A WHOROULY woman was thrilled yesterday after hearing drug charges that could have had her daughter executed in Malaysia had been dropped.
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Amanda Innes said she could hardly believe it when told her daughter, Emma Louise L’Aiguille, would walk free.
Ms L’Aiguille, 34, was arrested with Nigerian man Anthony Esikalam Ndidi after police searched their car in downtown Kuala Lumpur on July 17.
Police say they found 1.005kg of methamphetamine.
Malaysia’s penal code has a mandatory death penalty for possession of 50g or more of methamphetamine.
“We’re ecstatic,” Ms Innes said from Perth, where she is staying with family members.”
Ms Innes said she had spoken briefly to her daughter after the decision was handed down in a Kuala Lumpur court early yesterday.
“She just said ‘I’m free, I’m free,” she said.
Ms Innes said she would love to go to Malaysia immediately to be with Emma but couldn’t afford it.
“The family would just like to thank Emma’s lawyers for their work,” she said. “They’ve done such a wonderful job.”
Malaysian-based Australian lawyer Tania Scivetti argued the car did not belong to Ms L’Aiguille and she didn’t know there were any drugs in it, despite being in the driver’s seat.
“Emma’s ecstatic,” Ms Scivetti said.
“I said to Emma on Thursday in prison: ‘There’s a really good chance of you coming out,’ and she said, ‘I don’t believe it’.
“She said: ‘I’m never going to get out’.”
The conditions on Ms L’Aiguille’s freedom are that: she attend all hearings for Ndidi, expected early next year, she co-operate with police if they require more statements for those proceedings and she remain in Malaysia unless she is given permission to leave.
Ms Scivetti said four months in custody had been hard for Ms L’Aiguille, from Melbourne but who most recently worked as an aged care nurse in Perth.
She had maintained her innocence.
“She was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Ms Scivetti said.
Ms L’Aiguille’s Nigerian boyfriend jumped out of the car before the arrests and is still on the run.
Ms Scivetti said the defence would monitor Ndidi’s proceedings to protect Ms L’Aiguille’s interests.
She said she expected to celebrate the triumph with Ms L’Aiguille last night with a drink.
