Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
AUSTRALIAN drug smuggler Martin Garnett admits he deserved to die after suffering a near-fatal heart attack just three months after completing a 22-year stint in some of the world’s deadliest prisons.
In fact despite his extraordinary tale of hope and rehabilitation, the ex-heroin runner — who has spent longer behind bars than any other Australian drug convict — believes many families affected by the scourge of drug abuse would feel it was the perfect dose of karma.
In his first interview since his September release, the former death row inmate told The Daily Telegraph he is acutely aware of how such people view him after being caught trying to smuggle nearly 5kg of heroin into Australia from Bangkok Airport.
“The mother of the kid who’s just died of an overdose would say, ‘my prayers have been answered’,” Garnett said.
“There’s people who have got drug-addicted children who’d say, ‘he got what he deserved’ … it wouldn’t have been unfair.”
A former manager at the Rick Damelian car empire in Sydney’s west, Garnett, lured by a massive payday, attempted to smuggle 4.7kg of heroin through the departure gates in Bangkok by strapping it to his body in 1993.
He was caught by a customs official who noticed an unusual bulge in his clothing. He was arrested and eventually sentenced to death in Thailand for his crimes.
Thanks to an amnesty from the king in celebration of his Golden Jubilee, Garnett’s sentence was later commuted to 40 years in jail.
For 18 years he loitered in some of the world’s most putrid and notorious prison cells, surviving knife attacks and attempts by fellow inmates to stab him with HIV-filled syringes.
For kicks, he swam in snake-infested water tanks with his cellmates.
He was extradited to the United States in 2011 to serve time in a series of federal prisons over his role in a separate drug exportation scheme. In 2013, his mother Lyn raised $20,000 through crowd funding websites to bring him to Silverwater to serve out his sentence.
“I survived 22 years in jail and then nearly got finished off by a bloody burger from Hungry Jack’s,” he said.
“I was astonished … but nothing makes you think of death more than being sentenced to it.”
Now, effectively given a third shot at life, Garnett has farewelled his old lust for money. And stepping out of the time capsule bounded by his dirty cell walls for nearly a quarter of a century, Garnett has discovered a Sydney that would do well to learn some of the lessons he has.
“The world’s dirtier, it’s more hostile, it’s less friendly, people are more aggressive, they’re a lot unhappier and yet everybody’s driving nice cars,” he says.
“It’s a bit scary. You have to look and think, how did this happen? The one thing you crave (in jail) is conversation and there is none. Everyone’s looking at their screens — they even have quiet carriages on trains where they don’t want you to talk. People are locked in their data bubbles.”
Garnett is now working on a prototype low-friction motor using a 3D printer he saved for during work release at Silverwater jail. But his heart scare reshuffled the decks yet again.
“It changes the way you view everything,” he says.
“I came out (of jail) with an agenda and a plan which was a healthy way to start. It worked. But it made me stop and think and go — ‘I haven’t even gone for a swim yet’.”
Adjusting to the freedom that has been denied to him for almost half his life has been easier than expected for Garnett but not without its frustrations.
“A significant problem is speaking to women. When you speak to women you change your tone, you soften your tone, you use more open gestures,” he says.
“For 22 years I’ve had to get the message across and get it across fast … If you get two tigers and stick them in the same cage you get problems. I kind of feel like the whole relationship thing is like putting two tigers in a cage at the moment.”
Simple things like steak, driving, trips to the movies and the love of his family now feel more valuable to Garnett than money ever did.
And that feeling of diving into the water at Parramatta pool for the first time.
“The weightlessness, that buoyancy,” he recalls.
“I kicked back and just floated for a minute. I looked up at the sky and thought, yeah, this is freedom.”
Source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...aussie-drug-mule/story-fni0cx12-1227703714862
