Cassie Sainsbury has been released from her Colombian prison cell just shy of three years into her sentence – and she is thrilled to start a new life as a free woman.
In an incredible twist, the 24-year-old Aussie found love with her prison fiancée, Joli Pico, a Venezuelan woman whowas jailed for theft, and exclusively reveals to New Idea her plans to start a family.
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Cassie says she’s determined to shake off her ‘drug mule’ label and hopes to become a mother someday, with a little help from IVF.
“I believe we have a future. I’m not saying it’s going to be
easy, because we’re from two different cultures,” Cassieexplains.
“But we have a very strong relationship, and if everything turns out well, I’d love to take her back to Australia. We’ll have to see what happens, but Idefinitely think there is a future there.
“We haven’t gone into planning the wedding yet, because we both know we haveto wait until she’s outside too,” Cassie continues.
“We have to look at the most realistic time line. I can’t say, ‘I’ll have a wedding in sixmonths,’ but not have a cent for it!”
Endless hours stuck inside the Bogota women’s prison meant Cassie and Joli, 30, had plenty of time to discuss the ins and outs of starting a family together.
Adelaide-born Cassie says they both want children and are willing to adopt or use IVFto have the family they’ve always wanted.
“We’ve spoken about it; Joliwants heaps of kids! She told me she’d like to have kidsby the time she’s 35,” Cassie laughs.
“It’s not a problem. I do want kids, [but] I need to be stable and to have everything my kid would need; I wouldn’t want them to be without anything. If everything goes well and we’re together, I don’t have a problem with going through the process of havingkids.
“Joli wants to do IVF and she wants me to have a child, and for her to have a child. And then, she said, after that, if we want more kids, we can adopt.”
The confident, loved-up Cassie we see now is a world away from the scared 22-year-old who was arrested in 2017 at Bogota airport, caught with 5.8kg of cocaine stashed inside 18 pairs of headphones.
Cassie’s lies and painful pastwere splashed out across headlines, airing dirty laundry even her ex-fiancé Scott Broadbridge didn’t know.
Nearly three years behind bars has forced the young woman to reflect on her mistakes – and now she’s finally ready to admit what really happened.
“I admit that I did the wrong thing, and if I had thechance to go back and change everything, I would definitely do that. Looking back, I can see all of my errors,” Cassie confesses. “I can see I should have lookedfor help. Obviously, atthe end of the day, I did it. If I was forced to do it by someone, I still made the decision to go ahead and do it.”
But Cassie wants people to know her decision to courier drugs out of Colombia for a $10,000 fee didn’t come lightly, and it wasn’t out of pure greed.
The former personal trainer was struggling financially and couldn’t find a job in Adelaide, compelling her to become a sex worker in Sydney.
“In the three years I’ve been in prison, I have had a lot of time to think. I thought a lot about the shame and embarrassment my family would have felt,” she says.
“It got to a point where Ihadrent to pay and bills and shopping, and everything was piling on top of me.
“[The job] was suggested byone of the people who worked in the brothel. I didn’t think I was doing anything illegal. I didn’t think I was doing anything bad.”
And looking back on her media vilification and the crueltrolling, Cassie says sheempathises with fellow convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby.
“When Schapelle was caught, I didn’t see a lot about her. But since I’ve been in prison, I’ve read and seen a lot of her stuff,” Cassie says.
“And when you look at it from the outside you think, ‘Oh that person is so stupid, how did they not know; she knew what she was doing.’
“But until you’re actually in the situation, you do not know how someone really feels.”
Cassie remains on parole in Colombia and can’t fly home to Australia for another 26 months.
The beaming bride-to-be now just wants to be rid of the shackles of being ‘Cocaine Cassie’ and turn over a fresh leaf with Joli.
Cassie says with a sigh: “I want people to now realise I’ve done my time and I’ve paid for it. Now I’m trying to move on.”
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