Innocent!

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A FORMER Bournemouth fitness instructor has been acquitted of drug-smuggling charges after four and a half years in an Indian prison.

Backpacker Daisy Angus, 26, was serving a ten-year sentence for smuggling 10kg of cannabis in a secret compartment in her suitcase.

The High Court in Mumbai reversed the conviction on Thursday but it remained unclear last night whether or not Daisy was actually free to leave the country.

Speaking yesterday Tessa Lawless, from Richmond Park Avenue, Bournemouth, a friend who has been corresponding with Daisy during her time in jail, said she was "over the moon" at the news. She said: "I just couldn't believe it. Night after night I've been praying for her to come out."

Miss Lawless added there was never any doubt in her mind that Daisy was innocent.

"She was set up. She has been set free as an innocent person," she said.
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"I used to go to the gym and she used to help me a bit with my work. She is the most fantastic person - kind and caring with every good attribute you can think of."

The former Littledown Leisure Centre fitness instructor was stopped by customs officers at Mumbai airport on November 8, 2002 as she caught a flight to Amsterdam on what was supposed to be her dream trip around the world.

Daisy was accompanied by Israeli Yovam Kadesh, whom she had met over the internet in 1999 and known for only a few days prior to their arrest.

Kadesh offered to sponsor Daisy's tickets to Berlin and from there to Australia, claiming that he had excess baggage and that the two could share the baggage.

Daisy's baggage had been stolen in Delhi, after which she did not have anything on her except some money, and accepted the offer, said her lawyer Ayaz Khan.

On the day two bags were checked in - a blue Delsey suitcase and blue Polo USA trolley bag. Customs officials found seven slabs of hashish weighing 10 kilos in the Delsey suitcase and the pair were arrested.

Daisy spent four years in jail before hearing of her fate. The sessions court acquitted Kadesh but convicted Daisy on June 21 last year.

In October last year Daisy's mother Nadine, of Belle Vue Road, Southbourne, lodged an appeal with the Indian High Court.

Daisy's defence argued that the blue Delsey suitcase was in Kadesh's possession and he owned the bag.

Kadesh had lent the bag to Daisy as her bag had torn. Witnesses in court also said that Daisy had only one shoulder bag and one handbag made of cloth.

The court also heard how Kadesh and his brother were drug traffickers having shops at Goa and Manali.

An appeal against his acquittal is pending in the High Court.


Daisy Angus


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Source: Thisisdorset
Author: Fiona Pendlebury
Contact: fiona.pendlebury@bournemouthecho.co.uk
Copyright: Newsquest Media Group
Website: Thisisdorset