An Australian couple has been released from a notorious Bali jail seven months after they were busted for running a brothel.
Michael Le Grand, 50, and wife Lynley Le Grand, 44, will immediately be deported to Australia after being released from Kerobokan Prison in Bali on Saturday.
Footage obtained by Daily Mail Australia showed the mother-of-three leaving the notorious women’s prison while she attempted to conceal her face with a towel.
Ms Legrand did not provide a statement to reporters who had gathered outside the facility, seven months after local authorities raided the couple’s Pink Palace Spa in Kuta, 40 minutes from Denpasar.
Kerobokan women’s prison governor Ni Luh Putu Andiyani told the National News Network Ms Le Grand found comfort in religion while behind bars.
‘The Australian prisoner, Lynley, has shown good behaviour during prison. She never violated the rules inside the prison,’ Ms Andiyani said.
‘She participated in the morning exercise every day. She also joined the prayer at the prison church.’
She said Ms Le Grand, who survived the Bali bombings in 2002, was devastated upon entering the prison but came to accept her predicament.
Melbourne mother Lynley Le Grand is pictured leaving Bali’s notorious Kerobokan prison on Saturday seven months after she was detained in sweeping illegal prostitution busts
Ms Le Grand is said to have turned to religion during her seven-month stint behind bars. She did not speak with reporters who waited to meet her outside the facility on Saturday
Mr Le Grand, with his wife Lynley, was also released from Kerobokan prison on Saturday. The couple is expected to reunite with their three children before flying home
‘At the beginning she was very sad. But slowly, she could accept the conditions and was able to socialise with other prisoners. She is now in good condition, she is well, and she can socialise with anyone now,’ she said.
Mr Le Grand, who was reported to have complained of pancreatic cancer while in Kerobokan, left through a separate exit from the men’s side of the prison on Saturday.
Built in 1979, Kerobokan men’s prison is notoriously overcrowded and is well-known for having housed the Bali Nine and the Bali Bombers.
Schapelle Corby spent nine years behind bars in Kerobokan women’s prison after being convicted of smuggling 4.2kg of cannabis in a boogie board bag in 2004.
The Le Grands are expected to reunite with their three children, who are understood to have been staying with a relative in Bali, before meeting with immigration officials and flying home.
During a raid in October last year, police seized evidence including lingerie, condoms and massage oil, and claimed the brothel was offering ‘same-sex prostitution and bisexual practices’.
The spa offered a ‘sensual body slide and hand relief’ for $100, with the couple advertising the spa on hired mobile billboards, which triggered the police raid.
A panel of judges at Denpasar District Court found the Le Grands ‘legally and convincingly proven guilty of providing pornography services’.
Local authorities raided Pink Palace Spa in Kuta, run by the Le Grands, in October last year which, police said, offered ‘same-sex prostitution and bisexual practices’
The Le Grands spent seven months inside Kerobokan prison, notorious for having housed high-profile prisoners including the Bali Nine, the Bali Bombers and Schapelle Corby
AFL star Ricky Olarenshaw’s estranged wife Saranitha also received a sentence of seven months behind bars in relation to a different Bali brothel
Their seven-month sentences were slighter lighter than the nine months recommended by the prosecutor.
Sarinitha Olarenshaw, 36, the estranged wife of former AFL star Ricky Olarenshaw, was also arrested that same month after police raided her Flame Spa in Seminyak.
Olarenshaw, who had 23,000 followers on Instagram, previously claimed she was illegally detained after being arrested over allegations sex was being offered at her Flame Seminyak spa.
The influencer walked free earlier this month.
She previously alleged that her husband Ricky, his brother, and two other Australian men were the owners of the business, but her estranged husband denied the claim.
A number of Bali businesses owned by the Le Grands, including bars and cafes, remain open. It is not clear whether the couple hoped to return to the Indonesian island.
