A US woman who said she was tricked by a fake internet suitor into smuggling drugs into Australia has been jailed.
Denise Marie Woodrum, 51, was arrested at Sydney Airport last year after border officials found cocaine stuffed inside high heels and other belongings in her luggage.
In January, she pleaded guilty to the illegal import but told the court she was a victim of an online romance scam.
A judge found she had willingly participated in the operation.
On Thursday, the New South Wales District Court sentenced Woodrum, from Missouri, to a maximum of seven-and-a-half years in jail.
“I do not accept that she is genuinely contrite for her offending as opposed to being sorry for the situation she now finds herself caught in,” said Judge Penelope Wass, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Scam argument
Her lawyer, Rebecca Neil, had described her client as a deeply religious and socially isolated woman who had been groomed by a man online, the newspaper said.
That person, who went by the name Hendrik Cornelius, exploited Woodrum’s trust for financial gain, Ms Neil said.