A mother serving a 23-year prison sentence in Cambodia after trying to smuggle two kilograms of heroin into Australia could soon be free after a shock legal victory.
Yoshe Taylor, a kindergarten teacher from Queensland, was arrested in 2013 after allegedly falling for an internet dating scam run by an international drug syndicate.
The mother-of-two, 46, always claimed her innocence and said she was duped into concealing the drugs by a Nigerian con-artist named ‘Precious Max’.
Now, her 2014 drug trafficking sentence has been squashed in the Cambodian Supreme Court – meaning it will go before the appeals court to be redetermined.
Ms Taylor is just five years into a prison term that could see her separated from her children for another two decades.
Yoshe Ann Taylor (pictured with her two children), has been in a Cambodian prison since 2013
Her sentence was referred to the Cambodian Court of Appeal for her case to be redetermined
Ms Taylor was caught trying to leave Cambodia with two kilograms of heroin hidden in her luggage in September 2013.
At the time, she claimed that she had been duped by ‘Precious Max’ whom she had been flirting with online.
‘Precious Max’- also known as Nigerian national Nwoko Precious Chineme – had fooled several other Australians, who were caught re-entering Australia with drugs after travelling to Cambodia.
He was arrested shortly after Ms Taylor in 2013, but allegedly continued to scam women behind bars.
He would allegedly engage with Australian women on dating websites, inviting them to Cambodia to visit him.
The picture on ‘Precious Max’s’ dating profile
He would allegedly offer to pay for their plane tickets to and from .
On Ms Taylor’s third visit, Max asked her to take back arts and crafts supplies, in which he told her he hoped to start a business.
Ms Taylor agreed, and took 2kg of what was she thought was Khmer Arts and Crafts business supplies, but was actually heroin.
The Supreme Court decision is a huge step towards Ms Taylor’s potential freedom and reunion with her children, whom she hasn’t spoken to in four years.
In 2014, a sympathetic guard at a Cambodian hospital allowed her to call her children using his mobile phone.
No date has yet been set for the hearing.
Nigerian man Nwoko Precious Chineme, who goes by ‘Precious Max’, was arrested shortly after Ms Taylor
She was caught attempting to smuggle heroin into Australia and sentenced to 23 years jail. She denies that she knew she was smuggling drugs and says she was duped on a dating site