What’s next for Cassie Sainsbury?

ACCUSED drug smuggler Cassandra Sainsbury is locked up, awaiting trial. In the meantime she must ponder a difficult decision.

Cassandra Sainsbury remains behind bars in Bogota, Colombia.

ACCUSED drug smuggler Cassandra Sainsbury not only faces years behind bars, but could wait months before she even learns her fate.

Authorities have 90 days to finalise the charges against her but what happens next for Ms Sainsbury largely depends on whether she pleads guilty or not guilty.

Rusty Young, an expert on the South American drug trade, says Ms Sainsbury has a long and difficult road ahead of her.

The author of Marching Powder said if she pleads guilty her sentence will be decided by a judge and she could face a reduced time in jail.

If she pleads not guilty she faces a trial which could take two to three years and could cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Cassandra Sainsbury pictured after being arrest at El Dorado International Airport in Bogota. Picture: AFP

Ms Sainsbury’s Colombian-based lawyer Orlando Herran told Adelaide’s FIVEaa radio’s David Penberthy the former personal trainer hadn’t decided how to plead.

Mr Herran said the risk of taking the case before a judge is that if they claim Ms Sainsbury is innocent without proof and lose the hearing, she could be jailed for between 8 and 20 years.

But Mr Herran said it’s possible Ms Sainsbury could strike a deal with the Colombian district attorney for a sentence as low as four years, if she pleads guilty and they take into account her youth, character and lack of criminal record.

A court date has still not been finalised.

In the meantime, the 22-year-old remains inside the El Buen Pastor women’s prison in Bogota where she is reportedly adjusting to prison life.

Pictures emerged last night of Ms Sainsbury walking along the balcony hallway of the women’s prison.

Cassie Sainsbury in her Colombian jail cell. Picture: Nine News

Pictured with an unidentified fellow female prisoner who isn’t named, Ms Sainsbury is smiling and appears to be in good health.

PRISON LIFE

Mr Young, whose book Colombiano comes after living in Colombia for eight years, said the women’s prison wasn’t considered as dangerous as others in South America.

“Many of these women have children, and there’s facilities for children given women get pregnant in there from conjugal visits or are already pregnant going in,” he said.

“She (Cassie) will be with other foreigners and guards will be mindful of the fact that as a foreigner she will be seen as rich.

“But I don’t believe she’s in physical danger as such.”

Lawyer Stephen Kenny (right) and Cassandra Sainsbury’s fiance Scott Broadbridge who insists she is innocent. Picture: David Mariuz/AAP

Mr Young said delays in the court case could extend her time in prison and this could affect her mental health.

Mr Young also highlighted that Colombian authorities welcomed the tourism boom and she would be treated fairly in the justice system.

“I don’t think this is a case of corruption and authorities aren’t going after foreigners,” he said.

“Tourism is booming and a lot of people actually view cocaine as a problem they just want to go away.

“Most Colombians I talk to don’t sell or take cocaine. They see cocaine as a western problem and regard it as a low class drug.”

Ms Sainsbury remains behind bars being arrested for allegedly having 5.8kg of cocaine in her luggage at Bogota airport in April.

Colombian authorities claim Ms Sainsbury was being used as a drug mule.

But the Adelaide woman maintains she was tricked into carrying the 18 parcels of cocaine and that she believed the packages were headphones she had bought as gifts.

Her fiance Scott Broadbridge said Ms Sainsbury is finding her situation “extremely stressful”.

He also insists she is innocent and that he is planning to travel to Colombia soon to visit her.

— with AAP