Cassie Sainsbury’s uncle doesn’t want his tax to help pay the accused drug mule’s legal costs

The uncle of Cassandra Sainsbury would not want his taxes to help his niece. The accused Australian drug trafficker has launched an urgent appeal for taxpayer funding to help her legal costs.

Sainsbury launched the appeal on the eve of a new court hearing in Bogota, Colombia. She apparently feared she would not receive a fair trial in the South American county, and therefore she needed the Australian public’s help in funding her legal defence. Orlando Herran, her Bogota-based lawyer, said the team needed urgent assistance from Sainsbury’s home country.

However, her own uncle, Neil Sainsbury, did not believe that Australians should shoulder the cost of the accused cocaine smuggler. He seemed already convinced of Sainsbury’s guilty.

“I don’t understand why (we’d be) funding a drug runner overseas – no way,” he told The Advertiser. “I’m a taxpayer. I would hate to think my dollar is going over there. Australian taxpayers’ money shouldn’t be funding any (drug runners), the Bali Nine, any of them – they get what they deserve.”

Neil was referring to the group of nine Australians convicted of attempting to smuggle heroin from Indonesia in 2005. Ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed 10 years later, while six of them received life sentence and one received 20 years’ sentence.

Sainsbury was arrested on April 13 at Bogota’s El Dorado Airport just as she was about to fly back to Australia. Her suitcase was found with 5.8 kg of cocaine, which she initially denied knowing about.

She previously claimed she bought discounted headphones from a man who acted as her interpreter in the country. The individually wrapped headphones turned out to carry cocaine in them. However, her statement with the NSW Supreme Court claims she had to do what an international drug trafficking syndicate told her to because the syndicate allegedly threatened her life.

Her older sister Khala had launched and since retracted a Fundrazr page in a bid to raise $15,000 for her legal fees. Sainsbury is now hoping Australia would be able to financially assist her defence.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Sainsbury will receive the same Federal Government assistance as other Australians arrested in other countries. He couldn’t help but remind citizens, however, to always obey the laws of the country they are in.

“There are plenty of Australians in strife with law overseas and I just say that everyone should remember that when you are overseas, obey the law of the country you’re in,” he told 5AA on Wednesday. “So as far as Cassie Sainsbury is concerned, she will be provided with consular assistance in the normal way, but I can’t go into any further details about her particular case.”

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