Update
GEORGE NEWS - Since George Herald broke the latest news about the imprisonment of Ashley Oosthuizen (22) last week, her parents have been inundated with interviews from various newspapers, radio stations and TV news channels.
And everyone has the same mission - to bring Ashley home.
"We have received so many messages of support and encouragement," said her mother, Lynn Blignaut. "We are so thankful and appreciate everyone's effort in trying to help our daughter. I spoke to her via a video call last Friday [19 February] and we were only allowed 10 minutes. By God's grace they added another five."
This was the first time she has spoken to her daughter since December last year.
"We laughed and cried. She said she experienced bad stomach cramps - the worst in her life ever - during the first month of her stay in the new prison, but other than that she is in good health and high spirits. She has made some friends in prison as well and says the people are good to her.
"At times they have up to 67 girls in the same cell. Her faith is keeping her strong. She was very excited about the fact that there is a church and all have been waiting for a pastor. I hope to be able to speak to her again on her birthday on 3 March," said Blignaut.
Listen to sound clips sent by Oosthuizen's mother:
The arrest
Oosthuizen, a former learner of Outeniqua High School, left for Thailand when she was 19. She was working there as a teacher when she met her then boyfriend, Tristan Nettles - a self-confessed dark web drug dealer with a history of criminal convictions.
She was however laid off due to a dispute about her qualifications and Nettles offered her a position as manager at a restaurant.
She was arrested for drug dealing when she accepted a package containing ecstacy from a delivery man on behalf of someone else at her place of work in October 2020. Oosthuizen is now facing life in prison in the Nakhon Si Thammarat Central Prison.
According to Oosthuizen, she was unaware of the contents of the package. In a statement by Nettles, he admits to using the business, Hot in the Biscuit, for regular drug deals without Oosthuizen's knowledge.
She was initially handed down the death penalty, but on sentencing the court decided on life imprisonment (25 years). Nettles left Thailand before her arrest and is believed to be somewhere in the US after a stint in the Ukraine where he attempted to study medicine.
The American bad-boy boyfriend, Tristan Nettles.
Trust fund and dodgy crowdfunding sites
Oosthuizen's parents are asking the public not to pay any money into random crowd-funding websites allegedly created for their daughter. "We cannot guarantee that the funds paid into these accounts will in actual fact be used to help Ashley in any way," said Lynn.
Together with Ashley's father, André Oosthuizen, who currently lives in Cape Town, Blignaut is in the process of opening a trust fund where donations will be kept safely and used for legal and any other costs involved in their quest to return their daughter to South Africa.
Advice from someone who knows
Similar to Oosthuizen, Vanessa Goosen, a former Miss SA finalist, spent more than 16 years in a Thai prison for drug smuggling after she was arrested at the age of 21 in 1994. She was asked to take books back to South Africa for her boyfriend from a friend in Thailand. She agreed to take the books, not knowing that the covers were filled with heroin.
Goosen was arrested, convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to death. On appeal, her sentence was reduced to life. She was also pregnant at that stage and only released one day before her daughter's 16th birthday. Her daughter was born in jail and had to go back to South Africa when she was only two and a half years old where a friend of her mother raised her.
Her advice to Oosthuizen and her family is to keep the faith and try to remain patient. "Things take time in Thailand. Stay in contact with her and stay patient. Encourage your daughter to stay positive. Don't give up and don't grow weary. Just be patient. Hold on to your faith, that is what will push Ashley through," she said.
Please share her story
Oosthuizen's mother has asked for her story to be shared far and wide. The hashtags #avoiceforashley and #freeashleyoosthuizen have also been used on social media.
Ashley Oosthuizen and her mother, Lynn Blignaut in happier days.
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