She was arrested at Hong Kong International Airport for smuggling 2kg of cocaine into that country on January 14, 2015.
Her mother, who has asked to remain anonymous out of fear for her and her family’s lives, says someone at the South African Consulate phoned her on Friday to inform her about her daughter’s sentence.
According to the woman’s mother her daughter was physically abused and threatened by her life partner to take the cocaine into Hong Kong.
“She told me that her partner threatened to hurt her family if she didn’t take the drugs,” she says.
Her mother found it strange that she couldn’t get hold of her daughter in January 2015 and after asking questions to her friends, she was informed that her daughter was studying in Nigel.
“It was quite strange as we are very close and she would have told me or contacted me,” she says.
It was only when she received a phone call from someone at the SA Consulate that she found out about her daughter’s arrest.
She had to come to terms with the fact that she will not see her daughter for a long time and that caused her to fall ill.
After numerous strokes, she says she has come to terms with what has happened.
The mother and daughter do communicate via email and by writing letters to each other.
“I also receive a phone call from her once every second month,” she says.
Henry Harber from Wild Wild Guardians, says the convicted woman’s family is devastated but there is nothing much they can do for her.
However, there is a priest in Hong Kong, only known as Father John, who visits the prison regularly and after each visit, informs the woman’s mother of her well-being.
Her mother says she cannot wait to read the weekly email from Father John.
“I have to look after and protect the rest of my family and stay strong until I see my daughter again,” she says.
