Cassandra “Cassie” Sainsbury. (Fundrazr/Khala Sainsbury)
A 22-year-old Australian woman is the subject of intense media scrutiny after she landed in a Colombian prison as an accused drug mule.
In the real life version of locked up abroad, Cassie Sainsburg (Cassandra), has claimed that she thought a mysterious man named Angelo or Tom had given her headphones, not cocaine.
On January 10, she wrote a prophetic and now deleted post on Instagram that said, “50 days until I make the biggest move I’ve yet to do … 50 days until everything changes.”
Jorge Mendoza, ports and airports director for the Colombian anti-drug police, told the Courier Mail: “Her explanation is not credible. Everyone we catch says they didn’t know it was in their luggage.”
Here’s what you need to know:
1. The Strange Saga Has Landed the Personal Trainer in a Colombian Prison
“I intend to marry her”
Boyfriend’s emotional message to accused drug runner Cassie Sainsbury → t.co/Kq3iMn8FF9
Sainsburg was at the airport ready to leave Colombia when she was arrested for drug smuggling. Police say they found 5.8kg of cocaine “wrapped in black plastic and stuffed into 15 boxes of headphones that she claimed to have bought on the cheap from a man she befriended who had been acting as her translator in the Colombian capital,” reports News.com.au.
The identity of the supposed headphone-supplying mystery man is unclear. Her sister told Australian media “They X-rayed her luggage and they found 5.8kg of cocaine concealed in packaging which was meant to be gifts for people for her bridal party and family friends.”
The Advertiser reports “she was bound for London’s Heathrow Airport on an Avianca Airlines Flight AV120 leaving Bogota after 11 p.m.”
Her story, according to the Advertiser, is 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.”
The hotel manager described seeing the mystery man to the Daily Telegraph, which reported, “Sainsbury’s only visitor was a well-dressed Colombian man, understood to be the mysterious Angelo, who is accused of tricking Sainsbury into packing the 5.8kg of drugs into her suitcase in the mistaken belief that the packages contained headphones.” The manager told the Daily Telegraph that the man was “Normal height, normal build. He could have been in his late 20s, 30s. He had short brown gelled hair.”
The news site reports that Cassie’s lawyer has advised she should plead guilty so she will qualify for a four year sentence instead of up to 20 – even though he thinks she’s innocent. The Courier Mail reports Cassie is being held in the “notorious El Buen Pastor women’s prison,” which is overcrowded and traumatizing.
2. Sainsbury’s Fiancee Has Leapt to Her Defense & Still Wants to Marry Her
One fervent supporter sticking by Sainsbury’s side: Her fiancee, Scott Broadbridge.
“I will support her no matter how long this takes. Cass and I are engaged to be married and I intend to marry her,” Broadbridge told reporters.
He insisted she was innocent, according to 9News.
“Cass is the delight of my life. She is not involved in the drug trade… (and she was not) deliberately taking drugs or carrying drugs anywhere.”
According to The Daily Telegraph, “Scott Broadbridge denied media reports …that his wife-to-be was thousands in debt after the failure of her gym Yorke’s Fitness when she took off on her trip.”
3. Cassie’s Sister Has Created a Fundraising Site That Claims She Is Innocent & a ‘Happy Kind of Girl’
Cassandra “Cassie” Sainsbury. Police photo
Cassie’s sister, Khala Sainsbury, has raised several thousand dollars on Fundrazr.
On the site, she insists that Sainsbury is innocent and writes that the family’s hearts are broken.
“Hi, my name is Khala, I have started this campaign for my sister Cassie. Now for everyone that does know Cassie, is going to find this hard to believe, because my family and I sure did. Cassie would never do anything like what she has been accused off (sic). Anyone that knows her, would say she is a kind, loving, happy kind of girl,” the sister wrote.
Khala continued: “She would help anyone out in need, Cassie is also a volunteer for the CFS. Cassie went on a working holiday to Colombia, when at the airport waiting to depart back to Australia, Cassie was arrested and then detained for drug trafficking, she was found with 5.8 kilos of cocaine. The authorities rushed through her hearing, and was denied bail. It sounda (sic) like they want to make an example of her.”
She added, “Now because of being denied bail, she is now being held at Colombian biggest women’s prison, which is over populated by about 50,000 people. Cassie is possibly facing 20-25 yrs in prison for a crime she did not commit. Our hearts break, because we know she is innocent, but stands little chance of proving it in such a corrupt country. We are currently facing expensive legal fees, ang (sic) trying to support Cassie as much as we can, but is hard as we have little money.”
Cassie was about to get married, her sister wrote. “Cassie was planning her upcoming wedding to the love if her life, she has her full life ahead of her, and now its all put on the line because of this. We miss her so much, and since we have very little contact with her its very hard. We just want her home safe and sound where she belongs. So of you can help in anyway it would be greatly appreciated.”
4. Sainsbury Had Traveled Overseas Before to China & the United States
A glimpse into the brutal, bizarre world where Cassandra Sainsbury is being held t.co/tKrqL9PXo3
Compounding the mystery: Sainsbury’s travels to foreign countries.
She “made a series of international trips to and from Australia in the six months preceding her journey to South America, where authorities allegedly found almost 6kg of cocaine inside her suitcase on April 11,” reports News.com.au.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Sainsbury’s plane ticket tipped off authorities.
“The last-minute purchase of a plane ticket in Hong Kong for Cassandra Sainsbury to travel to Colombia via London was a red flag that raised the suspicions of US drug authorities,” reported the newspaper. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration alerted Colombian authorities about possible drug smuggling, the Morning Herald reported.
Sainsbury’s now deleted Instagram posts are also drawing attention. In one, in January, she wrote, “Moving interstate driving me cray cray! #save me! Not long before the big move now, super excited and can’t wait to leave so much baggage behind.”
She also traveled to China and Los Angeles in recent months, according to her social media posts. “Her social media trail places her in China later that month and in the US in early April,” reports News.com.au.
On April 3, she wrote on Instagram from Los Angeles’ airport: “LAX — so busy yet, so organised. On another note. Going from China’s lovely 27 degree weather to LA’s 7 degree weather is killing me!”
The news site reports that Sainsbury’s family “has claimed she was on a working holiday to promote her personal training business — a claim which appears to be supported by Ms Sainsbury’s Instagram posts which are riddled with fitness-related hashtags” but her fiancee said she managed a cleaning company.
Sainsbury’s lawyer told The Guardian she had “not gone overseas for six months before going to Colombia, and had nothing tying her to South America that would cause her to travel there for a week.”
5. Sainsbury’s Behavior in Colombia Was Described as Unusual
Colombian police were on #CassieSainsbury‘s tail for a week before her arrest (Pic: 7 News) t.co/2DnuECMnIx #CocaineCassie #drugs
There are allegations that Sainsbury – who is from Adelaide, Australia – acted unusually while she was in Colombia.
For starters, she checked into a $40 a night downtown hotel on April 3 and drew attention from the hotel manager “because she was so young and arrived at the front desk without a booking,” reports The Advertiser.
She paid for the room two days at a time, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The hotel manager told the newspaper: “She was alone most of the time in her room. I remember once she went and brought McDonalds back to eat.”