Australia’s most hotly-monitored convicted criminal, provoking the nation-wide wringing of hands in equal measures of concern and disdain, Schapelle Corby, has lurched one significant step closer to receiving parole from the Kerokoban jail she has reluctantly called home for the past eight years, and may potentially be eligible to live with her sister Mercedes in Bali.
The Herald Sun reports that the Bali corrections board has given Corby a reassuring thumbs up, recommending her for parole that would have Corby live out her sentence in the country until mid-2015. Naturally it’s no ticket home to Australia—and fighting for parole will be a lengthy battle—but it’s certainly an optimistic prospect for Corby, who has been living in less-than-desirable conditions after being convicted for smuggling 4 kilograms of cannabis in to Bali in 2004.
Corby’s case has been contentious from the very beginning: her lawyer admitted to making up a theory about baggage handlers’ potential involvement and planting of the drugs; Corby’s consistent denial of the crime and Indonesia’s constant disapproval of suggested investigation (fingerprinting Corby’s body bag, weighing the cannabis in comparison to Corby’s initial recorded baggage weight at Brisbane airport) made the trial all the more complex.
According to the Herald Sun, Ketut Artha, head of the Bali corrections board, said, “Our consideration is that Corby has shown good behaviour while in prison, that local society and officials could accept her and the family is ready with guarantee.” Coupled with Australia crossing its heart and hoping to die that Schapelle Corby would be on her best behaviour if released from her sentence, granting parole to Corby seems like a definite possibility, and with that we inch ever closer to the inevitable, teary 60 Minutes (or, heaven help us, A Current Affair) interview with the convicted drug smuggler herself.
Via The Herald Sun.
