Colombian police reportedly have in their possession CCTV footage which Cassie Sainsbury‘s legal team hopes will prove her innocence on charges of trafficking cocaine.
The security vision allegedly shows the only visitor Sainsbury had at her hotel in Bogota – a man she says is named ‘Angelo‘. He is the person Sainsbury says ‘groomed’ her and tricked her into carrying 5.8kg of cocaine in her baggage.
The manager of the hotel, Ingrid Hernandez, says that he was a well-dressed Colombian, and confirmed that he was the only person she saw visit Sainsbury’s room.
“Normal height, normal build. He could have been in his late 20s, 30s. He had short brown gelled hair,” she said last week. “She was alone most of the time in her room. I remember once she went and brought McDonalds back to eat.”
Sainsbury alleges that she bought 18 packets of headphones from this man cheaply, which she intended to give to friends and family as gifts. Colombian police allege the headphones contained 5.8kg of cocaine.
Sainsbury’s lawyer Orlando Herran told an Adelaide radio station last week that identifying this ‘Angelo’ character is key to proving her innocence:
Cassandra says 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. I also believe her version of the events […] however it is here that we have a very grave problem. He says that the grave problem is that at this point, we do not have any proof that she really was tricked or that this other person that she refers to exists or is guilty.
He also claimed that there is precedent of people tricking foreigners into trafficking drugs in this way. Herran says that he is encouraging Sainsbury to plead guilty even though she says she is innocent in order to avoid a long prison sentence.
Sainsbury’s mother and sister have reportedly inked a deal worth up to $1 million to tell their story on 60 Minutes.
Source: News.com.au.
Photo: Colombian Police.
