Aussie granny free
S Y D N E Y g r a n d m o t h e r Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto has sensationally escaped the death penalty after a Malaysian court yesterday found her not guilty of drug trafficking.
The 54- year- old mother of three and grandmother from Sydney’s west was calm as the not guilty verdict was handed down in the Shah Alam High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
The court accepted her case, that she had been conned by an online love scam and had no idea the drugs were in her bag, setting her free and into the arms of her family who were in court.
Justice Ghazali Cha said the defence had raised reasonable doubt and that Ms Exposto had let her love for a man she met online overshadow everything else, including her own family and future.
“The conclusion is I agree that the accused did not know about the drugs concealed in the bag and the accused is an innocent carrier,” Justice Cha said in his judgment.
“Next I am satisfied that the accused defence is not an afterthought.”
And he said that the prose- cution had failed to provide any CCTV images of the arrest.
Ms Exposto, from Sydney’s west, had faced one charge of drug trafficking under Malaysia’s harsh Dangerous Drugs Act, which carries the mandatory death penalty for anyone convicted of trafficking more than 50g of illegal drugs.
Two members of Ms Exposto’s Sydney family were in court for the verdict, along with a representative from the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur and a legal team of five lawyers.
The family appeared calm as the verdict was read out.
After the verdict, prosecutors said she would be referred to immigration.
Three immigration officers were in the court for the decision.
The judge ordered Exposto be referred to immigration for deportation because her passport had expired.
Soon after the verdict, a teary Ms Exposto was allowed to call family members in Australia to relay the good news after her lawyer sought permission for her to use a mobile phone. Ms Exposto, wearing a white blouse, black blazer and black trousers, was allowed a few moments with her family in court before proceedings got under way.
And the prosecution wished her a Merry Christmas.
Ms Exposto was arrested three years ago with the drugs in her bag when she was transiting through Kuala Lumpur airport en route to Melbourne from Shanghai and has lived under the shadow of a death ever since waiting for yesterday’s verdict.
Ms Exposto and her lawyers argued she was the victim of an online love scam.