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Authors: Madonna King, Cindy Wockner
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company where he would end up meeting the people with whom he now shares the same fate and same jail. And it was in Adelaide that he met the young woman he thought he would marry. For a time he even managed a strip club there, until his female boss sold the place.
By late 2004, Stephens had been away from Wollongong for four years and it was time to go home; his fiancée went with him. Eurest had said they would give him a job in Sydney, so he made his way home. ‘That’s when my life turned upside down,’ he says now. For it was while working in Sydney that Stephens met Andrew Chan.
As the curtain opened on 2005, Stephens was working at the Sydney Cricket Ground. He worked a bit in Wollongong, too, because of the seasonal slowing at his casual job in Sydney. Bill and Michele Stephens, whohad married as teenagers, didn’t know everything about his life, but they liked the young man their son seemed to have become. They would sometimes join him for a beer down at the club, and were proud he would get up at 2 a.m. to catch a train to Sydney to be at work by 5 a.m. He had respect for others, and he was courteous and kind. He drank, but not to excess. His partner was a credit to him. And he seemed to enjoy life. There’s not much more a parent can ask for.
Along with his trademark naivety, generosity seems to be a second hallmark of Martin Stephens’s personality. One friend stricken with a serious kidney disease relied on him.
Andrew Albornoz first met Marty—as he called him—when he was fourteen. They went to different schools, but a chance meeting in the bush, where Andrew was camping and Martin was bushwalking, saw the beginning of a friendship that both knew would last for life. On weekends, together with their group of friends, the pair would don camouflage gear and play commandos in the bush. They were teenage boys, full of the bravado of adolescence, mucking about at pretend war games.
Andrew remains shocked at Stephens’s arrest. He says it is so totally out of character for his best mate and the man he thinks of more as a brother. Diagnosed at three with kidney failure, doctors told Andrew he would be on a dialysis machine by the time he was sixteen. When it happened, Martin was there for him. On nights when Andrew struggled and most youngpeople were out enjoying themselves, Martin proved to be a salvation for Andrew, passing up a night out to spend it with his mate, chatting, watching videos and keeping him company. He was part of the Albornoz family.
‘He had no hesitation at all, he just wanted to help me out, that’s what kind of bloke he was,’ Andrew remembers. ‘He is just warm and big-hearted. He wouldn’t harm a fly. He has done so much for me, I don’t know how I could repay him.’
It was Stephens who introduced Andrew to his fiancée, Kirsty Cockayne, six years ago. The pair planned to marry this year with Martin as their best man, but plans for the wedding are on hold until they find out their friend’s fate.
Kirsty cries when she thinks of what will become of Stephens. She vividly remembers the period before the Bali Nine’s arrest: Stephens seemed to have gone quiet; they couldn’t get hold of him on the phone. Finally they found out that he had gone to Darwin and didn’t think much more of it until 17 April. That’s when the questions started and shock set in.
People are willing to come out of the woodwork with other stories of Stephen’s generosity. A schoolmate remembers the party in senior year when he had far too much to drink—Martin, whom he had never been too pally with, carried him to the bathroom and cleaned him up. He hadn’t asked him to; he just did it. Guards in the jail Stephens now calls home think the same: he’s a gentleman, caught smuggling heroin out of Indonesia.
Like most parents, Bill and Michele adored their boy from the day he was born. And it’s a feeling that is returned in spades. He cries sometimes now when reading a letter from his mother,
By late 2004, Stephens had been away from Wollongong for four years and it was time to go home; his fiancée went with him. Eurest had said they would give him a job in Sydney, so he made his way home. ‘That’s when my life turned upside down,’ he says now. For it was while working in Sydney that Stephens met Andrew Chan.
As the curtain opened on 2005, Stephens was working at the Sydney Cricket Ground. He worked a bit in Wollongong, too, because of the seasonal slowing at his casual job in Sydney. Bill and Michele Stephens, whohad married as teenagers, didn’t know everything about his life, but they liked the young man their son seemed to have become. They would sometimes join him for a beer down at the club, and were proud he would get up at 2 a.m. to catch a train to Sydney to be at work by 5 a.m. He had respect for others, and he was courteous and kind. He drank, but not to excess. His partner was a credit to him. And he seemed to enjoy life. There’s not much more a parent can ask for.
Along with his trademark naivety, generosity seems to be a second hallmark of Martin Stephens’s personality. One friend stricken with a serious kidney disease relied on him.
Andrew Albornoz first met Marty—as he called him—when he was fourteen. They went to different schools, but a chance meeting in the bush, where Andrew was camping and Martin was bushwalking, saw the beginning of a friendship that both knew would last for life. On weekends, together with their group of friends, the pair would don camouflage gear and play commandos in the bush. They were teenage boys, full of the bravado of adolescence, mucking about at pretend war games.
Andrew remains shocked at Stephens’s arrest. He says it is so totally out of character for his best mate and the man he thinks of more as a brother. Diagnosed at three with kidney failure, doctors told Andrew he would be on a dialysis machine by the time he was sixteen. When it happened, Martin was there for him. On nights when Andrew struggled and most youngpeople were out enjoying themselves, Martin proved to be a salvation for Andrew, passing up a night out to spend it with his mate, chatting, watching videos and keeping him company. He was part of the Albornoz family.
‘He had no hesitation at all, he just wanted to help me out, that’s what kind of bloke he was,’ Andrew remembers. ‘He is just warm and big-hearted. He wouldn’t harm a fly. He has done so much for me, I don’t know how I could repay him.’
It was Stephens who introduced Andrew to his fiancée, Kirsty Cockayne, six years ago. The pair planned to marry this year with Martin as their best man, but plans for the wedding are on hold until they find out their friend’s fate.
Kirsty cries when she thinks of what will become of Stephens. She vividly remembers the period before the Bali Nine’s arrest: Stephens seemed to have gone quiet; they couldn’t get hold of him on the phone. Finally they found out that he had gone to Darwin and didn’t think much more of it until 17 April. That’s when the questions started and shock set in.
People are willing to come out of the woodwork with other stories of Stephen’s generosity. A schoolmate remembers the party in senior year when he had far too much to drink—Martin, whom he had never been too pally with, carried him to the bathroom and cleaned him up. He hadn’t asked him to; he just did it. Guards in the jail Stephens now calls home think the same: he’s a gentleman, caught smuggling heroin out of Indonesia.
Like most parents, Bill and Michele adored their boy from the day he was born. And it’s a feeling that is returned in spades. He cries sometimes now when reading a letter from his mother,
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