Why Bali Nine’s ‘black sheep’ Martin Stephens may REFUSE to return to Australia: ‘I’m better off here’
As the final Bali Nine transfer deal moves closer to completion, a notorious drug smuggling syndicate member isn’t letting herself celebrate the bittersweet news.
Resigned to dying behind bars, Martin Stephens, 48, has created an unconventional life for himself for almost two decades and is now a husband and stepfather.
But the former Wollongong bartender now faces the possibility of being locked up in an Australian prison cell, something he knows will not afford him the benefits he currently enjoys in Lowowaru Prison in Malang, East Java.
With regular visits from his wife Christine Puspayanti and his stepdaughter Laura, Stephens previously said he would “reject” a prisoner swap.
“I am much freer here than in an Australian prison, although logically it would be better for my parents,” Stephens said in his last interview in 2020.
‘I teach English and play seruling (traditional bamboo flute), but I haven’t learned Indonesian. I want to maintain my Australian identity and avoid getting involved in factional fighting,” he told Indonesia Expat.
Rumors have always swirled that Stephens, along with fellow Bali Nine member Tan Nguyen, was transferred to the remote town of Malang, a nine-hour drive from Bali, due to behavioral problems at Kerobokan prison.
But Stephens insists he requested the transfer in the hope of getting closer to his wife and distancing himself from other members of the drug trafficking ring.
Martin Stephens married Christine Puspayanti in 2011, five years after they first met
Stephens feared he would not have the same freedoms in an Australian prison
Stephens claims he is the ‘black sheep’ of the Bali Nine and requested a prison transfer to distance himself
‘I asked to be moved to be closer to my wife and apart from the others. I don’t want to know them. I was not in their syndicate that carried out previous drug runs. I have always been known as the ‘black sheep’ of the Bali Nine.”
In 2005, the same year he was caught smuggling heroin from the resort island, Stephens met Puspayanti when she visited Kerobokan prison with a friend.
The couple fell in love and eventually married behind bars in April 2011 in front of 100 guests, including their families as well as eight other Bali Nine members Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush and Renae Lawrence.
The governor of the prison, Siswanto, allowed a wedding celebration and a conjugal visit on the same evening in a specially prepared room.
Of the other Bali Nine members arrested in the original bust, leaders Chan and Sukumaran were executed by firing squad in April 2015. Stephen’s former cellmate Nguyen died of cancer in 2018, while Lawrence was released that year after her life sentence was reduced to 20 years. years on appeal.
Stephens wants to care for his mother Michele Stephens, who has been a constant support during his incarceration
Stephens was transferred to a prison in East Java together with fellow inmate Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen
Pictured above L-R: Myuran Sukumaran, Scott Rush, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Renae Lawrence, and below: Si Yi Chen, Matthew Norman, Michael Czugaj, Martin Stephen and Andrew Chan
It remains unclear how the prisoners will be returned and whether they will have to serve the remainder of their time in Australia.
Home Secretary Tony Burke will leave for Jakarta next week to negotiate the final details.
If they are released on Australian soil, Stephens says he would dedicate his life to helping others.
‘My wife and daughter are having a hard time. My parents in Australia are having a hard time because of me. I want to take care of them. Why do they have to keep paying for my first mistake? What’s the point of keeping me behind bars? I want to be a good citizen and make a contribution.’