How mystery man won Cassie’s trust

CASSIE Sainsbury’s lawyer has shed new light on the mystery man she claims tricked her into smuggling drugs, as she revealed she is racked with regret.

Sainsbury, 22, from South Australia, is awaiting formal charges in El Buen Pastor women’s prison, after being arrested trying to leave Colombia with about 6kg of cocaine on April 11. Her lawyer Orlando Herran, who visited her this week, said: “She just keeps saying: ‘Stupid, I was so stupid’.

“Psychologically, it is very hard for her.”

Sainsbury was detained by police shortly before she cleared the final immigration gate to catch her flight home to Australia after a tip-off from the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

Local media reported yes- terday police were tipped off two days after Sainsbury arrived on April 3.

Mr Herran said Sainsbury had told him she didn’t like the Colombian man, known only as Angelo, when she first met him after arriving in Bogata.

“She said that the first day she didn’t trust him, the second day a little bit more, the third day she trusted him, because he seemed very friendly,” he said.

“She said this guy was very friendly; he spoke English and Spanish.

“He helped with everything, with translation, he showed her around.

“She thought she had made a good friend.”

Hotelier Ingrid Hernandez, who recalls Sainsbury and her only visitor – the well-dressed, dark-skinned man Angelo – said that he had visited her several times during her stay in the room for which she paid $40 a night.

“He was a young guy, but older than her,” she said.

“He looked normal. Normal height, normal build.

“He could have been in his late 20s, 30s. He had short, brown, gelled hair.” Angelo has not been found. Sainsbury’s lawyers have advised her she has a weak defence, given she admitted she packed the bag.