IT WAS meant to be the adventure of a lifetime – travelling to an exotic country, living and working there and meeting new and interesting people. Ashley Oosthuizen, who’d just turned 19, had matriculated with several distinctions from Hoërskool Outeniqua in George and planned to teach English to Thai children.
Her dream came true – but after falling for an older American man she ended up being sentenced to life in prison and is now sharing a cell with more than 60 convicts.
Ashley’s world collapsed in August last year when a Thai court convicted her of drug possession and international drug trafficking after she signed for a package delivered to the coffee shop where she was working. Not for a second did Ashley (now 23) believe she’d be convicted. It was all a big misunderstanding – she had nothing to do with drugs.
“After I heard the words ‘life in prison’, my whole world went dark. Why has God forsaken me?” Ashley wrote in a letter to her mom back home in George shortly after her sentencing.
Her divorced parents, Lynn Blignaut and André Oosthuizen, and friends all say the same thing: Ashley’s problems started when she became involved with Tristan Nettles (34), a self-confessed drug dealer.
Now the family are desperately trying to prove Ashley’s innocence and get her back home. Lynn will never forget the day she heard her daughter had been arrested. Tristan had sent a WhatsApp to André, who forwarded the message to her.
She breaks down as she recalls that heartrending moment. “From the very start I thought it was all a lie. I know this man manipulated her,” she says.
この記事は YOU South Africa の 3 March 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は YOU South Africa の 3 March 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
HOW TO BE YOUR OWN THERAPIST
With more and more of us struggling with our mental health, here's a common-sense guide to coping with life's ups and downs
SPUD: THE MAGIC CONTINUES
John van de Ruit tells us why he decided to write a sequel - and shares how his first book helped him find enduring love
SEX CONTRACT GONE WRONG
A Cape Town couple have been charged with using a young woman as a sex slave-but some say she lost the job she signed up for and now has a grudge against them
LIAM LAID TO REST
More than a month after One Direction singer LIAM PAYNE (31) tragically fell to his death from a balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, his loved ones finally got to say their goodbyes.
SHILOH HANGS OUT
THE two young women look like any pair of good friends chatting and laughing as they leave their dance class in Los Angeles.
LEO IN LOVE
He's just turned 50 and it seems Leonardo DiCaprio may finally be ready to settle down
PACKING A PUNCH
Irish actor Paul Mescal beefed up for his role in the blockbuster epic Gladiator II - and fans are loving it
I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO BE A LOVE CHILD
As the illegitimate daughter of the king, she fought to be recognised as part of Belgium's royal family, but Princess Delphine says she still feels unwelcome
'I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES'
A bite from a spitting cobra 13 years ago nearly killed her but Mikayla survived - and she's made peace with her scars
THE CLAWS ARE OUT!
Things have grown frosty between the Beckhams and the Sussexes as Becks comes out in clear support of William
