Corby family taking TEN to court

Members of Schapelle’s Corby family will face off against the TEN Network in the Sydney Supreme Court in a civil suit on September 19th.

It follows TEN screening an interview in April this year with Bali Nine inmate Renae Lawrence, former prison mate of Corby.

In the interview which aired on both TEN Eyewitness News and The Project Lawrence claimed Schapelle Corby had faked mental illness in an attempt to get out of jail sooner and had admitted she was guilty of drug smuggling.

But the Corby family issued a strongly-worded denial regarding the paid interview and threatened to sue.

“Schapelle denies ever making any such confession to Renae Lawrence or to anyone else. The further claims by Renae Lawrence that Schapelle had done so on many occasions are preposterous, maliciously false and a creation of her own fantasy. The actions of the TEN Network in procuring and presumably paying for this interview, are extremely hurtful and are causing Schapelle and our family great anxiety and distress,” the family said at the time.

“The credibility of Renae Lawrence should be seriously questioned and unsubstantiated allegations should not be made simply for the sake of ratings and money.”

The Project‘s Steve Price also apologised for comments that he made following the story.

“I repeated something I had been told long ago. I wasn’t trying to assert that anything being said was true. The comment I made mentioned the Corby family, and I want to make it clear that I don’t have any special knowledge and I don’t claim that any living member of that family was involved in the activities being discussed. I apologise to the Corby family if my comments caused any embarrassment or distress to them,” he later said.

This week a TEN spokesperson told TV Tonight, “It is a matter of public record that the Corby family have sued Network TEN. As this is a legal matter we have nothing more to add.”