Bali Nine drug smuggler Renae Lawrence has touched down in Australia for the first time in 13 years, landing in Brisbane after her release from prison in Indonesia.
Lawrence was released from Bangli Prison yesterday, where she spent the last four years of her sentence before flying out of Denpasar International Airport late last night.
The 41-year-old landed at Brisbane International Airport and was swarmed by media.
She appeared frustrated by the attention, lightly pushing one of the reporters out of the way as she tried to board a bus to the domestic terminal.
While refusing to answer any of the reporters' questions in English, she appeared to mutter something in Indonesian
Lawrence was arrested in April 2005 when she was caught at Bali Airport with 2.7 kilograms of heroin strapped to her body.
She was convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to life in jail, which was later reduced to 20 years on appeal.
Six more years were taken off that sentence for good behaviour in addition to some small remissions traditionally granted to prisoners on national holidays.
A clearly emotional Lawrence spoke to Bali's justice chief, Maryoto Sumadi, shortly before her release.
"I'm rather scared but I'm fine," she said.
Source: newidea.com.au, Grace Back, November 22, 2018
How Bali Nine drug mule Renae Lawrence spent her first moments of freedom
Renae Lawrence has spent the first precious hours of her life outside jail with her close family, including mother Beverley Waterman and step-brother Allan Waterman.
The convicted Bali Nine drug mule walked free from Bangli prison on Wednesday after more than 13 years behind bars for her role in the plan to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin from Indonesia to Australia.
In a quiet room in Bali's Ngurah Rai international airport – hours before she was scheduled to board flights back to Brisbane, then on to Newcastle – the family gathered to spend precious moments with her.
Nursing a cigarette and speaking softly, the just-released former jailbird looked shocked at her new-found freedom.
Asked about her time in jail, and how it felt to be free, Lawrence apologised and in her first public comments since her release said "I'm sure, I'm positive" that she was not yet ready to speak about her experience.
Waterman, her devoted mother, chimed in that "it always gets misconstrued" when the family spoke to the media.
Another family member – Lawrence's cousin – added that the group of four had only a limited amount of time with Lawrence before she flew home and that "you can appreciate that".
The looks on the faces of the family spoke volumes about how hard it had been while Lawrence had been incarcerated, and how much it meant that she was finally coming home.
Despite her reluctance to speak publicly, Lawrence will likely fly in to a media storm after she lands in Brisbane in the early hours of Thursday morning, Australian time, and then heads on to Newcastle.
Ngurah Rai Immigration chief Amran Aris – the man in charge of deporting Lawrence – told the Sydney Morning Herald moments after she went through customs that although she had served her time, Lawrence had to be deported because of her narcotics offences.
He also revealed that Lawrence was not issued with a passport to travel back to Australia but, rather, simply a travel document.
"Because of her case, the narcotics, she has been given a life ban," he said.
"She served her time but because of her history she had to be deported."
Earlier on Wednesday, Lawrence had finally been freed by Indonesian authorities.
In chaotic scenes outside the Bangli Prison, she made no comment to a huge press pack as she was bundled into a waiting car by several dozen Indonesian police.
But she may not be able to enjoy her freedom for long, with the 41-year-old facing arrest over her alleged role in a high-speed car chase in NSW when she returns to Australia.
Lawrence is the first member of the Bali Nine – who were all arrested in April 2005 for attempting to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin from Indonesia to Australia – to win freedom.
Moments before her release, Bali justice chief Maryoto Sumadi said that Lawrence had completed her sentence according to a decision by the Bali High Court on April 20, 2006.
He said Lawrence had been unable to pay a 1 billion rupiah ($A101,000) fine, which meant that she had been unable to be released six months earlier.
Holding up Lawrence's release paperwork, he declared: "She is a free woman."
"Bangli Prison has conducted a health check and she was deemed healthy and without illness," he said.
"We have also conducted a hand over between Bangli and the immigration office in Denpasar.
"Because she is a foreigner, therefore, the person is deemed to be in Indonesia without permission...therefore she needs to be released from prison and into immigration office custody.
"The person [Lawrence] is banned from entering Indonesia and is now on the blacklist that is shared by all immigration offices... The person is banned from entering Indonesia for life."
Her flight back to Australia is expected to leave at about 9pm local time (2am Thursday NZT) on Wednesday.
Five members of the Bali Nine are serving life sentences, with little prospect of release in the short-term.
Matthew Norman and Si Yi Chen are both still in Bali's notorious Kerobokan prison, where Lawrence was initially held. Scott Rush is in Bali's Karangasem prison, while Michael Czugaj and Martin Stephens are being held in a jail on the island of Java.
Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were both executed on April 29, 2015, while Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen died of cancer in June this year.
Norman said on Tuesday that he wished his friend and fellow Bali Nine member "all the best of luck" on her release, and that he still held out hope he too would one day be released.
University of NSW legal expert Melissa Crouch, who specialises is south-east Asian legal systems, said that Lawrence was being released because of a series of remissions, which are handed out twice a year in the Indonesian legal system to prisoners who are serving a fixed term in jail.
"Lawrence received a combination of general remission and special remissions," she said.
"General remission depends on the length of the sentence served and is granted on Independence day, 17 August. At least twice in recent years, Lawrence had her sentence reduced by six months through the general remission process."
"She also received special remission on several occasions, such as at Christmas in 2013."
Source:
stuff.co.nz, James Massola and Amilia Rosa, November 22, 2018
Bali Nine's Renae Lawrence praised by prison governor on eve of release
Made Suwendra says Lawrence contributed to prison life and it was ‘time for her to be freed’
The governor of Bangli Prison, in a mountainous area of eastern Bali, has praised Australian Bali Nine drug smuggler Renae Lawrence for being co-operative and quiet during the years she spent there in custody.
She had made friends among other prisoners and contributed to prison life.
“It is time for her to be freed,” governor Made Suwendra said of Lawrence, the first member of the group to be discharged.
He was speaking to local and foreign media ahead of her planned release and return to Australia on Wednesday. She has completed a 20-year sentence that was reduced by remissions.
Lawrence was transferred to Bangli prison in 2014 following earlier incarceration at tougher prison.
She originally was kept in Bali’s main prison, Kerobokan, with other Bali Nine members caught in 2005 trying to smuggle eight kilograms of heroin to Australia.
Police asked immigration officials for permission to transport her across the island tomorrow, the prison governor said, but he was not sure of the timing schedule or whether Lawrence would be taken directly to the airport.
She would be allowed to take personal belongings, including handicrafts she had made, with her.
There was speculation the former Newcastle panel beater could be arrested at Sydney Airport over a high-speed chase in a stolen car on the central coast of New South Wales in March 2005.
Lawrence had been due to face court over the pursuit but she was arrested with 2.2kg of heroin strapped to her back and legs at Bali’s airport, along with eight other Australians attempting to smuggle the drug.
But the NSW police commissioner, Mick Fuller, indicated a deal with her lawyers was more likely than arrest on arrival.
“I can confirm there’s two outstanding arrest warrants for her and, from our perspective, we will make a time reasonable with her legal team to bring her in to have those warrants satisfied,” he told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.
The Bali prison governor said he hoped Lawrence would be helped to integrate back into Australian life.
Asked whether some other prisoners might miss Lawrence, the prison chief said that was a “private” matter for her and others.
At Kerobokan prison on Tuesday, Matthew Norman, one of the remaining Bali Nine prisoners serving a life sentence, told journalists that he was keeping busy doing silverwork and other activities.
He and fellow remaining Bali Nine prisoners had to concentrate on themselves, Norman said. They were not bitter or negative.
“She got her sentence and we got ours – we can’t worry about it,” he added.
Norman was 18 when arrested.
He plays tennis and engages in boxing as well as teaching other prisoners English and getting involved in art classes. He also attends church services and reads the Bible.
Source:
The Guardian, AAP, November 20, 2018
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