because I was privy to the events myself. I know the facts from first-hand experience. This has made me a danger to some people and there have been serious efforts to discredit me and make me seem less than the objective journalist I believe I am.

These efforts have only hardened my resolve for the truth to be told. And in this case there has been an incredible amount of untruths put into the public arena. I deeply wish that I could reveal who put the drugs in Schapelles bag, but I cant and unfortunately I doubt that will ever be known, despite many peoples claims. What I hope this book achieves is to tell of an average Aussie family being thrown into something more horrible than your worst nightmare, how everything has conspired against Schapelle and her family, with even their few victories coming at considerable personal cost to them.

There is a lesson in this story for everyone who ever sets foot on an international flight. But above all else this is about Schapelle and her fight to stay sane and healthy in an Asian prison, battling every waking minute to understand why she is serving 20 yearsfor having an unlocked boogie-board bag.