An Adelaide based personal trainer and volunteer firefighter is facing up to 25 years in a Colombian prison after 5.8 kilograms of cocaine was found in her suitcase.
Cassandra Sainsbury was arrested for drug trafficking offences at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá when she went to catch her flight back to Australia following an eight-day working holiday in Colombia on April 11.
But her family say she is “naive” and had been set up by a man she had met who gave her what she believed was a package of headphones.
Sainsbury’s sister, Khala, told the media that a man she met while travelling offered to bulk buy the headphones cheaply for her, which she wanted as gifts for her bridal party at her upcoming wedding to fiance Scott Broadbridge.
Anyone that knows her would say she is a kind, loving, happy kind of girl.”
“Cassie, being young, said she’d do it. And it came to her already packaged and sealed so she put it straight in her suitcase not thinking,” Khala said. “She’s very naive.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed to HuffPost Australia that they are assisting an Australian woman arrested in Colombia, but declined to give further details “due to our privacy obligations”.
Colombia is the world’s largest cocaine producer, providing more than half of the world’s illicit supply — 487 tons annually. Profits from the drug amount to around 1 per cent of the nation’s GDP and provide livelihoods for around 65,000 farming families in remote areas, according to UN estimates.
But the Government has cracked down on the drug trade in recent years in an attempt to clean up its image, with heavy penalties for those caught trafficking. The maximum penalty for trafficking cocaine is 25 years.
The Adelaide woman’s mother, Lisa Evans, told KIIS FM that Sainsbury is innocent, but is considering pleading guilty to reduce her sentence.
“If she pleads guilty the minimum is six years,” Evans said.
“If Cassie gives information about the person that gave her the package it may come down to four.”
Evans reportedly told Channel Nine’s Today Show she could not believe someone could do this to her daughter.
“Cassie is just, ‘I didn’t do it mum, you have got to get me out’ and crying hysterically,” Evans said.
Sainsbury has been denied bail and is currently in the notorious El Buen Pastor women’s prison, where she is sharing a cell with up to 250 women in squalid conditions. She is due to face trial in two months’ time, her family says.
The 22-year-old’s sister has set up a fundraising page to raise money towards Cassie’s legal costs.
“Cassie would never do anything like what she has been accused off,” Khala wrote on the page.
“Anyone that knows her would say she is a kind, loving, happy kind of girl. She would help anyone out in need.”
But the page has drawn criticism from some posters, who accused the family “begging” for money
After four days, the campaign had only raised $2,610 towards its $15,000 goal.
Source: Cassie Sainsbury Faces Up To 25 Years For 5.8kg Cocaine Haul
No comments:
Post a Comment