Bali Nine’s Renae Lawrence ‘overwhelmed’ as she lands in Australia with family

Bali Nine member Renae Lawrence has been filmed returning to Australia for the first time after being released from Bali prison after 13 years behind bars.

The convicted drug smuggler, 41, was swarmed by reporters as she made her way through the gates at Brisbane Airport around 5am local time on Thursday with her mother Beverley Waterman and step-brother Allan Waterman – after they were filmed spending some quality time together in a side room at Bali’s international airport.

Lawrence is so far the only member of the notorious gang to be released and she had her first taste of freedom when she walked out of Bangli Prison on Wednesday evening after her sentence was reduced for “good behaviour”. 

Lawrence refused to speak to reporters in Brisbane despite a steady stream of questions and one woman even pleading with her to give one statement so they could “leave her alone”. However, one photo captured a gold ring on her wedding finger as she walked past cameras, sparking rumours she may be either engaged or married – although she’s never confirmed so.

The Today show’s reporter described her appearance as “overwhelmed” as her family members tried to protect her, before they boarded a bus to the domestic terminal where she queued like everyone else to board an ongoing plane to Newcastle.

However, her freedom is already under threat in Australia as she now faces arrest over her alleged role in a high-speed car chase in NSW.

Lawrence was arrested in 2005 along with eight other Australians after the group attempted to smuggle more than 8 kilograms of heroin out of Indonesia.

She was one of four caught at the Denpasar airport carrying 2.6kg of the drug strapped to her body. Three other members of the group were arrested at a nearby hotel in possession of about 300 grams of heroin, while another two were arrested at the airport in relation to the trafficking.

Almost a year later, Lawrence was handed a life sentence in prison, despite claiming she had been forced to carry the heroin following threats her family would be killed.

#BREAKING: Convicted drug smuggler Renae Lawrence has landed in Australia after nearly 14 years behind bars. pic.twitter.com/9LBOkkH9uh

— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) November 21, 2018

Throughout her time in prison, Lawrence’s sentence was reduced and she was transferred from the notorious Kerobokan prison, to Negara prison, and finally to Bangli prison. However, her fellow members didn’t receive the same benefits with the operation’s ring leaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran executed in April of 2015.

Read more: Bali Nine member Renae Lawrence to be released from prison: Report

According to the ABC, Lawrence’s father Bob previously claimed his daughter is a “nervous wreck”. 

“She just wants to come home and live her life in peace,” he said previously.

Meanwhile fellow Bali Nine members Su Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush and Martin Stephens remain in prison serving life sentences. The final member of the group, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died of cancer in June this year.

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