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Sydney woman released from Bali jail

AAP

AAP

Leeza Ormsby loved Bali – she had been there at least three times – but getting busted for drugs on her most recent holiday may mean she’s banned from ever returning.

The New Zealander’s last visit to Bali was in February, when she left her Sydney flatmates a note to say she would be back in seven days, and with part of her rent.

Corby’s ‘friend’ on drug charges

Two days after convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby was released on parole from Bali’s Kerobokan jail, she walked into a drug raid.

On Wednesday, nine months later, she was released after serving jail for the trouble she stumbled into.

Officers seized a half-smoked joint from her handbag, and MDMA and hashish from the villa they’d been watching.

With no other suspects, Ormsby was detained for months while officers unsuccessfully tried to link her to the other drugs.

She could have been jailed for up to 12 years under Indonesian law.

Schapelle Corby

Schapelle Corby was released on parole. Photo: AAP

But the Rotorua-born woman remained adamant the other drugs weren’t hers, and at her trial, argued for leniency as a past drug user.

Ormsby, who spent her 38th birthday behind bars, will be deported to New Zealand on a midnight flight via Sydney.

But immigration supervisor Mohamad Soleh says she won’t be able to leave Sydney airport.

“She’ll continue her flight to Auckland, New Zealand,” he told reporters.

Bali immigration would request the ex-con would be banned for six months as a minimum, he said.

“That could be extended to another six months or even life,” he said.

Ormsby was met by two immigration officers on Wednesday and asked how she felt, replied, “Happy!”

Media followed her to the car until she eventually said in Indonesian: “Saya mau tutup pintu” (I want to close the door).”

Prison governor Sudjonggo told reporters he met Ormsby for the first time when she said goodbye.

“When she said goodbye to me, she said thank you,” he said.

“I told her not to go come back here.”

Ormsby had joined a knitting group in prison, and shared some food with her inmate friends in a small farewell gathering, he said.

No one was charged over the other drugs found in the villa, which police pounced on after a tip off about an earlier “drugs party”.

Sydney musician Azaria Byrne came forward as the person who had booked the villa but had returned to Australia at the time of the raid.

Sydney DJ and Ormsby’s former lover, Marco Mazzucco, was questioned by police, but allowed to return to Australia.

Ormsby expressed regret during her trial, telling the judges she knew the law in Indonesia but broke it when she bought the joint, and promised to learn from the experience.

-AAP

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