Add Category
Facing charges ... Maria Kristina Sergio, the alleged recruiter of Mary Jane Veloso, surrendered at a police station in Manila. Source: AP
MARY JANE Veloso did not find out until moments before the condemned were taken from their cells to be put into cars and driven to the killing ground that her life had been spared.
She had already participated in a joint prayer session with the other eight at the isolation cells shortly before they were all cuffed and chained ready to go in the convoy of cars taking them to be shot.
Mary Jane had requested to have some durian fruit as her last meal.
“It was her wish that she would look at the eyes of the executioner, not blindfolded,†Father Toledano said.
Life spared ... Mary Jane Veloso was allegedly duped into trafficking drugs. Source: Supplied
“Bring her back to her cell,†a prosecutor told the Brimob officers who were handcuffing the prisoners.
With that the life of Mary Jane was saved, at least temporarily. It is not known when the other eight found out that she was not being shot with them.
Saved ... Mary Jane Veloso has been taken back to the Jogjakarta women’s prison where she was previously held. Source: AFP
Meanwhile her two sisters sat, with other families in a marquee on Nusakambangan, and heard the shots being fired. Believing she was dead, the sisters burst into tears of grief. They had no idea she had not been executed.
Family members in the marquee became hysterical at hearing the shots pierce the night.
Soon after a television in the marquee broadcast rumours that Mary Jane had been spared. The sisters didn’t know what to think.
Shots heard ... Darling Veloso and Marites Laurente thought their sister Mary Jane had been executed. Source: AFP
“Congratulations, I think this is miracle. Mary Jane’s execution was cancelled,†the prosecutor said to Ismail Muhammad, Mary Jane’s lawyer, citing new information about her arrest which has come to light.
The family was elated but sensitive to the fact that other families around them were now overcome with grief and tried to hide their feelings until they were well off the island.
Dramatic surrender ... Maria Kristina Sergio, who allegedly recruited Mary Jane Veloso, has been charged with human trafficking. Source: AP
That morning, as the bodies of the other eight were being treated on the island in preparation of being handed back to their families, Mary Jane was then driven off Nusakambangan and back to Jogjakarta to the women’s prison where she was previously held.
The young mother, who thought she was leaving Nusakambangan in a pink draped coffin which had gone in the day before, was driven off in a car, well and truly alive.
Traumatic ... Mary Jane’s two sons - Mark Daniel and Darren visited her at Nusakambangan prison before the executions. Source: AFP
She had planned to wear white clothes for her execution “because it represents innocence†— she has always said she was innocent of the drug trafficking crime for which she has been convicted.
Father Harold Toledano, a Filipine priest, visited her in prison and blessed her.
“She is full alive, she very healthy and she was so happy too. She is blooming,†Father Toledano told News Corp Australia.
He said she was only advised as the others were being taken to be killed that she was going with them.
“She was just so thankful,†he said.