Judge rejects Cassie's plea deal: Accused smuggler faces 30 years' jail
A Colombian judge has rejected accused drug smuggler Cassie Sainsbury's plea deal for a six-year sentence.
On Thursday morning (Aust time), the 22-year-old South Australian fronted a Bogota court to hear if Judge Sergio Leon had accepted the plea deal for a more lenient sentence after she offered to reveal the identities of those in the drug smuggling ring.
But Judge Leon rejected it and Ms Sainsbury is now waiting to hear if the case will go to trial.
Ms Sainsbury faces 21 to 30 years in a Colombian prison if she cannot prove she was "forced" to carry the drug.
After the hearing, Ms Sainsbury's lawyer, Orlando Herran, said she is now at risk of serving the full 30 year sentence if they cannot prove her innocence.
"There is a big possibility to obtain an innocent sentence," he told Sunrise.
She was set to hear her fate last month, but shocked the court after claiming she'd only agreed to smuggle the cocaine after her family had been threatened, effectively refusing to take responsibility for her crime.
Judge Leon suspended a hearing and said her actions raised questions about whether the deal should be confirmed.
"I was told that my family and partner would be killed," Sainsbury told the court previously.
The judge asked if there was any way to prove the threat took place, and Sainsbury said she couldn't.
He asked that if she was threatened to take the drugs, "Why did you make a plea bargain accepting the charges from the prosecutor?"
"I have accepted the charges and agreed to take up pre-agreement because the one thing that I cannot take away from the evidence is that the drug was in my suitcase and I was carrying it," Sainsbury told the judge.
"I have to take responsibility for that."
The 22-year-old Adelaide woman was caught at Bogota's international airport in April trying to smuggle 5.8 kilograms of cocaine to Australia hidden inside 18 separate packages of headphones.
