Residents from Yorketown, South Australia, claim accused drug trafficker Cassie Sainbury, 22, “owed thousands” in rent after she suddenly closed her personal training business, Yorke’s Fitness.
Some are saying she skipped town, a local florist claiming she “disappeared basically overnight” owing tens of thousands in debt, reports 7 News.
One woman claimed Cassie owed money to several people after her business collapsed, reports The Advertiser.
Outside York Fitness, Yorketown. Source: 7 News
It comes a day after Colombian officials said they were alerted to Cassie by the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Cassie Sainsbury had been in China and Los Angeles in the days before her arrest in Colombia and drew the attention of the DEA when her plane ticket home to Australia via London was reportedly purchased last minute by an ‘unknown party’ in Hong Kong.
The last picture of Cassie before her arrest. Source: 7 News
Cassie is said to be “scared” and cries a lot as she remains in notoriously overcrowded El Buen Pastor Prison which is home to more than 50,000 criminals.
If she maintains her innocence, she faces a sentence of up to 20 years in a Colombian jail.
Speaking to The Australian, her father, Stuart Sainsbury, spoke of his nightmare:
“A father’s love is unconditional, it never stops regardless of what happens. I don’t believe she was a drug mule,” he said.
“She is my kid. What parent thinks of their kid as a drug mule? I just love her. I can’t change what’s happened, I just have to be here when she comes home.”
Cassie Sainsbury. Source: Facebook
Cassie’s newly appointed Colombian lawyer Orlando Herran has claimed he could have her case ruled on in 90 days if she admits to a level of guilt in the drug smuggling.
“She would have to present herself before authorities and (follow) rules of conduct and a series of controls,” Mr Herran told the ABC.
More as we get it.
