Schapelle Corby is an Australian native who was at the center of a major drug trafficking criminal trial. Although she denied any form of guilt throughout the highly publicized trial, she was sentenced to a long prison term and a fine of 100,000,000 rupiahs by the Indonesian Supreme Court. She spent 9 years in prison and was conditionally released in March 2014. To fulfill her conditions of parole, Corby had to stay in Indonesia until May 2017, when she was deported to her home country. , Australia.
Who is Schapelle Corby? Age
Schapelle Leigh Corby was born in Tugun, a suburb in the state of Queensland, Australia on July 10, 1977, to Rosleigh Rose and Michael Corby. She has 2 older siblings Mercedes and Michael Jr and 3 younger half-siblings Clinton Rose, James Sioeli and Melanie.
She left high school at the age of eleven after she enrolled in a Technical and Continuing Education Institute (TAFE) for a beauty therapy course. From her teenage years she worked in her family business and later in a supermarket.
Schapelle Corby was previously married to Japanese native KimiTanaka. The duo met when Tanaka went on vacation to Australia. After dating for a few years, Corby joined Tanaka in Japan where they married in June 1998. While living in Japan, she worked in the hospitality industry alongside her husband. However, the couple separated in July 2000 and Corby returned to her home country. Their divorce was finalized 3 years later.
all you need to know
Before his arrest in 2004, Schapelle Corby had visited his older sister Mercedes in Bali, Indonesia on several occasions, usually stopping on the way to Japan. On October 8, 2004, she traveled from Brisbane, Australia to the Indonesian island of Bali for a surfing trip with her brother and two friends, Australia. They had originally flown from Brisbane to Sydney en route to Bali.
Arriving at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, Corby was intercepted by customs officers on the grounds that he was in possession of 4.2 kg of cannabis. The cannabis had been discovered by customs officer Gusti Nyoman Winata and according to him, Corby had tried to prevent him from searching the compartment of his bag where the substance had been found, which the latter denied. Corby said she opened the bag herself at the customs counter, but there was apparently a miscommunication between her and the officer. She also maintained that she had no prior knowledge of the drugs until the officers found them.
For the trial, Schapelle Corby was offered two Queen’s Counsel ex gratia. Her defense team suggested she was unwittingly used to transport drugs between baggage handlers from Brisbane to Sydney. To prove his innocence, Corby requested that CCTV footage from the customs counter be shown in court, but this was refused. She also requested a forensic examination of the bags in which the drugs were found, but this was also refused.
After several months of trial, Schapelle Corbya was found guilty on May 27, 2005 and as a result she was sentenced to 20 years in prison with a fine of 100,000,000 rupees. Although Corby was remanded in custody, the case continued to drag on, with both the prosecution and defense teams appealing the decision; the former appealed for life imprisonment while the latter sought a lighter sentence or an acquittal. The case finally ended in March 2006 when the Indonesian Supreme Court ordered the destruction of the evidence (the drugs and Corby’s bag). His last appeal to court in March 2008 was also rejected.
In May 2012, Schapelle Corby’s first 20-year prison sentence was reduced by 5 years by the President of Indonesia in response to an appeal for clemency. She also received several remissions during her sentence due to her good behavior in prison. She was finally released on parole on February 10, 2014, after serving a total of 9 years. However, she remained in Indonesia until May 27, 2017, as part of her parole conditions.
Where is she now? Is she dead?
Schapelle Corby was deported from Indonesia on May 27, 2017, when her parole period ran out and she arrived in Brisbane the following morning. She is very much alive and she maintains a strong social media presence. She lives in Queensland, Australia. Apparently, Corby could delve into music in the future when he wrote and recorded his debut single “Palm Trees” in late 2017.