‘Cocaine Cassie’ Sainsbury has shared an emotional social media post on the seventh anniversary of her arrest in a Colombian airport.
Sainsbury, now 29 and living in Adelaide, shared a video of herself with tears running down her face with the caption: ‘Definitely not my fav time of the year. Seven Easters later and it still feels like yesterday’.
The then-22-year-old was arrested at El Dorado International Airport in Bogota just days before Easter 2017 with 5.8kgs of cocaine inside 18 pairs of boxed headphones.
Cassie Sainsbury shared an emotional Instagram post on her seventh Easter out of jail. She served nearly three years of a six-year sentence at a notorious Columbian jail
Pictured is ‘Cocaine Cassie’ Sainsbury
She was given the nickname ‘Cocaine Cassie’ in media coverage as she served nearly three years of a six-year sentence at the notorious Colombian El Buen Pastor prison.
Sainsbury was released from jail during a humanitarian decree issued amid the Covid pandemic, which allowed 4000 prisoners to be released into at-home detention.
She returned to Adelaide in August 2022.
Speaking to Fitzy & Wippa with Kate Ritchie last year, Sainsbury revealed she was frequently attacked while in prison.
‘I had a lot of beatings. I got beaten up a lot. I got stabbed. I got two stab marks on my arms where I was stabbed. I went through a lot of things that I wouldn’t wish on anyone ever,’ she said.
‘Obviously being the gringa (a Spanish slur meaning a foreign woman) in a Spanish prison, it just brings that attention of you know, rich white girl. Need to, I guess bully her down until that’s it.’
Now back in , Sainsbury has continued to maintain a social media presence, and sells exercise programs.
In 2023, she appeared on reality TV show SAS , however quit on the second episode.
Sainsbury was released from jail during a humanitarian decree issued amid the Covid pandemic, which allowed 4000 prisoners to be released into at-home detention
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph following her exit from the show, Sainsbury said she’s struggled to find work since returning to .
‘I’ve applied for anything and everything – gym work, admin, hospitality and cleaning. It always comes up with, not likely to proceed,’ she said.
‘I don’t want special treatment, I don’t want to be in the spotlight, I just want a normal life – a nine to five job, an eight to six job, just an everyday job but I keep getting rejected.’
However, Sainsbury has found love with wife Tatiana, who is an IT technician.
The couple met in a Colombian nightclub in 2021 and were married in a beachside ceremony in Colombia in early 2022.