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‘Just leave her alone’: Schapelle Corby’s sister begs media to back off ahead of return

Schapelle Corby is set to leave Indonesia on May 27.

Schapelle Corby is set to leave Indonesia on May 27. Photo: Getty

Mercedes Corby has told media to leave her sister alone, complaining that the gathering media scrum has left Schapelle too stressed to meet Bali officials ahead of her deportation to Australia.

Almost a week after arriving in Bali to offer her sister support, Mercedes visited the Law and Human Rights Office and the Australian consulate in Denpasar on Thursday to discuss flights and other preparations for Schapelle for May 27.

Head of Bali’s Provincial Correction Division Surung Pasaribu said Mercedes had told him Schapelle did not attend as she was not feeling well.

“(Mercedes said that) in front of the house in Kuta, there are lots of media, lots of people, so she’s afraid of leaving the house,” he told reporters.

“Corby’s sister told us that Corby is scared to go out [of her] house,” Mr Surung told the ABC.

“She’s stressed, it’s getting worse.”

Mr Surung told the ABC that it was “our job to monitor her” and that Corby was “very afraid to meet people”, according to Mercedes.

He said Corby was lying down with her face hidden behind a sarong when he arrived at the villa, according to the ABC report.

“She opened it to show her face a bit and then she covered it back. She said, ‘I am very afraid’,” he said.

“That’s all she expressed to me, ‘I feel afraid, to meet many people, including the media people.

“She said to me that outside her house cameras were installed to watch her — that’s scared her.”

She’s ‘sick of all you guys stalking her’

Speaking outside the Correction Division office, Mercedes told reporters to leave her sister alone.

“Please give her some privacy. Stop (waiting) in front of the house, just leave her alone.

“(She is) sick of the media. Sick of all you guys stalking her.”

schapelle Corby return

Mercedes Corby (left) leaves the Australian Consulate in Denpasar, Bali, on May 18.Photo: AAP

While she is due to leave Bali later this month, Schapelle is still awaiting her passport and does not yet know what flight she will be on, Mr Pasaribu told AAP.

What is certain, is that Schapelle’s parole ends on Saturday, May 27, and once all formalities are carried out she will be a “free woman”.

But before she can head home she will need to meet with correction officials in Denpasar for the last time in order to get her release letter.

Schapelle will then be handed over to immigration who will take her to the airport.

However, Mr Pasaribu said these plans could alter slightly due to the level of media attention Schapelle is under.

“If Bapas (the corrections office) is crowded with media, the place will start to become like a market … so we have to find the best (place).”

He said they did not know yet whether she will get a direct flight back to Brisbane, but hoped she could leave as “soon as possible”.

“Just go back to Australia straight away, to her home country.”

Corby was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2005 after she was arrested the previous year in Bali with 4.1kg of cannabis inside a bodyboard bag.

The 39-year-old has been living in the beachside town of Kuta since being released on parole in February 2014.

– with AAP

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