The Schapelle Corby Story

[RhondaLee]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15443049-2,00.html

SCHAPELLE Corby is suffering cruel abuse and racial taunts in jail as Indonesian authorities move to keep her in prison for life.

Wouldn't it be something for this news to transform into a BDSM enslavement story. Basically, Schapelle Corby smuggled 9 lb of weed into Bali, got caught, and sentenced to 20 years yesterday.

Now, in that prison, the news break that "She says the Indonesians inside are giving her hell because she wears western clothes and she can't speak Indonesian," she said.

[Caitlin]

Wouldn't it be something for this news to transform into a BDSM enslavement story.

Wouldn’t it be something if you wrote your own fantasy BDSM enslavement story. I would much rather read something like that, than some contorted story that was based on a real persons suffering and anguish.

[albear]

I think it might be in bad taste to base a story on Schapelle's case considering she was sentenced two days ago and a lot of people in Australia are extremely pissed off about it. There were a lot of holes in her case including the police failing to fingerprint the bag of marijuana, refusing to test it's origin even after the AFP offered their time and services to test it and throwing all evidence of dodgy baggage handling out even though baggage handlers have now been stood down from duties for tampering with baggage.

If you're talking about the basic storyline: a person being incarcerated/enslaved for something they possibly didn't do.... then okay but not entirely original. It probably wouldn't go down well to mention Corby's name though.

[RhondaLee]

It's a fantasy novel. Just like someone else here wrote a Martha Stewart prison story with a slight change of her name. By your logic, Martha is really innocent (she is only guilty of being stupid), noone should write a story on Martha and yet there is some member here wrote a story on her.

I was surprised that if Corby didn't use the drug or nor never use the weed before, she should strengthen her case by doing a drug test, proving that she never use weed before. But I don't recall the defense use that as evidence.

[albear]

The reason I gave for not writing the story was that it might be in bad taste. I know nothing about Martha Stewart, the circumstances of her case or the story written about it. Nor do I want to.

Just stating my opinion

[Caitlin]

I was surprised that if Corby didn't use the drug or nor never use the weed before, she should strengthen her case by doing a drug test, proving that she never use weed before. But I don't recall the defense use that as evidence.

Corby was tested for drugs. She had both a blood test and urine samples taken. She was drug free. It was on a 60 minutes interview.

There is a vast difference in how Martha Stewart served her prison sentence, and how Schapelle will serve hers. For Schapelle to survive she has to be financially supported by her own family. She needs money to buy extra food, bribe prison guards, and have her own cell, instead of sharing with seven other women. Schapelle is also in a foreign country, doesn’t understand the language, and the population have more their own fair share of muslim religious fanatics.

The judiciary system is also vastly different. Stewart was innocent until proven guilty. Schapelle was guilty until she can prove her innocence. Stewart was judge by a jury, Schapelle was judge by Judges who had never given an innocent verdict.

Just because 'someone else' wrote a Martha Stweart prison story, doesn’t mean you have to follow suit. The difference between the Stewart's experiences and Schapelle are vastly different.

As I said, I don't mind a fantasy story, but one based on Schapelle sufferings is quite tasteless. It's not how I like to get my kicks out of life.

[RhondaLee]

Schapelle was guilty until she can prove her innocence. Stewart was judge by a jury, Schapelle was judge by Judges who had never given an innocent verdict.

Since when? Is it really true? You mean in Indonesia, the legal system is guilty until proven innocent. Also, when you said "Judges never given an innocent verdict, you meant all these years in all the hundreds of trials?

As I said, I don't mind a fantasy story, but one based on Schapelle sufferings is quite tasteless. It's not how I like to get my kicks out of life.

that's all right. I don't write story, I don't have the time. I am just saying this could be a story idea.

[Caitlin]

Since when? Is it really true? You mean in Indonesia, the legal system is guilty until proven innocent.

Indonedian Law is not based on English Law. Schapelle has been accused. The onus is on her to prove her innocence. Not the other way around.

Also, when you said "Judges never given an innocent verdict, you meant all these years in all the hundreds of trials?

The Judges presiding over her trial; Yes. For your perusal http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15400604-2,00.html

I don't write story, I don't have the time. I am just saying this could be a story idea.

And I'm just saying its tasteless to base that sort of story based on a real persons suffering and anguish. This is a forum, and I'm stating my opinion.

[Sweep]

You guys must be Aussies - I don't think that many people in the world (including Indonesia) know who she is.

I think that you are both right - Shapelle got a bad deal and the case would have beed dismissed in Oz for lack of evidence or contaminated evidence.

Still - The first thing that I thought of when I saw Shapelle in handcuffs was how sexy she looked. OK I'm a twisted bastard but that's why I'm on thios site.

I'm sorry for her and would do anything I could to help her but there are very few real life stories with such strong bondage implications.

[albear]

Yeah, we are Aussies And you're right, until after the verdict and she was on the front page of the Jakarta Post, no one in Indonesia even knew who she was. In Australia it's a whole other story though! It could possibly be very bad for our country's relationship with Indonesia, with a lot of Aussies withdrawing their bits of the $1 billion aide we gave for the tsunami relief, and holidays to Bali being cancelled. During the recent Red Cross doorknock appeal a lot of people were stipulating that they would NOT donate unless it can be guaranteed the money isn't going to Indonesia. It's sad, because the Indonesian people will suffer, when it's not their fault. That said, I won't be travelling there in just for the simple fact that I value my life too much to risk it. I think it's just a really touchy subject at the moment, and too close to home for a lot of Aussies.

[miss duece]

we had this discussion today in class about corby. if this evidence was presented in the US the majority of the student body (with exception of 2 ppl) in this class size of 132 students thinks she will be found guilty based on the fact that the evidence overwhelmingly points the finger at her despite some discrepancies. the fact was, she had weed in her bag and her defense was that she got caught up in some drug smuggling conspiracy back in her homeland. the fact that she got caught outside the her native country and the fact that her defense fail to prove such existence of tampering with her bag is bad luck on her part. ppl get sentenced to death in the US (which claims to have the fairest justice system) without so much as a muder weapon at times (especially here in tx), let alone this woman has a whole bag of weed. its not up to the prosecution in any country to prove someone's innocence. to most outsiders she just got caught red handed and lots of people, especially in the surrounding asian countries don't know what the big deal is. the taiwanese national cable that i get at home even suggested that austrialians were making a big deal out of this because she's white while austrialia has some 80 something other citizens in jail in other asian countries on similiar charges but most of them were asian. i don't know if she's innocent or not but if she's really guilty i think it was a pretty tough sentence considering the conditions. then again 9 lbs will get you about the same sentence here if not more, but the conditions here are waaaay better.


another question that came up during the class discussion was the role of the austrailian govt. why were there no formal investigations into her defense claims of baggage handlers and corruption? instead the govt downplayed the situation of security risks at airports and ask ppl not to panic. well, to alot of the students it seemed that not going to one place because they might prosecute you seems pretty dumb if the problem was at the airports in the country itself, it wouldn't matter where you go, you'll still get into trouble if you got framed even though the punishment might not be as harsh. it seems that most austrailians blame the indonesians for their legal systems 'failure' and fail to look at the supposed orginal source of the problem. its pretty hard for the rest of the world to feel anything more than pity.

[albear]

I'm not claiming to be an expert on the Corby case, or on law of any kind, all I know is what I've heard through the media (which is probably skewed and bias - but that's a whole other conversation!)

The Australian government offered the services of the AFP to test the point of origin of the dope. That way they could tell if it came from Sydney, Brisbane or Bali. This offer was rejected by the judges. Corby's defense team tried to secure video footage of Brisbane airport, the airport was not forthcoming or helpful. The government is now telling people not to panic because of incidents like the one today: an unmarked envelope was delivered to the Indonesian embassy in the ACT containing some kind of biological matter. It's not identified yet, so all the embassy staff are in isolation and are quarantined until it has been declared not hazardous. Now that the trial is over, the governement have offered the serfvices of two QCs for the appeal. They are also drafting a prisoner transfer agreement to bring Schappelle to Brisbane to serve her sentence. Too little too late maybe, but realistically the government have no influence over the Indonesian court system, so there isn't a lot else they could do. Corby's legal defense was being funded by a local businessman who owns a chain of mobile phone stores, so they didn't need to help with that either.

Something else that has been discussed quite a bit is that there are a hundred or so other Aussies in jail overseas for drug offences, yet no one seems to know them. Is it because she's young and beautiful, or is it because she pleaded not guilty?

[RhondaLee]

Indonedian Law is not based on English Law. Schapelle has been accused. The onus is on her to prove her innocence. Not the other way around.

Is Indonesia the only country like that? Guilty until proven innocent? This is absurd to me. In that case, why would anyone go to a place like that for vacation?

The Judges presiding over her trial; Yes. For your perusal http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15400604-2,00.html
.

To be fair, if anyone carrying a bag of weed and simply said "it's not her...someone put it there.", then millions of drug lord around the world would have walk free. The evidence is righ there in her bag, it's direct evidence.

If someone were to carry a bag of weed thru US Custom, caught, do you think that someone can say 'No...someone else put it there, it's not mine", and get away with it?

Anyhoo, what was her original purpose to Bali? Is it a vacation?

[Caitlin]

Ahhh... Miss Duce, To have ours minds shaped and moulded by those who can't do, but teach.

ppl... nope... got no idea what the heck that is

I have no idea what country your from, so I don’t know how familiar you are with my country, or our relations with Indonesia. You say in your profile info your from the best country on earth, so I’m going with the fact that your Australian then. Right Mate. But since you sprook US law, maybe your not.

To be fair, if anyone carrying a bag of weed and simply said "it's not her...someone put it there.", then millions of drug lord around the world would have walk free. The evidence is righ there in her bag, it's direct evidence.

If someone were to carry a bag of weed thru US Custom, caught, do you think that someone can say 'No...someone else put it there, it's not mine", and get away with it?

For RhondaLee and Miss Duce http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117...0-1702,00.html re: Customs report into drug smuggling at Australian airports

What overwhelming evidence points the finger at her? The evidence might be in her bag, but there is a high probability that it is not hers, and the Indonesian failed to prove that she was the only one to have had access to the bag, she had identified as being tampered with, and the Indonesians authorities had refused to fingerprint the bag.

A major important fact you are failing to grasp, is that drugs are smuggled out of Indonesia, not into it. It’s like either of you packing a bag full of drugs, and smuggling it into Columbia.

her defense fail to prove such existence of tampering with her bag

The prosecution failed to prove that the bag was not tampered with.

its not up to the prosecution in any country to prove someone's innocence.

That’s right. And your point is??

the taiwanese national cable that i get at home even suggested that austrialians were making a big deal out of this because she's white while austrialia has some 80 something other citizens in jail in other asian countries on similiar charges but most of them were asian. .

This may shatter your naiveté miss duce, but media and what they report are not without bias. Your right albear, the media is more often than not, skewed and biased.

The Bali nine caught for drug smuggling are a mixture of Asian and white, and none have the support by media, or the Australian public as Schapelle had, because it is so glaringly obvious that they are guilty. With Shappelle, there is a high probability that she is innocent.

Also, what has Australians riled, is that Abu Bakar Bashir, an instigator of the Bali bombings, where 100 plus Australians, and other tourist were killed, received a two year sentence, where Shapelle received twenty years, and may be facing the death sentence, because the prosecution is appealing on the leniency of the sentence.

another question that came up during the class discussion was the role of the austrailian govt. why were there no formal investigations into her defense claims of baggage handlers and corruption? instead the govt downplayed the situation of security risks at airports and ask ppl not to panic.

Just because the Government doesn’t publicly acknowledge what they are doing all the time, doesn’t mean that they are not doing anything. There is an inquiry into the handlers, cleaners, etc, and are overhauling security and hiring procedures. The fastest way to alienate someone and make them irritated with you is to jump up and down and point fingers at. Indonesia is Australia’s closest neighbour, handling delicate situations with tact and diplomacy is much a more mature option.

it seems that most austrailians blame the indonesians for their legal systems 'failure' and fail to look at the supposed orginal source of the problem. its pretty hard for the rest of the world to feel anything more than pity.

No, Australians don’t blame the Indonesians for their legal systems ‘failure’, they just don‘t agree with some aspects of their procedures.

Also there seems to be many problems about the whole affair. What is the original problem? You failed to enlighten us.

Anyhoo, what was her original purpose to Bali? Is it a vacation?

And your point

[miss duece]

original problem = airport security risks IN austrailia

you say i have no point when i say that prosecution's job is not to prove someone's innocence. yet you say that they failed to prove that the bag wasn't tampered with. thats the defense's problem. prosecutors jobs are to PROSECUTE. they convince the judge or jury someone's guilty while the defense does the opposite. if you can't get the point of that then i'm sorry there's no simplier way to explain it.

whats your point that drugs are smuggled out of indonesia? it has nothing to do with this case where she was bringing it in. doesn't matter if the country is full of drugs already, the law still stands and exists.

its a forum i'm not gonna give myself a wedgie over this, just stating what young college americans, namely my international law class, feel on the subject matter. of course its expected that you'll be emotionally offended by anything other than the response you expect to get. just please don't go about talking down to other people claiming you're shattering their 'naivete'.

[RhondaLee]

And your point

It wasn't a point I was trying to make, it was a question. That's why you see a symbol "?" at the end, which stands for "Question Mark".

If you don't know the answer, you don't have to respond.

[Caitlin]

you say i have no point when i say that prosecution's job is not to prove someone's innocence. yet you say that they failed to prove that the bag wasn't tampered with. thats the defense's problem. prosecutors jobs are to PROSECUTE. they convince the judge or jury someone's guilty while the defense does the opposite. if you can't get the point of that then i'm sorry there's no simplier way to explain it.

I never said you have no point, and … I never indicated that it is the prosecutors job to prove an accused innocent. What I’m saying is that, the bag is a crucial piece of evidence. Schapelle identified the bag as being tampered with. Authorities failed to procure or extract any other evidence from the bag other than the drugs.

The defence asked that the bag be fingerprinted, and this request was dismissed. Therefore, the tampered bag scenario could not be used by the defence to prove innocence, and since the tampered bag scenario was raised in court, it was not disproved by the prosecution. Therefore, by failing to do so in this matter, they did not disprove that she is innocent. If the prosecution could prove that the bag was not tampered with, then they would have strengthened their case that Schepelle is guilty (we are talking prior to conviction here).

And I’m not saying they had to, I’m just saying they didn’t. If you can’t get the point of that, then I’m sorry there’s no simpler was to explain it.

whats your point that drugs are smuggled out of indonesia? it has nothing to do with this case where she was bringing it in. doesn't matter if the country is full of drugs already, the law still stands and exists.

The point is, why would someone smuggle a bag full of marijuana from Australia, where the sale price for the commodity is quite high, to Indonesia, where the sale price for the same commodity is a much lower sale price, (and the standard conviction is the death penalty )?? I thought I was clear in my smuggling drugs to Columbia example to you. It is the unanswered ’Why?’ and doesn’t make sense. Therefore adds to her presumption of innocence.

of course its expected that you'll be emotionally offended by anything other than the response you expect to get.

No, not really. As you said, it’s a forum. I’m giving my opinion on the matter. Your post lacked tact, finesse and sensitivity, as did mine

[miss duece]

sigh...


its great that you have an opinion to state on the matter. just don't state your opinion on me please. i know an insult when i see it. it doesn't matter what kind of smilies are at the end of it either.

i'm not going to apologize for not meeting your 'standards' on what a forum post should look like. you can stop belittling me now. if i had violated one of these forum rules by any of my posts you can report me. like the old saying goes 'if you don't have nothing nice to say then don't say anything.'

[Caitlin]

i'm not going to apologize for not meeting your 'standards' on what a forum post should look like.

I have no ‘standards’ what a forum post should look like. But I do wish you stop implying things about me what are not true.

if i had violated one of these forum rules by any of my posts

Are there rules? I’m totally oblivious to them.

you can report me.

What on earth for miss duce? This is an open forum, where subject matters, topics and ideas are shared, discussed, thrashed out, mulled over, argued, debated, and deliberated.

[RhondaLee]

Schapelle identified the bag as being tampered with.


The point is, why would someone smuggle a bag full of marijuana from Australia, where the sale price for the commodity is quite high, to Indonesia, where the sale price for the same commodity is a much lower sale price, (and the standard conviction is the death penalty )?? I thought I was clear in my smuggling drugs to Columbia example to you. It is the unanswered ’Why?’ and doesn’t make sense. Therefore adds to her presumption of innocence.

How exactly can a person identify a bag with a zipper being tamper with? That she knows someone opens the zipper and close it?

And noone suspects her of selling the weed. But she's on vacation, so clearly the weed is used for her personal enjoyment while vacation at Bali. Hey, she's not the first tourist bringing weed while on vacation and surely won't be the last.

The part about the bio agent at the embassy, I never see these aussie have it in them. I can see throwing potatos or apple, but bio agent? What is next? Following those 22 indo embassy staff home and kill their families?

[albear]

We could probably argue about this until the cows come home, because there are so many intricacies and of course everyone has a different opinion. The biochemical matter turned out to be bacteria, but was not dangerous. And just like there can be extremists in any country or culture, they exist in Australia too. As Caitlin mentioned, a lot of Aussies are comparing what happened to Schapelle to what happened to Bashir with the Aussies who died in the Bali bombings and considering it a huge miscarriage of justice.

We aren't going to solve anything here by arguing about it though, I think in answer to the original question, I don't think I'd like a work of fiction based on the Corby story, because it's a little too close to my heart.

Just my $0.02, I'm bowing out of the conversation now

[Caitlin]

How exactly can a person identify a bag with a zipper being tamper with? That she knows someone opens the zipper and close it?

Schapelle said that when she zipps that bag, both zippers are at the top of the bag. She pointed out that when she picked up the bag, both zippers met in the middle.

And noone suspects her of selling the weed. But she's on vacation, so clearly the weed is used for her personal enjoyment while vacation at Bali. Hey, she's not the first tourist bringing weed while on vacation and surely won't be the last.

I didn't say she was selling the weed. I'm pointing something out. She is on vacation. That's right. So she would want as much spending money as possible. Right. So why buy the weed from a country, where the price is quite high, and smuggle it into a country where she could purchase the weed for a much lower price, and sidestep the smuggling issue, with the possibility of being apprehended, and gacing a long term in jail, or the possibility of the death sentance?

If she wanted to save money, smoke dope while on holiday, and and live to tell about it, she would have brought it there, not smuggle it in.

The part about the bio agent at the embassy, I never see these aussie have it in them. I can see throwing potatos or apple, but bio agent?

What has this got to do with Schapelle Corby. It's the action of one person not 'these aussies'. In tonights news, it was suppose to be harmless white powder, and Corby's name was not used in the letter that accompanied the letter.

I can see throwing potatos or apple, but bio agent? What is next? Following those 22 indo embassy staff home and kill their families?

A bit extreemist in our outlook arn't we. But then according to you Quote "Wouldn't it be something for this news to transform into a BDSM enslavement story."Unquote, so I shouldn't be surprised by your outlook

[maamsboy]

i don't believe that the Australian public has been given all of the facts pertaining to this case.
the media will only tell the public what they want us to know and what will sell papers.
it is unfortunate what has happened to her, but it is a cross she will have to bare. nothing done (action wise) in Australia is going to change the outcome of her sentence. 20yrs may be unfair but that is the way it is run over there in Indonesia.
i have heard 'talk' that she is a drug runner and that her boy friend is a bikie gang leader. her boy friend is also the brother of the person that has 'bank rolled' her defence.
once again, this is what i have heard and quite possiblilty rumour. but every rumour has an once of truth in it.

[Caitlin]

I have my opinions on the media, but I would find them a more reliable source than your 'talk' maamsboy.

[slavedriver]

A coupl of points to ponder

1.The police themselves addmitted that they did not have eneogh evidence to convict (sadly her lawyers whilst probably good chose the wrong defence strategy)
2.The bag containing the drugs was not in her possession at the time(she was asked if the bag was hers and to open it after it had passed through how many hands?[akin to shooting someone then giving the gun to someone else. No matter how you look at that scenario the person that did the deed is the guilty one the other is just an innocent patsy])
3. The judges at the trial (and only those judges) have never given an innocent verdict. These same judges stated publicly that they did not care what happened outside Indonesia so it did not really matter what the defense tried to prove in that regard
4. In America you are innocent till proved guilty in Indonesia you are guilty till proven innocent an entirely different legal system to what you are used to
5. Media will only provide information that will sell as that is their business they do not care if the only facts reported are skewed to that ideal as a non story will not bring in revenue. If you do not believe this then ask your media lecturers and then check on various media outlets in your area on a subject that you know to be true you will be shocked at just how two or three media barons can control the world.(James Bond's The World Is Not Eneogh is not just some script writers fantasy)
6.If someone places a $250,000 diamond necklace into your bag without your knowledge are you guilty or innocent( personally i would hope that you would be found innocent as it is the prosecutions duty to prove you
a)stole it
b)had knowledge of the theft
Contrary to popular belief it is not the defence's duty to prove you innocent it is the prosecutor's job to prove you guilty the notion of the defence having to prove you innocent is a myth propergated by the media and allowed to flourish by lazy prosecutors.(sadly though due to dramatisation by the visual media ,mainly, it is not something that i believe will ever be redressed as it will kill off half of any court drama)
7. If someone is studying internation laws then they should do so without predjudice, that is just because it happens that way here it should happen that way there, if you ask most peoples of the world their main grievance against other countries they will tell you that they are fed up with people telling them how the laws should be in their countries.A case point if you want one is the US's stand on human rights treaties in foriegn countries when the US has so far failed to abide by most of the treaties it has with Native Americans

I could probably go on for hours but if you don't get the point of the disscussion by now you never will so i will leave you all to ponder what i have posted just remember though that these are MY views and it is up to you to decide what your views are

[miss duece]

do you happen to mean the media in australia? the ones that's biased to corby? the one that caused all this hype? its a funny thing how there's almost no attention paid to other australian citizens rotting away in other various asian prisons.

[RhondaLee]

Schapelle said that when she zipps that bag, both zippers are at the top of the bag. She pointed out that when she picked up the bag, both zippers met in the middle.

That's right. So she would want as much spending money as possible. Right. So why buy the weed from a country, where the price is quite high, and smuggle it into a country where she could purchase the weed for a much lower price, and sidestep the smuggling issue, with the possibility of being apprehended, and gacing a long term in jail, or the possibility of the death sentance?

If she wanted to save money, smoke dope while on holiday, and and live to tell about it, she would have brought it there, not smuggle it in.

If the zipper is in the wrong spot, why doesn't she open it right away and check if something is missing?

She couldn't have buy the weed over there while on vacation because she is a tourist. When I go on vacation, I have trouble finding a store that sells postage stamp, but I don't use drugs, so I won't be looking it in another country.

We are talking about weed, not newspaper, how's she supposed to find it while she has a limited days on a vacation, when she said it herself, that she doesn't speak their language.

If you go on vacation to a new place, regardless whether you have been to that place a few times, how easy can it be to find weed? Without knowing anyone?

So why waste all that time while her hotel rate is being billed by the day, when she can bring some from homeland?

So bringing in from Australia makes perfect sense to me.

Besides, what if she is a airhead who doesn't know the penalty is life in prison or death sentence on smuggle drugs?

[miss duece]

back to the orginal topic of the thread. i think there's nothing wrong with writing the story if thats what you really wanted to do. just put some kind of disclaimer or whatever in the beginning warning the potential reader. afterall, no one's forcing anyone to read anything. if it doesn't suit their tastes its not your problem if you've warned them. there's plenty of other stories to read on this site.

[chromedome11]

We are talking about weed, not newspaper, how's she supposed to find it while she has a limited days on a vacation, when she said it herself, that she doesn't speak their language.

I haven't been to Indonesia, but I've been to Jamaica. You can easily buy weed within one hour of landing at the airport. There are pushers everywhere. I suspect it's the same in Indonesia, because it's a very profitable business.

I'm with Caitlin on this. No one in their right mind would smuggle weed into a third world country. Even if she did, 20 years is a ridiculously long sentence for possession. Murderers get away with much less.

[miss duece]

maybe in canada it would be long, but according to the indonesians, twenty years for 9lbs of weed is light and they're appealing for a harsher sentence. in china anything over five pounds is a automatic death sentence if you're found guilty. different countries just do things differently. i've been to indonesia, i didn't find pushers at every corner contrary to your beliefs. but i did find a lot of food stalls that gave me stomach aches later.

on another note, it doesn't matter if anyone thought the trial was fair or not in the end. what right does australian public have to tell or strong arm a soverign nation, recognized by the international community, how to run their system, especially when the government of indonesia poses no military threat? she got caught in indonesian soil, its their jurisdiction. there goes objectiveness for you.