Cassie Sainsbury’s court hearing has been suspended and she has put her six year plea deal in jeopardy after making death threat claims.
The 22-year-old appeared in Bogota court on Thursday and risked having her plea deal reversed after claiming she only smuggled drugs after someone threatened to kill her and her family.
‘I didn’t want to take a package with me, I was told my family and partner would be killed,’ Sainsbury told the court.
When asked if she had proof of this coercion, she answered ‘no’.
Earlier, lawyers for Sainsbury agreed with prosecutors to a sentence of six years, along with 450 months of wages, after she accepted responsibility for drug trafficking.
But when the new and unexpected claims came to light, the judge adjourned the court until August 9, saying she wanted more time to investigate the legality of the plea agreement.
Sainsbury was joined in court by her mother Lisa Evans, sister Khala Sainsbury and fiancé Scott Broadbridge.
According to 7 News, Sainsbury had reportedly agreed to reveal the identities of others involved in the cocaine ring in return for the lenient sentence.
‘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,’ she told the court.
She faces 20 years in prison if the court does not agree her plea deal.
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