Cassie Sainsbury’s fiance Scott Broadbridge says he will support the accused Adelaide drug mule
THE fiance of accused Adelaide drug mule Cassie Sainsbury has told a packed media conference he believes she is innocent — and will work to free her from her Colombian jail hell.
- Fiance’s fears for his dream girl
- Diplomats trying to get Cassie serve possible jail sentence in Australia
- Hotel manager describes man who Cassie says tricked her
- Accused mule Cassie Sainsbury’s family refute debt allegations
- Cassie Sainsbury’s passport and airline ticket emerge
THE fiance of accused Adelaide drug mule Cassie Sainsbury has told a packed media conference he believes she is innocent and had no involvement with the drug trade.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Scott Broadbridge said he had “no doubt that Cassie is innocent of these charges and I will support her no matter how long this takes”.
But her Adelaide lawyer, Steven Kenny, who was hired by Ms Sainsbury in a phone call, said her court date could be two to three years away if her case went to trial.
“It won’t be speedy, that’s the advice I’ve had from Colombia,” he said.
Mr Broadbridge, who kept his head down as he read from a prepared statement, said he and “Cass” were engaged and he intended to marry her.
“I know that there are many unanswered questions in this case and I intend to work with the lawyers to get to the bottom of them,” he said.
Calling her “the delight of his life” he said he knew she was not a drug smuggler.
“I know that she is not involved in the drug trade, I know that she was not deliberately taking drugs or carrying drugs anywhere,” he said.
Mr Kenny, who defended former detainee David Hicks and was the first lawyer to visit Guantánamo Bay, said he had great faith in the Colombian legal system, which carried the presumption of innocence, and he asked the media to not prejudge his new client's guilt or innocence.
“I would like to think Cassie’s defence will be run in a court in Colombia, not in the Adelaide media,” he said.
Mr Broadbridge said he hoped to fly to Colombia to visit her soon, and to prove her innocence.
Mr Kenny could not answer questions about which cleaning company Ms Sainsbury worked for, who bought her ticket out of Colombia in Hong Kong or how long she had been travelling, and said detailed questions such as this would be followed up through her Colombian legal team.
He said the first thing he could do from Adelaide was to make sure she had good defence in Colombia. Mr Kenny accepted the job pro bono because he had legal friends in Colombia and felt he could help.
“We are working with them and taking what we think are appropriate steps,” he said.
The aspiring model and fitness trainer was arrested at an airport in Colombia with 5.8kg of cocaine in her luggage. Despite the evidence against her, Mr Broadbridge said he loved her and believed in her and was doing everything to try to get her out.
Ms Sainsbury, 22, is being held in Bogota’s El Buen Pastor women’s jail after she was busted with the cocaine — which was hidden inside packages of headphones — in her luggage as she was about to fly out of Colombia.
Mr Broadbridge said that despite the collapse of her gym, personal trainer Ms Sainsbury was debt-free when she jetted overseas on the ill-fated trip.
“There absolutely were no debts. She ran a business and it didn’t work out. She’s just an ordinary girl with aspirations,” he said.
“I’m just scared for her and don’t want to jeopardise anything as it’s early stages. We’re worried for her future, she’s not doing great.”
But his decision to “break his silence” drew criticism from members of Ms Sainsbury’s family, who have been told not to comment by her Colombian lawyer. Mr Kenny said some of the reporting in the media could damage Ms Sainsbury’s case and that he and Mr Broadbridge were having discussions with Ms Sainbury’s family.
Mr Kenny said he was asked by Ms Sainsbury in a brief phone call to act for her and he had no argument with Sydney lawyer, Jay Williams, who had until now been her only Australian lawyer.
“Jay is a barrister, he’s not a solicitor, and he is not in Adelaide which I think is why Scott came to see me,” he said.
Asked about her state of mind, he said it was a short call but that Ms Sainsbury was “a young woman in a foreign jail, in a foreign country, you can draw your own conclusions from that.”
She was being visited regularly by Australian consular officials who were reporting back to the family on her welfare.
Sister Khala Sainsbury said the truth would come out soon.
“It has gone too far,” she said of rumours coming out of Yorketown, on Yorke Peninsula.
The allegations first emerged when a woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Advertiser Ms Sainsbury left the Yorke Peninsula owing several people money.
Others have backed the claims.
But the landlord of the Yorketown gym previously used by Ms Sainsbury, and the father of her ex-boyfriend, say she had no debts with them.
On Thursday, Nick Paphitis said Ms Sainsbury had paid all her rent before she moved to Adelaide.
Claims she owed ex-boyfriend Luke Tape money borrowed to help set up Yorke’s Gym were rejected by his father, Richard.
It comes as her Bogota lawyer Orlando Herran said Australian diplomats were trying to convince Colombian authorities to let Ms Sainsbury serve her almost certain jail sentence at home.
She is being advised to accept the charges against her in order to reduce her sentence after she was caught with the drugs.
Mr Herran said diplomats were working on a deal that would see her move from El Buen Pastor women’s jail to one in Australia, but only after a conviction was recorded.
Ms Sainsbury posted a series of cryptic social media comments in the lead-up to her ill-fated world trip, which culminated in her arrest at Colombia’s biggest airport last month.
It has already been reported that the Adelaide woman made a series of international trips to and from Australia in the six months preceding her journey to South America.
But early this year, an opportunity apparently arose that seemed too good for the former personal trainer to pass up.
In a strangely prophetic Instagram post, Ms Sainsbury appears to have been counting down the days until a life-changing event.
The now deleted January 10 post read: “50 days until I make the biggest move I’ve yet to do ... 50 days until everything changes.”
She added the following hashtags: #newbeginnings #newyearnewme #2k17 #dreamjob #bondiliving #life #change #love #50daysleft #goodthingsarecoming.
On January 24, she wrote another post, which has also since been deleted, which read: “Moving interstate driving me cray cray! #save me! Not long before the big move now, super excited and can’t wait to leave so much baggage behind.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said Australian consular staff were continuing to provide assistance to Ms Sainsbury, but did not have an embassy in Bogota and the assistance was being organised “from outside Colombia”.