Cocaine Cassie s Prison Lover Devastated Over Sainsbury s Release
From EjWiki
The jailbird fiancee of Australian drug smuggler Cassie Sainsbury is reportedly beside herself after the former personal trainer was released from prison on parole.
Sainsbury left Joli Pico behind when she walked free from Bogota's El Buen Pastor women's prison two weeks ago after spending three years behind bars for a thwarted drug smuggling plot.
The 24-year-old was arrested at El Dorado airport in April 2017 after packing 5.8 kilograms of cocaine into 18 headphone boxes, which were inside her suitcase.
At the time, Sainsbury had a fiance back home in Australia, but the pair separated and she moved on with Pico, a 29-year-old fellow inmate.
After a nine month romance behind bars, Lot Lizard Pico proposed to Sainsbury, but is now struggling with the prospect of completing the rest of her sentence alone.
Cassie Sainsbury was released from prison two weeks ago after serving three years behind bars (Pictured with partner Joli Pico)
Sainsbury was arrested with 5.8 kilograms of cocaine (pictured) concealed in her luggage at Bogota's El Dorado International Airport in April 2017
'She's sad because her partner left,' a fellow inmate told a news.com.au.
The couple will continue to pursue their relationship, despite the physical distance.
Sainsbury is reportedly itching to get home to Australia, though must stay put in Colombia for at least the next 27 months as part of her parole conditions.
'She's with a very good friend of Joli's,' the source told the publication.
Sainsbury doesn't know many people in Colombia, and will reportedly stay with her fiancee's friend, but the source had no doubts she would return to Australia as soon as she could - even if it meant leaving Pico behind.
The 29-year-old Venezuelan woman 'still has a long sentence to see out', according to the source, after she was jailed for theft. Meanwhile Channel 9 reported Pico would be eligible for parole soon.
The former personal trainer from Adelaide (pictured with her partner Joslianinyer Pico) will have to stay in Colombia for another 27 months as part of her parole conditions
The pair were together for nine months before Pico - who is serving time for theft - proposed to Sainsbury in front of their cell mates late last year
In an interview with 60 Minutes, Sainsbury said she was not expecting to meet somebody in prison.
'Honestly, it was the least thing that I expected to find in prison,' she said.
'It started as a friendship and then out of nowhere it just turned into a relationship.'
Sainsbury revealed she has dated women in the past, but admitted she never pictured herself ending up in a 'proper relationship with a woman'.
She was released from prison after President Ivan Duque allowed about 4,000 prisoners to walk free amid concerns of overcrowding during the coronavirus crisis.
Since her release, Sainsbury has doubled down on her claims a drug peddler by the name of Angelo engineered the ill-fated smuggling operation.
During the interview, she claimed the man drugged and raped her prior Lot Lizard to her arrest, and that there was no doubt in her mind she would hurt her loved ones if she didn't follow through with his plan.
Joli, who is serving time for theft, proposed to the 24-year-old and shared photos of their engagement rings on social media
Sainsbury filmed mobile phone footage of the squalid cells inside the notorious El Buen Pastor women's prison
Sainsbury flew to Colombia in April 2017, where she said she first met Angelo in person at a local hotel. A few days later, she claimed he spiked her drink before sexually assaulting her.
'He was saying that I had to be there with him, that I had to do what he wanted, that I didn't have a choice,' she told the program via Skype from Colombia.
'And then he gave me a drink and it was almost like, I felt like I was getting drunk, I was getting tipsy.
'From there, he basically forced my clothes off.'
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Sainsbury has always maintained she believed she would only be transporting documents, and not drugs.
But she said the sexual assault made her realise Angelo would follow through on threats he made towards her family if she didn't go through with smuggling cocaine.
'He simply had the threat above me saying that if I didn't do what I was asked to do, that I was … it was my family,' she said.
Sainsbury has previously claimed Angelo threatened to kill her mother, sister, and former fiance Scott Broadbridge.
Sainsbury and a fellow inmate leaving prison earlier this month after President Ivan Duque signed a decree to release about 4,000 prisoners due to concerns of overcrowding in prisons amid COVID-19
'I felt like I had to go through with it, because I couldn't make somebody else pay for my mistake,' she said through tears.
Throughout her trial, Sainsbury claimed she was acting under duress but has never gone into detail on sexual assault allegations against Angelo.
She also previously claimed to have evidence on her phone that could prove her innocence, but couldn't remember the password at her trial to clear her name.
Bartlett pressed Sainsbury on why she didn't tell police about the alleged sexual assault when she was arrested at Bogota International Airport.
'It's not as easy as saying [the drugs] are not mine,' she responded.
In an interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday night, Sainsbury repeated her previous claims a drug peddler named 'Angelo' engineered the ill-fated smuggling operation - but added some explosive new claims
Sainsbury went on to admit she initially agreed to couriering 'documents' because she 'needed the money'.
'I know how it sounds, because obviously I accepted to come into it for money, I needed money, but I wasn't exactly like, I came there thinking, yes I'm going to go and smuggle drugs, it wasn't like that,' she said.
'But when I got there I knew something was weird. I knew something was off and it was like I'm here, like I already had both feet stuck in the sand.'
Sainsbury lifted the lid on her former life as a sex worker at a brothel in Sydney's western suburbs, where she worked under the alias 'Claudia'. Pictured: Sainsbury on the Club 220 website
Sainsbury also lifted the lid on her former life as a sex worker at a brothel in Penrith, in Sydney's western suburbs.
She said she applied for a position as a receptionist at Club 220 in a desperate bid to make fast cash.
'The situation was very difficult for me and Scott. Neither of us had work, we had rent to pay, we had bills to pay and there was all this pressure on me to do something before we'd go under,' she said.
Sainsbury claimed she only intended to work as a receptionist, but after arriving at the brothel her bosses convinced her to become a prostitute.
'I got there and [they said] you're not the type of person to be a receptionist, you're the sort of person who needs to try and be a sex worker,' she said.
'I wasn't comfortable doing it, I didn't like doing it. [But] if it wasn't that then it was like what else?'
It comes after Sainsbury vehemently denied claims she worked as a prostitute during a 2018 interview.
A former colleague at Club 220 claimed Sainsbury travelled from her home in Adelaide to the brothel and used the alias 'Claudia'.
'She would fly in and sometimes she would stay for a week or sometimes just for two, three or four days,' the woman previously told 60 Minutes.
Sainsbury was locked up at El Buen Pastor women's prison in Bogota (pictured)
Sainsbury was engaged to Scott Broadbridge (pictured together) at the time of her conviction, Lot Lizard but no longer speaks to her former fiance after they split in February 2018
