Just days after the first photos of a smiling Cassie Sainsbury were leaked to an Australian news outlet from inside a Colombian jail, the 22-year-old says she’s worried for her safety.
The young Adelaide woman, who is accused of trafficking 5.8kg of cocaine through the country, is currently being held in Bogota’s El Buen Pastor prison and spoke exclusively with News Corp Australia about her first days behind bars.
“There’s a lot of chaos here,” Sainsbury is heard telling News Corp journalist Sarah Blake in a teaser for the interview, which will be published in full in newspapers this weekend.
“[Quite] a few of the inmates here are very pushy with me. They push past me. They start abusing me in Spanish because they know I don’t understand it and I haven’t actually done anything wrong,” she said.
The first words from the Australian come only hours her mother Lisa Evans and sister Khala arrived in Columbia, accompanied by a crew from Channel 9’s 60 Minutes program, The Daily Telegraph reported.
The former personal trainer’s fiance Scott Broadbridge, who on Friday said she “wasn’t doing great” during a press conference, is reportedly also on his way to Colombia with Channel 7 journalists in tow.
According to News Corp, an official who met Sainsbury was also worried her about her mental state without “essentials like a decent plate and spoon, a nice blanket, a radio and TV that make you feel at home”.
LISTEN: There’s a reason why we are all so obsessed with Cassie Sainsbury’s story.
At this stage, she hasn’t faced bullying from other inmates but is worried it may be in the pipeline.
“Not yet, but I feel like it’s not very far away because there was a photo leaked of me here,” she told Blake, who asked if she had been mistreated.
Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s lawyers have applied to for financial assistance from the Australian Government on her behalf.
If the case does go to trial she faces up to 25 years behind bars if convicted.
Extra: It's Not You, Here's Why Clothes Don't Fit Properly
The Quicky
Top Comments
And the latest is that Cassie Sainsbury and her family all stand to make large amounts of money from selling their stories to the media. This makes me angry. I don't believe it is ethical for those accused of serious crimes or their family members to profit from it. There is precedent for banning such things as convicted criminals are banned from profiting from writing about their crimes in Australia. Whilst not unlawful I think it sends a bad message when accused prisoners are offered large sums of money by the media for their stories. The media should be ashamed of themselves - where is journalistic ethics these days? If all the money was donated to charity I wouldn't have a problem with it but in my view people shouldn't be seen to profit from their (alleged) crimes unless it has already been proven that they were wrongly convicted for example.
What did you expect sweetheart?