Across the last 19 seasons of the Clink, We have had some really raw conversations. This is one of most listened to episodes with Stephen Caine (Part 2).
Stephen Cain has come from gutter to glory. 15 years ago, after spending 20 years in prison for drug and alcohol charges, he was unemployed, living under a bridge in Salisbury and collected 5c cans from rubbish bins for income. Now, Stephen has a successful business, is happily married and has three gorgeous children.
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Episode Transcript
Apoche production.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
There was this guy from South Australia that I did
time with in Pebridge and we got to know each other.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
What a crazy story.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
This guy met a childhood friend that I went to
school with and they got married and she was from
Muwey and Victoria, where I come from. Oh wow, he
got out of jail. I got out of jail. I'm
in this little country town called Erica. I'm shooting up,
I'm drinking, I'm smoking. I'm not in a good place, man,
(00:49):
I'm not in a good blak. And this car falls
up and it was a Statesman with South Australian red
Jack Bates on it and he gets out and I
don't know this dude, so I walk out with a
baseball bat. Dawn gets out of the car and I
recognized her. Then it all clicked who this dude was.
(01:13):
And he looked at me and said, no, I'm not leaving.
He bro, I'm not leaving here.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Man. You've got two choices.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Cannie.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
You can get in the backseat of the car. I'm
going to knock you the fuck out and I'll put
you in a book, and you're coming back with me.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Wow, And he said, and he walked across and he
told the person at the caravan part, you're gonna have
your airback. And he brought me back to Adelaide. He
brought me to Adelaide and for the first time, he
put me up. They put me up, they supported me.
(01:51):
I've got a job. I got off the gear. I
got clean. That was hard worked because I did a
cold turkey. I didn't do any medication enough and I
just I'd had enough. I knew when I came here
that something better was going to happen in my life.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Mane.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I came here with a passion. And I say this
to Tracy and I were only talking about it last night.
So when I came here thirty years ago to South Australia,
I'm coming down off the gear.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I'm hanging out.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
I have anxiety, depression, post traumatic stress. I'm scared. I
don't know anybody except two people. And I said, just
this bloke that Sparah, I said, Brus and I'm sitting
at his kitchen table here in Adelaide. I said, I'm
going to change my life. I'm going to make a difference.
(02:51):
He looked at me and he said, yeah right.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Bro had another.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Bomb broken and you just stayed, just just dribblings.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
One of the funny things.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
One of the funny things about it, But I actually
caught up with the same person I haven't seen now
for probably fifteen years, and I actually caught up to
him and he said to me, you did it, didn't you?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Bro?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
He chose chat same blow, He said, you did it, bro,
didn't you?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
It changed your life of where you are now? I said, yeah, man, I.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Said, where where's he? If you don't mind asking? Is
he in a good spot in life? Is is he
somebody that or is he can.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Do where he was?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Where you know? And how do you feel about that?
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Like knowing that they sort of rescued you from a
terrible place, but yet you must have the utmost respect
for him, but.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
He's still in that same world. Yeah, and were able
to break the cycle of.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
He acknowledged the same thing, you know, he said, Man,
he said, I don't know, He said, what's going on?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
He said, Look, you've come, I'm still here.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
And it'd be hard to look that man in the
eyes knowing he saved you. Literally it is put his
fucking heart and soul in a meaning you didn't know
on behalf of his partner.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
It is man, it is so because that's really powerful
right there. Bro.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, I came here thirty years ago to build a family.
That's something that I always wanted. Was Yeah, as I
always said to people, I was the bad person. I
just got a bit loss. And then you know, with
everything that was piled on top of it, with the
abuse and everything and everything.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I really I last.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
And today sitting here talking with you, I built that
family and I've got beautiful grandchildren.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
And I never thought this was possible.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
You know.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Fourteen years ago, I kept doing what I said before,
sim look setting yourself up for failure. I would go
out and get that good job and then go to
the hub. I would go out and get that good woman,
go and screw someone else. I would go out and
get this, and do this, go out and get this,
go out and achieve everything I ever wanted in my life.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
And fucking do everything I could to fuck it up. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
I was very successful at that, and about fourteen years ago.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I ended up homeless. I'm in my fifties and I'm
under a bridge. I've got nothing. I've got no income
because I actually had a severe workplace injury.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I was on work cover. They'd stop paying me. Then
the doll wasn't paying me. So here in South Australia
we get fucked. We get ten cents for our cans
and our bottos that you do yes, so then it
was five cents. So here I am walking around creek beds,
looking at rubbish bins, doing what I could to find
(06:04):
a feet. I sit back today and in hindsight, I
could have raced out and got a bit more help
than I did. But I guess I just kicked into
my old prison ways and I became inverted.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Would you say you became a survivor.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
I mean you're a survivor again of your environment.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, yeah, back to survivor and again. That went on
for quite a while. A few weeks. I was blessed
enough to get a unit here in Salisbury and South Australia.
I'll never forget it. I remember the first night I
slept in that year. I slept on the carpet. I'll
(06:46):
never forget that carpet. I didn't have a knife for FORKSP.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Did it matter like knowing that you had this home,
this place to call home?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, and the beautiful lady the rest of it, Yeah,
she didn't. She didn't see anything except I think she
knew I needed help. You know. Her name was Ricky.
I'll never forget her. It's a beautiful lady. And I
think that she just seen that I needed a hand up.
So she said I could have the flat. I got up,
(07:18):
and I remember as I put it. I borrowed a pen,
a bit of paper from the newsagent. I wrote a
reference with my left hand and a reference with my
right hand.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And I was a good bloke, and you write your
own reference. I had to get invented, bro, I had
to survive. I was getting invented again.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Wow. And I went to the housing what they call
on the Housing trust her here I think they call
on the Housing Commission in Victoria, like the housing.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
People that look after you.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
We can go and the bond so you can get
assistance with four weeks bond and two weeks around or something.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
All right.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I go to these people here in Salisbury and I said, hey,
guess what, I'm living homeless under a bridge and I've
got somewhere to live. Can you please give me or
even lend me the bond and the rent? And they
said no. I said what they said, we can't help you,
(08:29):
mister kay, I said, what do you mean, you can't
help me? You see what I didn't know, and I
don't know whether a lot of people realize, is that
if you want assistance from the housing, I don't know
about any other state. I'm only talking about here in sales, right.
If you want assistance from the housing, you need to
have an income. You see, if you don't have an income,
(08:51):
they won't help you. And she said to me, and
I don't know if it's changed since then. We're going
back forteen years, so maybe it's not. If you do
not have an income, they will not give you the
bond or the rent. The girl said to me, I'm sorry,
I can't help you. I hear you, but I can't
help you. And I said to her, I said, darlan,
(09:15):
if you send me back to that bridge, I don't
know if I'm coming out from under there tomorrow. And
she said, look, I'm sorry, I can't help you. So
I got up and I started to leave. I put
my hand on the door, and the lady in the
(09:36):
cubicle next to us was the manager, and she turned
herround and said, mister Kate, you get your ass back here.
And then she turned around and said to the girl,
you get the check made up for him, and you
do it now. So they gave me the check and
I moved in. I remember I stayed in that platform
three years and I bought the biggest ass cheese cake
(09:59):
I could ever buy, and trust in South Australia Allsbrey
to say thank you Jee's on that day, I.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
You know, shows the sort of heart that you've got.
That that right there, that's that's that's a special thing.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
H
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