EXCLUSIVE: Convicted cocaine smuggler released from notorious Colombian jail | 60 Minutes Australia

no one should ever be surprised by how often greed and stupidity become close companions it's something Cassandra Sainsbury knows all too well three years ago cocaine Cassie as we've come to know her was locked up in a Colombian prison for attempting to smuggle almost six kilograms of the drug out of the country as well as incarceration her punishment included lashings of public ridicule for being so foolish cassie Sainsbury has now been freed and a new woman has emerged from the cells one who tells Liam Bartlett she's stronger wiser and determined to remedy her mistakes more often associated with misery and despair the notoriously tough Elwin past or women's prison in Bogota Colombia does occasionally provoke other emotions very late one night only days ago it became a place of utter joy when it opened its heavy gates and throughout a drug-smuggling inmate at that moment it was impossible to wipe the smile off Cassie Sainsbury's face [Applause] when Cassandra was sensationally arrested in Colombia in April 2017 the headline writers didn't raise a sweat coming up with a nickname cocaine kasi the then 22 year old from Adelaide was caught with almost 6 kilos of the drug stuffed in her suitcase back home Australians were instantly dumbstruck someone could be so stupid but what then unraveled was a sordid tale fueled by drugs sex and lies tonight after three years locked up Cassie wants to talk he doesn't actually feel real yet about her days in prison I wake up in his crap and the new love of her life she also wants to come clean about what got her here in the first place so were you lying to me previously her admissions might change the way you think about her I just wonder if you have trouble remembering what's really true compared to which version you told me about prior but only if you believe she's telling the truth I am being honest and I wouldn't wait anywhere to go through everything that I've been through Eva [Music] if three years in prison gave Cassie anything it was a chance to reflect on her questionable past great about the situation that I was in but everything has made me stronger that's happened since I've been here I've been a lot of learning lessons and everybody makes mistakes she documented her final days inside as she anxiously awaited news of her parole crazy and when the moment of her release finally came she was greeted by her best friend and former cellmate Cassie's relief was palpable it's been three long years seeing about the time when I was gonna be out of walk through this door it feels free at the same time at the moment it doesn't feel real and it won't feel real for quite sometime because like the rest of the world a once bustling Bogota is now in lockdown in a bid to combat coronavirus Cassie hi how are you Thank You Liam how are you that means for Cassie her newfound freedom comes with a new form of confinement that's ironic isn't it you finally get out of jail and you're still in lockdown yes it's a yeah but at the same time it's the freedom so in all you spent three years in jail it was 2 years 11 months and 21 days you must have been counting to the very life been Cassandra Glynn I first met Cassie in prison shortly after her arrest in 2017 then she was hardly forthcoming let alone believable as what a poor keep ours going on here isn't it but today she assures me she's a very different girl I'm burning up a lot and I learned a lot about myself I learn a lot about people I'm not to trust people so much it's been definitely like a massive learning curve but at the same time everything that I've been through in prison everything that I learnt I wouldn't change it because it's made me a stronger person it's made me who I am today there's no doubt in many ways Cassie has changed for a start she's found new love good morning I'd like to present you to Johnny while in prison she split from her former fiancé Scott broad bridge and began a relationship with a fellow inmate honestly it was the least thing that I expected to find in prison I can say it started as a friendship and then out of nowhere it just turned into a relationship hmm so along with the maturity that you say you've found in jail you also what discovered you a gay or has that always been the case oh no I didn't discover that I was gay then yeah I guess I've actually had experiences with women beforehand but I was more so I guess I never pictured myself in a proper relationship with a with a woman but here I am they were together for nine months before Jolie dropped to one knee and proposed in front of their fellow cellmates [Applause] Cassie's new fiance who's serving time for theft is due for parole shortly and Cassie's not the only person looking forward to her release developed early when you speak to her and hopefully she'll be out soon Cassie's freedom is a bittersweet relief for her mother Lisa due to covert related travel bans Lisa who's in Adelaide is unable to visit her daughter it's been a long time since I've seen you tears more than tears for now their only hope of seeing each other is through a computer screen and I've changed like two years how's that they oh yes um I'm skinnier already cassie has plans for the future job offers as far as cuz you have to work obviously I've had a couple of people talk to me about modeling and about stuff but at the moment like there's nothing here to do in Colombia at the moment there's no work there's nothing oh of course but it's got to end it it's got to end just look after yourself if you go out wear masks have you got sanitizer and everything everywhere I go I have a face mask mmm gloves do you want me to tell you the truth well I obviously know the truth now with you saying that it's fair to say Cassie has long struggled with the truth in fact her story has been riddled with lies from the start to understand how she so foolishly ended up behind bars in Bogota you have to delve into her past back in her small hometown in South Australia a younger cash-strapped Cassie was known for her get-rich-quick schemes she volunteered to look after the Cabal we tennis club's finances accusations of deceit date back to 2015 bank accounts for online transaction when residents claimed she stole money from the local Tennis Club and later that year refused to pay rent to her landlord when her gym business went bust Cassy has long denied the allegations there's a lot of people here at least the standard stack up as far as you're concerned all those people so far either made a mistake or have singled you out pretty much these days there's one thing she is willing to admit that as a younger woman Cassy made a number of regrettable decisions in a bid to break free from a cycle of debt in which she felt trapped the situation was very difficult for me and Scott neither of us had any work we had rent to pay we had bills to pay and it was sort of like had all this pressure on top of me to try and do something before we'd go under and so I applied to a job offer which was working as a receptionist in a brothel but that wasn't quite true it wasn't no Cassie's life turns to strife the sort of person who we need to try and be be a sex worker seduced by greed ho getting drunk of getting tipsy and on a path to hell lean was my Corazon that's next on 60 minutes it's a question that's long baffled us why would a young Australian make such an audacious attempt to smuggle almost 6 kilos of cocaine out of Colombia today after three years banged up in Bogota kasi Sainsbury says she's ready to explain let's talk about your version of events shall we and it all comes down to a desperate attempt to make cash quickly Cassie says the saga started in late 2016 when under the burden of debt she applied for a role as a receptionist at a brothel in Penrith in Sydney's west a former colleague from club to 200 told 60 minutes Cassie would travel from her Adelaide home and work under the pseudonym Claudia she would fly in and sometimes she would stay for a week or sometimes just for two or three or four days when I first met her I was in a prostitute Cassie V mentally denied the claims you weren't a prostitute no you never worked at club 220 there was some work relating with club t2i but it wasn't prostitution that wasn't quite sure it wasn't no while Cassie maintains she applied for a role as a receptionist she claims when she arrived her bosses convinced her to become a prostitute I got there and it was but you're not the type of person to be a receptionist you have the sort of person who needs to try and be me a sex worker and so it was going change if it doesn't work out we understand and we'll see what we can do and so it was like I wasn't comfortable doing it I didn't like doing it it was it wasn't that it was sort of like what else Cassie says she didn't last long in a job and when she decided to leave her brothel bosses introduced her to a mystery man who offered her a role as a courier what's his name Joshua Joshua Joshua what I never knew even that cool name what does Joshua look like it was like tall but chubby green eyes brown hair how old was he I would say he'd look between like 30 to 45 years old 30 to 45 years old tall slightly chubby green eyes so we've just narrowed it down to around about 800,000 Australians did you get a business card from him or something armed with such little information you'd have to wonder why Cassie would trust this man but apparently she did and after a few months of working for him she accepted an international opportunity which came with a ten thousand dollar paycheck in April 2017 Cassie boarded a flight in Adelaide to Guangzhou China from there she flew to Los Angeles and then on to Bogota when she arrived she was instructed to check in to a local hotel where she says she met the mastermind behind the smuggling operation when I first asked her about him Cassie was just as elusive as the man she described what did he say his name was Angela Angela last name means very very vague on details but today Cassie herself is less vague with detail naming the drug lord as 39 year old brazilian Angelo Sanchez so were you lying to me previously I wouldn't say that I was lying but I wasn't giving you everything it turns out you did get his last night so which version which version is true this latest version that's your true version is it I've already paid my time I don't have I don't have a reason to lie about it you'd hope Cassie is not lying just because what she says happened in the days that followed when he took her to his apartment is horrifying and still distressing for her what happened yeah it was basically he was saying that I had to be there with him that I had to do what he wanted that I didn't have a choice and then get me a softy and it was almost like like I felt like I was getting drunk like it was like I was getting tipsy and like just I getting sleepy you think he spiked that drink yep I'm from there he basically he was my clothes off and he assaulted you youkai you want to take a little break you wanna have a little break for a sec you feel like you're sinking and there's no way to get and bump the water the sage advice if that makes me desperate and mean stupid of a failed I need something with weight I need something with all but repentance drug smuggler yeah there are no shortcuts are they that's next on 60 minutes life these days looks very different for Cassandra Sainsbury who has just spent three years in prison after attempting to smuggle almost six kilos of cocaine out of Colombia released on parole amid the corona virus pandemic Cassie has gone from the confines of her cell to the confines of an apartment it's tough but what's getting her through is the love and support from her new fiance Jolie who she met behind bars as they await Jolly's release a man had become reassess they lovingly connects through the occasional phone call and written letters do you think it's made you mature a little bit yes definitely in her first interview following her release Cassie assures me she's a different girl from the Defiant's and naive one I met shortly after her arrest at first I didn't even know his drugs I came here I was told that I was going to be basically transporting documents well as a personal courier or something like that yes yes Cassie remains adamant that she was not a willing drug mule she claims she only realized the work was more sinister when she landed in Bogota and was confronted by an abusive and threatening brazilian drug lord named Angelo Sanchez by then she says it was too late to back out so it was like he simply had the threat above me saying that if I didn't do what I was asked to do that was my family I feel like I had to go through with it because I couldn't make somebody else paid them oh my mistake who did he threaten to kill he threatened to kill my sister like they had photos of my sees that and also they sent me two photos of Scott so they would like surveillance photos it pretty much is like like somebody had been following them but when you originally told me that you said he also threatened to kill your mom but now you said it was only your sister in your then fiance though the photos that I received my sister and of Scott but always they they said in Hannah and Hannah Dan in general they said the people that I care about and so I guess you could say I took that as everybody but officially what they sent me was my was my sister and my ex-fiance crippled by fear Cassie says she allowed Angelo to pack her bag before heading to BA guitars International Airport to board a flight to London this CCTV shows Cassie walking through immigration soon after she was arrested let's just look at the facts for a moment so you're caught at immigration and you're taken away in the police open your bag and they find the 5.8 kilos of cocaine and this is only ours a couple of hours after Angelo has threatened your loved ones with death it's only days after you say you were raped by this drug mastermind and you're standing there with the police and you have the hard evidence of this but you choose not to say a single thing to anyone in that room about any of that not to anybody an authority that could possibly help you now explain that to me how can we believe that's possible yeah because saying it's not mine this person did it it's not that easy because they don't believe anybody when Cassie was summoned to court she claimed she was acting under duress my family and partner would be killed but failed to produce the evidence she said she had on her phone to prove it is a true that you've forgotten the password Cassie's next claim for why she couldn't access that proof has long baffled me are you serious you've forgotten the password yes I mean you think about it well I'm thinking in fact I'm sure I don't know another millennial who has forgotten their possible if I knew the password and I've told my lawyer I'd give it but that's all that is i if I can't remember I've got nothing to give them have you still forgotten that password yes that password has been sort of lost in the dim dark recesses of your memories unfortunately yes because as well like I know everyone says it's stupid like how can somebody forget a password especially if it has like key evidence well it's a great question isn't it why are you so emotional about that why does what is that particular incident make you theory what is what is it about that I guess you could say the fact that you know if I had had the chance sooner oh I was given the chance to try again it's out of the phone that I would never have had to I've done the time of it ID Kassie ultimately accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to a maximum of six years behind bars how are you while it's still tough to tell fact from fiction one thing about Cassie story is clear and that's what motivated her to accept that fraught and fateful job in the first place but isn't it that promise of money Cassie that really got you in trouble if he were being really honest with yourself that that's what really led you wasn't it is that fair I know it sounds because obviously I accepted to come and do it because for money because I needed money but it wasn't exactly like I came there thinking yes I'm gonna go and smuggle drugs it wasn't like that but when I got there I knew something was weird I knew something was off and it was like I'm here like I already had both feet stuck in this hand nobody knows how things when you feel like you're sinking and there's no way to get and bump the water Cassie how are we to describe what's happened to you is it naivety is a stupidity or is it just your the unluckiest girl in the world if that mix between mean desperate means stupid and wanting to drive try and do something take it ahead and it came out way because I lost three years of my life [Music] what would you say to young girls in Australia who may face the same sort of hardships in terms of paying bills and be thinking about getting jobs and what would you say to them that says money easy and the quicker it goes it doesn't mean how you think it doesn't last anything that to value the freedom don't ever think that because you're needin something that you you should be willing to accept whatever it takes to do it yeah there are no shortcuts are there no hello I'm Liam bartlett thanks for watching so keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe to our channel you can also download the 9 now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 1,920,454

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Tom Steinfort, Karl Stefanovic, Sarah Abo, cassie sainsbury, cocaine cassie, cassandra sainsbury, cassie, cocaine smuggler, cocaine smuggling, drug trafficker, bogota, colombia, colombian jail, coronavirus lockdown, release from jail, drug trafficker released from jail, caught with drugs at airport, scott broadbridge, joli, el buen pastor womens prison, notorious womens prison, colombian prison, drugs in colombia

Id: zMqAYJg7acE

Length: 25min 33sec (1533 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 19 2020