Tony Wilson Photo Copyright F.P.S.S

Schapelle Corby tells it like it is in her book 'My Story' which was released yesterday. Journalist Tony Wilson who has been heavily involved in the Corby case since October, 2004, and was the first newspaper reporter to interview her in prison, looks at her story.

Tears and a vicious fight. IT'S feisty, pulls no punches, is full of black humour and gives a chilling insight into life inside an Asian prison. And it is very Schapelle Corby.
The Gold Coast woman I have painted through this newspaper since my first report on her on October 11, 2004 three days after her arrest at Denpasar Airport where Customs officers found 4.1kg of marijuana in her unlocked boogie-board bag comes through in her book to a point where I fear for her.

To be honest, there were things I saw and was told about during my visits to Kerobokan Prison that I have not written because I was concerned that that could somehow hurt Schapelle or affect her life. For example, she told me about a few fights she had been in, which are almost mandatory in any prison world if you are not going to be crushed. But Schapelle obviously holds no such fears and you can almost smell that horrible prison as you read this book. My only concern is that she is still locked in there and the book is now in the public domain and I hope that it does not backfire on this woman I admire so much because she is still a prisoner with no rights at all.
But I understand her motivation because she is totally frustrated with how her life has been bandied around in many sections of the media and many of the stories have so little fact about her and her family that it makes her shake with anger. So this is her way of fighting back for herself and her family.

And she puts into words what a lot of Australians have been saying about her in recent months. "When my brother James (Kisina) was arrested for breaking and entering, and stealing marijuana, I guess a lot of people thought Well that's it if he's involved with drugs then so was she," said Schapelle in her book.

"How can you help what your family does? James was an idiot. I don't approve of what he did but I love him. And I'm certain that whatever he's done since I've been in here, as a 16-year-old boy going on holiday with me in 2004, he did not put that marijuana in my boogie-board bag.

"I was the last one to see inside it.

"But mud sticks.

"There have been a few people who have flung mud, creating bullshit stories that are splashed as newspaper headlines, becoming often-repeated facts.

"I can do very little to defend myself against the lies from in here, and have to rely on my family to fight the battles for me.

"But I get tired of repeating again and again that I'm innocent to a world that doesn't want to listen."

But she leaves the reader in no doubt that the world she unwillingly inhabits, which she calls `Hotel K', is no Balinese holiday camp.

"It is a seedy little world. A world full of criminals. A world full of society's worst. I live on the edge. I could never let my guard down, never just kick back and relax without keeping one eye out for trouble big trouble," she said.

Schapelle writes of an occasion when Sonia or `Black Monster', a prisoner she strongly dislikes, had been taunting her and saying she would die in prison, which reduced her to tears. One of Schapelle's cellmates, Giant, then challenges Black Monster to a fight the next morning when the cells are opened.

"The cells were unlocked. Giant and Sonia charged like bulls, stopping just short of each other. All of a sudden they were body-hugging each other, falling to the ground, rolling around, tangled up, kicking, punching, scratching and biting. It was a big cat-fight."

Giant was screaming out in pain as Black Monster had her hair in a vice-like grip. Schapelle continued: "I had to do something. This was my fault. Sonia wasn't very big, just very black, very loud and very scary to look at, and she used this to her advantage. I wasn't scared of her. I just went with my instincts, I went up, grabbed her by the hair and started smashing her head hard against the ground. She was glaring into my eyes as I chanted, in a low demonic voice: `Let her go! Let her go! Let her go!'

Suddenly she let go.The fight was over. Sonia was all right. She had a hard head. I didn't feel guilty. It was something that had to be done."

If that sounds like Schapelle has become a monster, you have to realise where she is and how hard life in that prison environment is. As she ends her book, you understand that Schapelle is still this wonderful woman, caught up in a nightmare, something she does not understand.

"Why my bag? I still go over it in my head but never get an answer. I live day by day, but don't look to the future, as the future means only those four walls, heat, dirt and too many stinky people," she says.

"Right now I'm empty, lost and numb. Lately now, two years on from that fatal date and after repeated blows, I'm finding a confusing, distant reflection in the mirror. It's dull, my eyes don't seem to speak any more, they're lifeless as though my soul is drying up."

Schapelle Corby Case Information

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