Source: Channel 9.
An Australian woman caught with cocaine in Columbia is claiming a man gave the package to her as a gift, claiming it was 'headphones'.
By Sarah Blake in Bogota, Claire Bickers, News Corp Australia Network
Alleged drug mule Cassie Sainsbury faces 20 years in prison after a judge threw out a plea-deal between her lawyers and prosecutors when she insisted she had been threatened.
Judge Leon rejected the plea agreement on the grounds she had not accepted full responsibility for trying to smuggle the drugs.
The prosecution told the court it will now "retire" any plea-deal agreement with Sainsbury, and will instead present their case before a full trial.
A prosecution source said she now faces a minimum of 21 years and a maximum of 30 years. Under the plea deal, she would have served only six.
Sainsbury was escorted by heavy security through a media scrum outside the court five minutes after her mother Lisa Evans and fiance Scott Broadbridge arrived.
Inside court, Sainsbury told the judge she desperately needed $10,000. She contacted a man named "Nathan" through a website in Hong Kong, believing she was being asked to carry sensitive documents.
Money was transferred through a Western Union account in Bogota.
Here Sainsbury repeated her claim she was forced to carry drugs, and threatened at gunpoint.
Against all advice
Sainsbury's lawyer said Sainsbury was ignoring the advice of her legal team and her family who were pressuring her to except the six-year plea deal agreed to by prosecutors and presented to the court at her last court appearance.
Herran said she was so concerned about her reputation and how people in Australia would think of her that she refused to back down on her story that she was threatened.
Instead she said she wished to gamble on a trial, an incredibly risky proposition for Sainsbury who would now face between 21 and 30 years if she is not able to prove her claim that she was threatened.
"Cocaine Cassie" with the 5.8kg of cocaine she is accused of smuggling into Bogota. Photo/AP
He said he spoke to her as early as this morning local time in Bogota and she was continuing to insist that she would not tell the court that she was guilty of knowingly trying to smuggle drugs.
Herran stands to make a fortune if Sainsbury's case goes to trial.
He has not been paid yet, but said he is arranging for Australian taxpayer funding.
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has confirmed Australian consular staff are on hand at the court case to provide assistance but says there is little that can be done until the nature of Sainsbury's case becomes clearer.
"It is not clear whether she is seeking a plea bargain, or if she would change her plea," Bishop told Channel Seven's Sunrise programme.
"Once we know the outcome of the hearing is we will look at what can happen next."
But Bishop said Sainsbury's case was a strong message to all Australians travelling overseas.
"You have to abide by the laws of the country you are visiting," she said.
