'Nothing to do with me': Father distances himself from accused Aussie drug mule
The father of accused Adelaide drug mule Cassie Sainsbury has distanced himself from his daughter’s Colombia arrest.
Stuart Sainsbury refused to become “tied up” in his daughter’s drug charges after she allegedly tried to return to Australia with 5.8 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a series of headphones that she claimed were presents for an upcoming bridal party.
“Listen, whatever is going on has nothing to do with me, and I have nothing to say about it,” Mr Sainsbury told the Daily Mail.
“You can ring my lawyer if you don't understand me. It's got nothing to do with me.”
Cassie's prison nightmare
Meanwhile the South American prison nightmare continues for the 22-year-old who is upset, crying and spending time in a "very small cell" as she tries to adjust to her new life.
The Daily Telegraph reports the Adelaide local is struggling to come to terms with her new life.
An American woman freed from El Buen Pastor prison on Tuesday after a 17 month sentence said she and another older woman comforted Ms Sainsbury as she tried to make sense of what was happening.
“Because she is so young there are a lot of people trying to take advantage of her,” the woman, who did not wish to be named, told The Daily Telegraph.
“Not only that, when she was at the police station they took most of her stuff — all of her clothes, her money.”
It's understood Ms Sainsbury has been informed she would be visited by consular staff every three months, far less often than she had hoped.
“She’s upset because she needs clothes, she needs things,” the woman said.
“She’s just wearing a sweater and pants and a top, the same ones. I offered her something but she said no thank you.”
Ms Sainsbury is being housed in the same Patio as several other foreigners including 28 Mexicans and a woman from Holland.
The woman said Sainsbury was being held in a small cell with one other prisoner.
Prisoners are fed just three small meals a day of "terrible" food including mainly chicken or beef with rice or potatoes and salad.
They're up before the sun at about 4am to get into the showers before a headcount at 7am.
“The food is terrible, there is not much of it and you could throw the food to the wall and it would come back and hit you," the woman said.
The woman said she had advised Ms Sainsbury to find something to fill her time as the prison offers classes Monday to Friday.
She reportedly plans to start taking Spanish lessons.
Ms Sainsbury appears to be struggling to seek good legal advice having met with several lawyers, all of whom have advised her to plead guilty to avoid the maximum 25-year sentence.
“She needs a good lawyer, because one lawyer wants to charge her so much money and she does not really understand everything that is happening," the woman said.
The woman also advised Ms Sainsbury to be careful when making friends.
"Don’t let people take advantage of you. Because you’re not from here they think you have money’, so they will bother her,” she said.
“I said just be careful, and don’t make too many friends because you shouldn’t trust people."
Ms Sainsbury is communicating daily with her fiancé Scotty Broadbridge using a prepaid phone card.
“I didn’t see her when she first arrived, but somebody took me up to her the next day,” she said.
“She was crying, I told her it will get better as the days go by but just try to keep yourself busy.
“She talks to her boyfriend and she’s upset because people are saying things like she needed money and that’s why she came here and tried to smuggle drugs.
“None of that’s true, she’s only 22, she’s very young, that’s why I told her don’t let people take advantage of you.”
New details emerged overnight that international authorities had tipped off Colombian police, warning them to stop Cassie if she tried to leave the country, suspecting she would try to smuggle drugs, 7 News said.
