Cassie Sainsbury has issued her first words from a prison in Bogota, Colombia
AS accused cocaine smuggler Cassie Sainsbury settles into prison life, her Adelaide family have started the gruelling journey to Colombia to support her.
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CASSIE Sainsbury’s family have begun a mercy dash to Colombia to support her, as the accused drug mule settles into prison life.
Mother Lisa Evans and her daughter Khala Sainsbury flew out of Adelaide to Brisbane on a Virgin flight at 6.10am (CST) on Wednesday in their first leg of their trip to Bogota.
Dressed in track pants and comfy long-sleeve tops, the women were accompanied by an unknown man on the flight.
When asked questions about Sainsbury, the women declined to comment.
Ms Evans pulled her hoodie up while her daughter covered her face before seeking refuge in the toilets prior to boarding.
It comes as Sainsbury issued a direct plea for freedom, in her first words from a Colombian jail.
Standing on the balcony of El Buen Pastor’s Patio Five on Tuesday, the 22-year-old waved her arms through the bars in front of News Corp Australia and a TV crew, asking to be let out of prison.
Her cellmate held a sign with Sainsbury’s message, written in Spanish: “Cassandra Pide Libertad Immediata”.
This translates to “Cassandra asks freedom immediately”.
Sainsbury has been in the women’s jail for the past month after being caught trying to smuggle 5.8kg of cocaine out of Bogota International airport to Australia on April 11.
She has denied she knew they were drugs and has told police, her lawyers and family she thought she was carrying home 18 plastic wrapped bags of headphones she’d bought for a bargain price.
Her plea comes days ahead of an anticipated visit from her mother and sister, who are due to fly from Adelaide to visit her, after signing a lucrative exclusive media deal with 60 Minutes. They initially asked for more than $1 million, and while the final price has not been revealed, a source close to the negotiations described it as “eyewatering”.
Sainsbury has been spending most of her time in her wing — known as “narco patio” because there are so many accused drug smugglers there, rather than attending classes, as some of the other inmates at her prison do.
News Corp Australia captured the first photos of Cassie behind bars yesterday, during a raid on the patio where guards used sniffer dogs to search for illegal mobile phones and drugs.
Sainsbury is currently weighing up her lawyers’ advice to plead guilty and receive a reduced sentence from the eight to 25 years she faces.
Her mood has improved inside prison in the past week as she has come to terms with the fact she is going to spend a long time there.
A prisoner who had been comforting her until her own release last Monday said Sainsbury had been constantly crying.
However today’s photos show her laughing and smiling with a group of cellmates.