An Australian grandmother sentenced to death by hanging in Malaysia for drug trafficking says she was the victim of a love scam run by a US soldier.
Maria Elivra Pinto Exposto, 54, from Sydney’s west, was given the death penalty on Thursday after a Malaysian appeals court reversed an earlier acquittal.
Ms Exposto’s lawyers said they plan to appeal the verdict, but if the challenge is unsuccessful she will become the first Australian executed in Malaysian in 25 years.
The grandmother and mother-of-four claimed she was duped by a mystery American who asked her to carry a bag containing 1.5kg of methamphetamine.
She said she had fallen for a complex online romance scam that tricked her into believing she was in a two-year-relationship with a ‘Captain Daniel Smith’.
Maria Elivra Pinto Exposto (pictured), 54, from Sydney’s west, was given the death penalty on Thursday after a Malaysian appeals court reversed an earlier acquittal
An Australian grandmother (pictured) sentenced to death by hanging in Malaysia for drug trafficking says she was the victim of a love scam run by a US soldier
‘Smith’ allegedly told Ms Exposto he was a Special Forces soldier based in Afghanistan.
Ms Exposto said ‘Smith’ told her he was leaving the military and needed her to pick up his discharge papers and take them to the US embassy in Australia.
She said she flew to Shanghai and received a bag from his ‘friends’ she thought contained the papers and clothes, but had the drugs hidden in the lining.
‘He made me feel loved, he made me feel wanted,’ Ms Exposto told the previous court hearing, saying the alleged US serviceman would send her photos of himself.
‘Smith would sing to me a few times a day and send love poems as well,’ she added.
Ms Exposto said ‘Smith’ had also asked to marry her in September 2013 at a time when her relationship with her husband was getting ‘a bit sour’.
Exposto was initially found cleared of any wrongdoing but on Thursday an appeals court overturned the verdict and sentenced her to death
Relations between Australia and Malaysia soured under Mahathir after the hanging of Australian drug runners Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers (pictured) in 1986
She and her husband has since separated, and the couple were planning to divorce before Ms Exposto’s arrest.
Ms Exposto was caught with the drugs in Kuala Lumpur in December 2014, while on her way back from an attempted meeting with ‘Smith’ in Shanghai.
After failing to meet her supposed love interest in Shanghai she ended up being given a bag by a stranger, who asked her to take it to Melbourne.
When she arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport to change flights, she mistakenly went through immigration as she was unfamiliar with the airport.
She voluntarily offered her bags for customs inspection and the drugs were discovered.
Exposto’s lawyer, Tania Scivetti, said a three-member appeals court ‘found there was merit’ in the prosecution’s appeal, though it didn’t say on what grounds.
Ms Exposto’s (pictured) lawyers said they plan to appeal the verdict, but if the challenge is unsuccessful she will become the first Australian executed in Malaysian in 25 years
The grandmother and mother-of-four (pictured) told officials she was on her way back from Shangahi where she met a US serviceman with whom she had an online romance
She said Exposto was shocked but calm.
‘It’s disappointing as there was clear evidence that she was the victim of an Internet romance scam. She was a drug mule,’ Scivetti said
Ms Scivetti said the decision will be appealed in Malaysia’s top court.
Malaysia has a mandatory death sentence for anyone found guilty of carrying more than 50grams of a prohibited drug.
The prosecution in the appeal argued Exposto had been wilfully blind, that her defence was made up and she had engaged in a ‘sly game’.
Australian grandmother Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto pictured in a Malaysian court in 2017
Her lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah responded by telling the court that Exposto was an innocent carrier hoodwinked by an internet romance scam.
After her acquittal in December last year, Scivetti said Exposto was immediately arrested by immigration officials as her visa had expired.
Following the prosecution’s appeal, she remained in custody because she couldn’t afford to pay bail.
Exposto was handcuffed in court where she was consoled by her lawyers and Australian Embassy officials after the verdict.
Shafee Abdullah, told Exposto Thursday’s sentencing was a temporary setback and said ‘you will win and you will walk away’ following a further appeal.
Australian Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto arrives at the magistrates court in Sepang, near Kuala Lumpur on January 23, 2015
Ms Exposto (pictured in 2015) claimed she was the victim of a set-up after she was found with the drugs in her bag after arriving on a flight from China in 2014
He said a new appeal will be lodged in the Federal Court on Friday.
‘It’s the most shocking decision ever,’ Shafee said.
‘It’s a perverse judgment, no reasons were provided.
‘The High Court judge examined every detail in the evidence and in today’s decision they simply reversed the decision without reason and sentenced her to death.’
He also said there remains the prospect that the case could become politicised given the return of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad to the helm of Malaysian politics.
Australian national Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto is escorted by Malaysian customs officials as she arrives at the Magistrate Court in Sepang on April 30, 2015
Relations between Australia and Malaysia soured under Mahathir after the hanging of Australian drug runners Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers in 1986.
‘That’s a danger because Mahathir still holds a peculiar view of Australia,’ Shafee said.
In a statement on Thursday evening Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said ‘Australia opposes the death penalty in all circumstances for all people’.
She said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade would continue to provide full consular assistance to Ms Exposto in Malaysia following the overturning of her acquittal and imposition of the death sentence.
Ms Exposto (pictured) claims she was asked to carry a bag full of clothes, but was unaware it also contained 1.5kg of crystal meth
There are at least 900 people on death row in Malaysia, officials have said, but executions have been rare in recent years.
Malaysian lawmakers have voted to amend legislation so that capital punishment is no longer mandatory in drug-trafficking cases.
But the changes have not yet come into force as they must be passed by the upper house.
Michael McAuliffe was hanged for heroin trafficking in Malaysia in 1993, following Barlow and Chambers – the first Westerners to be executed in the country.
In 2013 Dominic Bird, a former truck driver from Perth, was acquitted of drug trafficking charges after he was allegedly caught with 167 grams of crystal methamphetamine.
On December 27 last year Exposto (pictured) was acquitted of drug trafficking but was sentenced to death on appeal