NSW: Defamation hearing disrupted by Schapelle Corby supporter

AAP General News (Australia)
04-30-2008
NSW: Defamation hearing disrupted by Schapelle Corby supporter

SYDNEY, April 30 AAP - A woman has disrupted the defamation action brought by the sister
of Schapelle Corby, shouting support for the convicted drug smuggler from the public gallery
of a Sydney court.

The woman, dressed in a long purple dress and with long grey hair, interrupted Jodie
Power's evidence to the NSW Supreme Court with a tirade about Corby's incarceration in
a Bali jail.

"Why isn't Schapelle Corby freed, she has suffered enormously for three years in hell,"

she shouted.

She loudly questioned why Corby was still in a Bali "sewer pit" and suffering everyday.

"You make me sick to the core of my Christian soul," she said, addressing the court.

Justice Carolyn Simpson sent the jury away while the woman continued shouting until
security arrived and she left the courtroom.

Mercedes Corby has taken defamation action in the Supreme Court against Channel Seven
Sydney Pty Ltd and five other parties, including Ms Power, who was once her best friend.

Ms Corby's claim relates to three Today Tonight programs and one news bulletin, broadcast
across Australia in February last year.

The jury of three men and one woman has been told Ms Power lied in claiming Mercedes
Corby was a drug smuggler.

AAP mss/hn/ldj/bwl

KEYWORD: CORBY DISRUPT

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