EXCLUSIVE
Bali Nine drug smuggler Matthew Norman has made a harrowing secret pilgrimage to his mother’s graveside after his release from his prison hell.
Norman’s mother Robyn never got to see her son walk free from jail before she tragically died in January 2024 while he was still serving almost 20 years for trafficking heroin.
But after his sudden release from Bali’s notorious Kerobokan Prison last month, one of the first things Norman, 38, did on his return to Australia was to visit her grave.
He has been living at the $4million home of a Christian family in Torquay, on the Great Ocean Road south of Melbourne, since his release and attending a local church.
He has also been reconnecting with friends and family, including his father Michael who has also relocated back to Australia from Bali following his son’s release.
Norman’s Indonesian wife, Anita, who has joined him as he rebuilds his life in his home country, has revealed how he has tried to settle back into life as a free man.
‘Thank you for all of our lovely friends that keep praying for this miracle,’ she posted on Facebook.
‘Rejoice, happiness. Visited his mum’s grave and his dad and his pop and sisters, uncles and nephews.’
Bali Nine drug smuggler Matthew Norman (pictured) has made a harrowing secret pilgrimage to his mother’s graveside after his release from his prison hell.

His Indonesian wife, Anita, who has joined Matthew Norman (pictured together) as he rebuilds his life in his home country, has revealed how he has tried to settle back into life as a free man

Norman has been living at the $4million home of a Christian family in Torquay, on the Great Ocean Road south of Melbourne, since his release and attending a local church
Norman was pictured with Anita and his family on January 5 for the first time since he was released from jail
Questions had been raised about whether Norman would be forced to live apart from his wife and stepdaughter, 15, following his release.
Anita and her daughter can travel to Australia through normal visa application processes, but it remains unclear if they will be allowed to stay in the country permanently.
They were seen staying at the four bedroom, two-storey waterfront mansion in Torquay, just a stone’s throw from Cosy Corner, a popular beach with families because of its calm swells.
The property is owned by Christian couple Ann and Alan Wilkins who offered it to Norman after forming a close relationship while he was in prison.

The property is owned by Christian couple Ann and Alan Wilkins who offered it to Norman after forming a close relationship while he was in prison

Matthew Norman (left) looked happy and relieved after spending almost 20 years in jail for drug smuggling

Norman married his Indonesian girlfriend Anita (pictured) at the Kerobokan jail in 2014
Norman was sentenced to death in 2006 after he was caught trying to smuggle more than 8kg of heroin out of Bali. The sentence was reduced to life in prison in 2008.
He met Anita while he was in prison and the couple married at the Kerobokan jail in 2014. Norman also became a father to her daughter Stella, 15.
Norman was just 18 when he was arrested and is the youngest member of the Bali Nine, three of whom are dead – two executed and one who died from cancer.
He left school aged 16 because he wanted to work and make money rather than finish his HSC and later said he had been ‘reckless, callous, wanted to cut corners in life’.
His jail sentence had a serious effect on his family back home, with one of his sisters became anorexic and another was harassed because of her brother’s crime.
His parents were also subjected to vicious hate mail in the wake of his arrest and subsequent imprisonment.
Norman was one of just two of the original Bali Nine who remained in Kerobokan until his release, where he designed t-shirts, bags and posters and applied for sentence reductions.

The couple, who married in Kerobokan prison in 2014, is pictured with family and friends on Sunday

Matthew Norman has been spending time among the congregation at a packed church since touching down in Australia, his wife revealed in her social media posts

Anita Norman shared a photo of the airport while she was waiting to reunite with her husband Matthew Norman
He admitted that every day was ‘just a struggle to keep doing good things’ amid the ‘chaos’ of prison.
Norman, along with Scott Rush, Michael Czugaj, Martin Stephens and Si Yi Chen were all released from prison in Indonesia last month, after being jailed almost 20 years ago.
They were transferred home to Australia after the federal government struck a deal with Indonesia in a top secret mission following weeks of negotiations.
The development came after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese requested the transfer at a meeting with new Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto at the APEC Summit in November.
President Subianto agreed to let the prisoners free on humanitarian grounds.
Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, another of the Bali Nine drug mules who had collectively attempted to smuggle 8.7kg of heroin, died from stomach cancer behind bars in 2018.
Chan and Sukumaran were executed in 2015, while Renae Lawrence was released after serving 13 years.
On December 30, Rush appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court to learn his fate in relation to a string of crimes committed 20 years ago.

Anita also shared multiple tourist snaps of places she had visited with Matthew since he became a free man last month including Circular Quay on Sydney harbourside
Supported by his parents Lee and Christine, Rush faced the court over historical charges which predated his 2005 arrest at Bali Airport.
The now 39-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of fraud, receiving tainted property, theft and entering premises, all committed when he was 19.
The police prosecutor Matthew Bach agreed with the submission and Magistrate Patricia Kirkman-Scroope convicted Rush for 13 offences, but did not further punish him.
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