Colombia drug accused ‘not active’ in fire service

Firies ask for volunteering claims to be removed from fundraising page for Colombia drugs charge woman.

Cassie Sainsbury, 22, has been charged with cocaine possession.

The Country Fire Service in South Australia says a young Adelaide woman arrested on drugs charges in Colombia has not been an active volunteer for almost three years.

Cassandra Sainsbury, 22, faces 25 years in one of Colombia’s most squalid prisons after being arrested at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá on Good Friday when 5.8kg of cocaine was found in her suitcase.

UPDATE: Read the latest on Ms Sainsbury’s arrest.

Ms Sainsbury has protested her innocence, saying the drugs — found packed in boxes of headphones she claimed she had purchased from a male friend — were planted by criminals.

Family members have set up a fundraising website to pay for an Australian lawyer for Ms Sainsbury.

However, members of the public have used the fundraising page to leave comments voicing their own doubts about Ms Sainsbury’s innocence.

One of Cassandra Sainsbury’s modelling portfolio pictures. Photo: StarNow

In addition, the Country Fire Service in South Australia asked for references to Ms Sainsbury’s volunteering to be removed from the page.

It had been widely reported that Ms Sainsbury was a volunteer firefighter for the CFS. But a CFS spokesman today said: “she is a former member of the Warooka Brigade and ended her service in July 2014”.

The spokesman declined to comment further. No one from the Warooka Brigade, based on the Yorke Peninsula, could be reached for comment.

The president of the CFS Volunteers’ Association, Andy Wood, said he did not know Ms Sainsbury.

The family of Ms Sainsbury told The Australian today they would not be making any further public statements, unless advised to do so by their lawyer, Jay Williams.

A post on the fundraising page for Cassie Sainsbury.

But earlier, Ms Sainsbury’s mother, Lisa, said she has spoken to her daughter a number of times and was working to raise money to travel to Colombia and hire an Australian lawyer.

“She’s just: ‘I didn’t do it mum, you’ve got to get me out’, crying hysterically,” she said.

“She’s just so scared that she’s caught up on the other side of the world in something she didn’t do with no support over there, no nothing. She’s a CFS (Country Fire Service) fighter, she’s in fitness and training. It’s so far away from what Cassie would ever do, it’s not her at all.”

Ms Sainsbury and her fiance Scott Broadbridge. Picture: Facebook

Ms Sainsbury’s sister, Khala Sainsbury, told The Aust­ralian her sister arrived in Colombia on April 3 on a solo marketing trip to promote personal training and had wanted to buy headphones for her wedding party while shopping with a male friend she had met before travelling to South America.

Ms Sainsbury said the friend had taken her to buy them from a contact, “which should have rung alarm bells”, and she had been offered­ the headphones in a pre-wrapped package.

The drugs were allegedly detected in the package at Bogota airport when Ms Sainsbury ­arrived to fly home to Australia.

“She passed on the man’s number to police and the person was no longer contactable,” Khala Sainsbury said. “There’s CCTV footage of where she met this guy.”

Khala Sainsbury told The Australian her sister had been denied bail because Colombian authorit­ies had subjected her to extra scrutiny. “The prosecutor said they should make an example of her and that’s why she was denied bail,” she said.

Cassie has endured hellish conditions in El Buen Pastor jail, with the past two weeks only made easier by Australian diplomatic staff bringing her a mattress and blanket to use in her cell.

The prison is notorious for its squalor and overcrowding, with up to 250 women in cell blocks. It is also famous for an annual ­beauty pageant.

Ms Sainsbury has endured hellish conditions in El Buen Pastor jail. Picture: Roger Triana

Ms Sainsbury described horrendo­us conditions inside El Buen Pastor but the family was grateful for help from Australian consular staff.

“She doesn’t get any medical care because she can’t pay for it,” Khala Sainsbury said. “The consulate has said they’ll open a fund for her so she can buy things in jail. The phone calls she can get in are only one minute and 30 seconds. Not many people speak Eng­lish there and it’s really tough.”

Cassie Sainsbury grew up at Minlaton on the Yorke Peninsula, attending Yorketown High School, and moved to Adelaide several years ago.

She is a qualified personal trainer and had been living at Moana, in Adelaide’s south, with her fiance, Scotty Broadbridge, and her three huskies. Her Facebook posts contain pictures of her dogs, Buster, Bella and Rex, who she referred to as her “fur babies”.

The couple had been excitedly planning their February wedding.

The couple had been excitedly planning their February wedding. Picture: Facebook

Khala Sainsbury said her sister had been provided with a Colombian lawyer and they were trying to find an Australian lawyer as well.

She said no date had been set for a future court appearance, but it was likely within months.

A spokeswoman for the Depart­ment of Foreign Affairs and Trade said assistance was being provided to “an Australian woman arrested in Colombia, in accordance with the consular services charter. Due to our privacy obligations, we are unable to release­ further information.”

Ms Sainsbury’s mother, Lisa, said her daughter was scared, and it was out of character.

“She’s caught up on the other side of the world for something she didn’t do, with no support over there, no nothing,” she said. Khala Sainsbury has started an online fundraising drive to raise money for legal fees.

Her mother replied to one donor: “I’m devastated that my ­little girl is in this place. I’m scared to death for her. Our family just wants her home safe.”

Inside one of the rooms at the Bogota prison. Picture: CICR

Her grandmother Barbara Johns expressed her shock on the Facebook page.

“(I) cant believe this has happened to an innocent young women. Anyone who knows Cassie­, knows she did not do this,” she wrote.

“It can happen to anyone ... please help in any way you can, large or small, it will all help to bring Cassie home.”