Kerry Smith-Douglas made a bizarre appearance on The Today Show this morning to talk about her client Corby’s impending release.
When host Karl Stefanovic asked how Corby would celebrate freedom after nearly a decade in Bali’s notorious Kerobokan Prison, Smith-Douglas said she would probably “roll up a big marijuana joint the size of a cigar and kick back and enjoy herself”.
The comment left Stefanovic gobsmacked but after some nervous laughter he shot back, asking: “You haven’t been smoking this morning have you?”
Smith-Douglas replied: “My eyes are red, I know!”
Viewers reacted angrily to Smith-Douglas’ remarks, complaining they showed a complete lack of regard for the law while others voiced concerns the comments would jeopardise Corby’s parole hopes.
Smith-Douglas was later forced to deny she was serious, insisting she was trying to make light of the situation.
“It was a joke,” she told Fairfax Radio. “Don’t you have a sense of humour? Get a life. Loosen up. Enjoy a joke.”
Corby was convicted of smuggling 4.2kg of cannabis into Bali in 2005. She is serving a 20-year sentence but Indonesia’s Justice Minister Amir Syamsuddin said yesterday that he would make a decision about her parole application on Friday.
If Corby is granted parole, she will have to remain in Bali for two years before she is allowed to return to Australia.
She is tipped to receive offers of hundreds of thousands of dollars to tell her story, but Prime Minister Tony Abbott has warned her that she should not profit from her crime.
“I guess the old principle is that crime should not pay,” Abbott told 4BC radio.
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