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Schapelle Corby came close to death penalty: report

Convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby, due to return to Australia on Saturday, was only spared the death penalty due to her young age, according to a report.

The Indonesian prosecutor, Ida Bagus Wiswantan, gave Corby a second chance despite her refusal to admit she was guilty, according to the News Corp report, which was carried across several Australian mastheads on Friday.

“I felt that Corby can still rehabilitate herself so the death sentence is not the punishment. If she got the death sentence she cannot rehabilitate. But I felt that Corby has the chance to fix herself,” Wiswantan was quoted as saying.

“For sure it (the death penalty) was discussed.”

The 39-year-old Corby is expected to be deported from Bali on Saturday. She was released from prison in 2014 but was unable to leave Indonesia until this month according to parole conditions.

Mum concerned

Corby’s mother Rosleigh Rose is looking forward to her daughter’s return to Australia but it concerned about how the convicted drug smuggler will adjust to life back home more than a decade after her arrest.

“When she gets here and settles in, we’ll just have to make sure we get her out and about,” she told the Courier Mail on Thursday.

“We’ll be trying to get her back into the swing of things so she feels confident.”

It also hasn’t been determined where she will stay once she returns. Her mother lives in Loganlea south of Brisbane and sister Mercedes lives on the Gold Coast.

She said Schapelle had “mixed emotions” about returning to Australia, but couldn’t do anything about it.

But Ms Rose, who has not seen Schapelle in person for two years, is thrilled she is coming home.

“I’m getting excited now – it’s been 12-and-a-half years coming,” Ms Rose said.

Corby was sentenced to 20 years’ in Bali’s notorious Kerobokan jail and before being released on parole in February 2014.

– With AAP

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