Bali Nine: Priest reveals Andrew Chan's final words to him before he was taken to firing squad
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Version 0 of 1. A priest who counselled the Australian Bali Nine convict Andrew Chan has revealed his final words before he was led away to face a firing squad in Indonesia. Father Charlie Burrows comforted all nine prisoners on Nusakambangan Island, where inmates spend their final weeks before being executed. Chan, 31, married his Indonesian fiancé in a prison ceremony in the final 24 hours before his death. He converted to Christianity after being incarcerated in 2005, led drug counselling sessions and was described as a "model prisoner" by the governor of Kerobokan prison. The Irish priest said goodbye to Chan, who was wearing chains, just two hours before he was taken with his fellow inmates to face the firing squad. "[Chan] walked into the cell where I was with Okwudili [Oyotanze] and Raheem [Agbaje Salami], he told the Daily Mail Australia. "He had chains around his hands so he put his hands around them one at a time. He said something like, 'It's been great to know you, mate.' I was there and he put his arms around me. I said: ‘I'm sorry this is happening to you’.” His fellow inmate Myuran Sukumaran called out "goodbye" to other prisoners as he was led to his death. Father Burrows said the harrowing situation was "breaking the hearts" of the prison guards on the islands. "If the whole thing could be videoed and everyone saw it, anyone would be against the death penalty," he added. The executions were internationally condemned and led Australia to respond by withdrawing their ambassador from Indonesia. In a separate interview with Guardian Australia, Father Burrows said the guards on the prison island of Nusa Kambangan were reduced to tears as Mary Jane Veloso saw her children for the last time before she was due to be killed. Veloso presented a “false sense of joy” during her final visit with them, he said, but cried and begged for more time at the end. Veloso was granted a last minute reprieve after the suspected trafficker who recruited her surrendered himself to Philippine police. |