In 2005, on his first trip to Bali, Stephens was arrested at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar with 3.3 kg (7.3 lb) of heroin taped to his chest and concealed under his clothing.
[3] Stephens, from Towradgi, a suburb of Wollongong, New South Wales, was employed at Eurest, a catering company, where he met Renae Lawrence, Matthew Norman, and his supervisor, Andrew Chan.
The day before, Stephens, Lawrence, and Si Yi Chen met with Myuran Sukumaran where police allege drug smuggling tools such as sealable plastic bags, medical tape, elastic waist bands and skin tight bike shorts were stuffed into the bags of Stephens and Lawrence.
On 20 April 2005, graphic footage of the arrests and subsequent police questioning of Stephens and other members of the Bali Nine was aired on Australian television.
Alleged co-ringleader, Andrew Chan was also arrested the same day whilst seated on an Australian Airlines flight waiting to depart Denpasar for Sydney.
Rush senior claims then to have received assurances from the AFP that they would tell his son he was under surveillance to dissuade him from going through with the crime before the group's departure from Indonesia.
[citation needed] In December 2005, as the trials began, it was reported that tensions were building between the Bali Nine drug mules and Sukumaran and Chan.
[19] Lawyers acting for Stephens claimed that the fairness of his trial was in jeopardy following comments made in the media by Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda that Australians should be prepared for members of the Bali Nine to receive a death sentence, if found guilty.
"[citation needed] During legal proceedings, Czugaj and Rush, fellow members of the Bali Nine who have since been convicted of drug trafficking, testified that they had never met Stephens or Lawrence until they were all arrested on 17 April 2005.
As Stephens' sentence was about to be handed down, his mother Michelle, speaking from Bali, was reported as saying:[22][23] "...faith gave them strength, and asked Australians to think before they judged [her] son.
[3] On 26 April 2006, the Indonesian Supreme Court reduced the life imprisonment sentences to 20-years for each of Lawrence, Nguyen, Chen, Czugaj and Norman, all arrested at Melasti Hotel in Kuta.
[3] In December 2009, Stephens announced he planned to marry Christine Winarni Puspayanti, an Indonesian woman he met at Kerobokan Prison.
[27] Stephens met Puspayanti months after his arrest while she was visiting the prison as a part of a church group; and they married in a traditional Indonesian-style wedding in April 2011.