Cassie Sainsbury’s lawyer advises alleged cocaine smuggler to plead guilty for a lesser sentence
PHOTOGRAPHS of Cassandra Sainsbury’s boarding pass and passport have emerged after her lawyer revealed the ‘grave’ problem with her case.
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IMAGES of Cassie Sainsbury’s boarding pass and passport have emerged after her lawyer revealed the ‘grave’ problem with her case.
The detained Australian’s passport and boarding pass were seized by police at Bogota International Airport.
They have emerged after after CCTV footage of her final moments of freedom also came to light.
Her boarding pass shows she was bound for London’s Heathrow Airport on an Avianca Airlines Flight AV120 leaving Bogota after 11pm. She was meant to be at gate 41 and had an assigned seat of 11B in ecomony.
A copy of a permit signed by Judge John Jairo Zambrano (below) to the central Buen Pastor jail has also emerged, to confirm the alleged crime of “trafficking in narcotic drugs in circumstances of aggravation” that Sainsbury is being held for.
It states that she is to be held in preventative detention at the disposition of the judicial penal system. No date has been specified as to how long she is to be held.
CASSIE’S FINAL MOMENTS OF FREEDOM
Today, CCTV emerged showing Australian woman Cassandra Sainsbury, who is being held in a Colombian jail, checking out of a Bogota hotel shortly before being arrested.
The footage was captured as the accused drug mule left the $40 a night downtown hotel in which she had been staying since her arrival April 3.
Hotel manager Ingrid Hernandez said she remembered the Australian well from her stay there three weeks ago, because she was so young and arrived at the front desk without a booking.
“When she arrived I was in my office but the front desk asked for my help because Cassie did not speak any Spanish and our receptionist did not speak English,” Ms Hernandez said.
“It is unusual for tourists to arrive without a booking, particularly if they are a young woman alone like she was.”
Ms Lopez also revealed narcotics police have not approached her or anyone at the hotel to ask for evidence.
She also said Ms Sainsbury had checked out on April 12, not April 11, as her family and police have stated.
LAWYER URGES SAINSBURY TO PLEAD GUILTY
Today in Bogota, Ms Sainsbury was visited by her lawyer Orlando Herran who said she has still not decided if she will take his advice and plead guilty.
Her lawyer advised his client to plead guilty in return for a shorter sentence.
Herran believes the South Australian is innocent but has recommended she confess to cut her time in the El Buen Pastor prison.
The confession could result in her serving a four-year term: two years in Bogota and the remaining two years back to Australia.
However, should she fight the charge it would take at least two years to have the matter heard and may lead to a 20-year sentence.
“I’m thinking that Cassandra was used as a ‘mule’ ... the police says ‘I’m sorry, this is drugs ... this is your baggage ... you are guilty’,” he said.
“(It is) very sad, very sad .. she is crying permanently.”
CASSIE SAINSBURY’S ‘GRAVE POBLEM’
Herran repeated his faith in his client during an interview on Adelaide radio FIVEaa this morning.
“Cassandra says that a person she knew only by one name, and that name was Angelo or Tom, had offered to get her these headphones at a very cheap price and he came to the airport and put them in the bag,” host David Penberthy said, translating an earlier interview with the lawyer.
“I also believe her version of the events ... however it is here that we have a very grave problem.”
“He says that the grave problem is that at this point, we do not have any proof that she really was tricked or that this other person that she refers to exists or is guilty,” Mr Penberthy said while translating.
Herran said there are options available to the judge to reduce jail time if Ms Sainsbury is found guilty.
“It is possible to do a deal with the Colombian DA so that the DA takes into consideration that she is young, never done anything wrong before, that what she’s accused of doing is not in her nature,” Mr Penberthy translated.
“If the DA shows a bit of mercy she could get a sentence as low as four years.”
The sentence could be reduced further if Ms Sainsbury agrees to undertake social work or studies while in prison, he said.
The man has vanished and Herran has not spoken to him, and he is being described as a “ghost”, by Fairfax Media.
MEDIA BANNED FROM PRISON CONTACT
Ms Sainsbury has told prison authorities she does not want to meet with any media, The Australian reports.
Bogota prison authorities have received a large number of requests from media to visit Ms Sainsbury in the notorious El Buen Pastor jail since news of her arrest broke on last weekend.
But in a hand written and fingerprinted document Ms Sainsbury said: “I do not give permission to have contact from any media.”
ACCUSED OWED THOUSANDS IN RENT: REPORT
Ms Sainsbury reportedly owed tens of thousands in rent after she suddenly closed her personal training business in 2015 and left town.
The business was deregistered in September last year, shortly before she set off on a six-month “working holiday” cross-crossing the world.
One woman, who did not wish to be identified, said Ms Sainsbury left the Yorke Peninsula owing money to several people, The Advertiser reports.
Other residents said she disappeared from the town very quickly after running the business for about six months.
Former indoor football teammates told The Australian the ex-personal trainer operated Yorke’s Fitness for about 18 months before closing it down around the same time she ended a long-term relationship with boyfriend Luke Tape, who has since moved to Adelaide.
Residents of Yorketown said Ms Sainsbury, 22, had not paid rent for a long time and still owed thousands to a former boyfriend.
BISHOP: I HAVE NOT CONTACTED FAMILY
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has warned Australians there is little the government can do if citizens are caught up in criminal charges overseas.
Ms Bishop told ABC the Australian consulate in Bogota was providing consular assistance to Ms Sainsbury but there were “significant limitations” on what it could do.
“Our consulate general in Bogota has been delivering her consular assistance and that has included providing a list of lawyers to ensure that she has legal representation and providing other consular support.
“I have long-warned that when Australians travel overseas Australian laws don’t apply overseas and there are significant limitations to what the Australian government can do.
“I have not contacted Ms Sainsbury’s parents.
“This has been done through our consular service which is entirely appropriate.
“I don’t think it is helpful to speculate on the details of her case because clearly an investigation is underway.
“But I do point out that the Australian Government has long warned Australians that if they do travel to Colombia they are subject to Colombia’s laws and penalties for possession or use of illegal drugs in Colombia are severe and they include imprisonment in local jails.”
SAINSBURY WAS ON ‘ALL EXPENSES PAID WORK TRIP’
On Wednesday the mystery deepened as it was revealed Ms Sainsbury had crisscrossed the world for the past six months on a “work trip”.
Just days before she was picked up on a tip from the US Drug Enforcement Agency as she tried to leave Bogota airport, the 22-year-old posted on social media in the United States at the tail end of a jaunt that took her to China, Canada and Vanuatu.
“Can’t complain about an all expenses paid work trip which is mainly holiday and very little work,” she wrote on Instagram.
Australian and British police are now involved and helping to investigate whether Ms Sainsbury is part of an intenternational drug network.
Her legal team maintains she was unaware she was caring 18 packages containing more than 6kg of cocaine, saying she thought the black plastic packages were headphones she’d bought at a good price from a new male friend in Bogota in order to give as presents back home.
Public defender Jorge Ignacio Rodriguez described his first interview with Ms Sainsbury after her arrest and explained the process ahead of her.
“The next step is that they bring charges. That could happen in a month and a half to two months. It’s not fixed. We have to wait for the judge before we can present our case,” Mr Rodriguez told News Corp Australia.
“She in a nervous state because she’s not responsible for the drugs being in her luggage.
“When I interviewed her, it was an interview with a translator, and she said she was set up, she had been tricked.”
WHY WAS SAINSBURY IN COLOMBIA?
While Ms Sainsbury was arrested three weeks ago, her ordeal only became public last week when her sister created a fundraising web page to raise money for her legal defence.
Her family and fiance Scotty Broadbridge have offered different reasons for Cassie’s presence in South America’s cocaine capital, with sister Khala explaining she was promoting her personal training business.
A day later Broadbridge – who has been talking to Ms Sainsbury every day over a prepaid phone from her cell in Patio 5 of the notorious El Buen Pastor prison – said she hadn’t worked as a personal trainer for six months and was instead working for a cleaning company.
Her mum told media she had been advised by her lawyer to plead guilty in order to avoid a 25-year jail term for the $2 million drugs haul, but Mr Rodriguez disputed this.
“No that’s pure lies. It’s false. As a public defender, I wouldn’t say that at this stage,” he said.
“It’s an absolute falsehood. We have to think about all of the options, favourable and not favourable obviously.”
New details also emerged about where Ms Sainsbury had stayed in Bogota, in a rundown hotel in an edgy city neighbourhood where she paid $40 a night for a tiny room.
She is expected in court in the coming weeks but the outcome of her case could take several months.
- with staff writers and wires
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