For the first time, and in her own words, Schapelle Corby reveals the daily hell of living inside Bali’s notorious Kerobokan prison. Schapelle, who is serving a 20-year sentence for smuggling 4.1kg of cannabis into Indonesia, tells of rats giving birth in her shoes, of sanitary towels being left on her toothbrush and of how she saved the life of fellow Australian, Renae Lawrence.
Read an exclusive extract from The Australian Women’s Weekly below. For the full story, pick up a copy of the November issue.
I Hated the Bali Nine
All the girls who’d shared a cell with her had been telling stories about this freak. She refused to let anyone else sleep if she was awake. She’d kick them in the head, sexually hit on them, punch them. So by the time she checked in at Kerobokan, I imagined Renae as a psychopathic lesbian. I was scared to death of her.
A frantic whisper swept around as she walked through the door. As I sat watching, my fears vanished. She looked like a frightened mouse. Her face was full of terror. Her big blue eyes spilling tears, Renae trailed behind the guards like a lost lamb.
I finally met Renae. She was sitting on the cell floor, sobbing. “Come on, this isn’t going to help you,” I told her. It was impossible not to see the fresh scars on her sliced-up wrists. “And you can’t do that. Forget about doing that again.”
But she had so much anger inside. Then a couple of days after checking in, she began slamming her fists into the cell wall until the bones in her hand were broken. I had no chance of holding her back.
About two weeks later, she again started smashing her broken hand into the wall. She was crying histerically. I tried to soothe her, giving her a hug and holding her good hand.
Renae would often come and sit with me in my cell. She’d started taking a tranquiliser which zonked her out. She needed to blur reality and numb the fear.
One night I heard angry shouting. The guards opened her cell. She walked over to my cage window holding a razor blade between her thumb and first finger. “I’m just moving my hand slowly and I’m going to take this out of your hand. Just give it to me.” My eyes were willing her to give me the blade.
Her eyes were full of pain. She finally dropped it into my hand. The suicidal moment passed … for now.
Extract from My Story by Schapelle Corby with Kathryn Bonella , published by Pan Macmillan Australia, rrp $35 on sale from November 10, 2006.
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