An Australian mother of five accused of smuggling 7kg of cocaine and heroin into Taiwan is locked up in an overcrowded jail, isolated from her family and with no one to talk to.
Debbie Voulgaris, 57, has been in a Taiwanese prison since she was arrested at Taoyuan International Airport in December after drugs worth about $1.25 million were allegedly found in black plastic bags inside her suitcase.
Her ex-husband, John Voulgaris, told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday that she was framed by criminals posing as foreign investors who used her as a drug mule and stopped taking their calls once she was arrested.
However, local police allege that Voulgaris was paid $2,700 to cover his flights and accommodation while transporting the drugs from Malaysia to Taiwan.
She faces death by firing squad if convicted, but the sentence could be reduced to a long prison term.
Until her matter returns to the Taoyuan District Court in August, she will remain trapped in jail and banned from speaking to her ex-husband or five children in Melbourne.
Debbie Voulgaris (pictured), 57, was arrested at Taoyuan International Airport in December.
Ms Voulgaris (pictured) was arrested after drugs were allegedly found in black plastic bags inside her luggage.
Taoyuan Women’s Prison (pictured), where inmates are forced to spend the day working in factories
Ms. Voulgaris is likely detained in the Taoyuan Women’s Prison, where inmates are forced to work in factories, are prohibited from speaking and have to buy their own blankets.
According to a British government website, there are two or three inmates per cell and each has a foam mattress, but extras must be purchased from the prison shop.
Talking between detainees is only allowed during breaks, meals consist of bread and rice and only satisfy Chinese palates, and all fruits and vegetables are purchased at the inmate’s expense.
Nearly half of the inmates at Taoyuan Women’s Prison have committed drug-related crimes.
Ms Voulgaris has been denied family visits but can speak to her legal team and officials at the Australia Office in Taipei.
A request for his release was denied in March, with judges Cai Yirong and Hou Jingyun ruling that there was substantial evidence that he was a flight risk.
His lawyers had argued that their client had not spoken to his family in three months, was struggling to adapt to Chinese food and could not speak Chinese.
However, the judges ruled that these “were not factors to be considered in determining the need for detention.”
An American expatriate who spent weeks at the Pingtung Detention Center in the south of the country previously told the Taipei Times that overcrowding was a major problem, with only 75 percent of inmates being assigned their own bed.
Her ex-husband, John Voulgaris (pictured), says traffickers had set his wife up.
The visitor reception area at Taoyuan Women’s Prison (pictured)
Prisoners are escorted by guards in the prison that mainly houses drug inmates (file image)
Those held in Taoyuan Women’s Prison are only allowed to speak during factory breaks.
Taiwanese prison inmates during an activity in one of the classrooms
His cellmates used batteries and toilet paper to light their cigarettes, there were no watches and watches were prohibited.
Taiwanese police allege that Voulgaris initially “vehemently denied” any knowledge of the drugs, before later claiming that her ex-husband was behind the plot.
Mr Voulgaris, owner of a mortgage lending company, told Daily Mail Australia: “We don’t know anything about the bloody drugs and we’ve never seen or touched them in our lives.”
He met the criminals posing as investors 16 years ago and in 2007 he went with them to a Taiwanese bank as part of their business.
They remained in contact, but their lawyer had recently approached the former couple with a new proposal.
“Everything we were doing was an investment abroad,” he said.
‘They wanted to invest. I sent 3 million dollars of my money.
‘When I found out (about their arrest), I tried to contact them but they turned off their phones.
Talking with him ABC This week, Ms Voulgaris’s lawyer, Leon Huang, said it was “essential” her ex took the stand as he was the only person who could confirm her claims.
He described her as a “good-natured person” who “easily believed people” and who had been used as a drug “mule.”
“From her description… it appeared that Ms. Debbie Voulgaris was not aware of the nature of her trip in the first place,” Mr. Huang said.
“And number two, he had no idea what was in and under his luggage, because there is a hidden compartment and he wasn’t aware of it.”
Mr. Huang said that because his client had admitted his guilt early, while still maintaining that he knew nothing about the drugs, he could avoid the death penalty.
“If the court finds someone worthy of sympathy, as in Debbie’s case, they normally wouldn’t want to offer them the option of the death penalty,” he said.
However, the chances of him receiving the death penalty are unlikely after Taiwan’s Constitutional Court ruled last August that imposing a life sentence or the death penalty for drug crimes is partially unconstitutional.
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said an Australian woman detained in Taiwan was receiving consular assistance.