The father of imprisoned drug mule Tessa Beegte says he hopes his daughter is not granted parole.
|||Durban - The father of imprisoned drug mule Tessa Beegte said he had not heard anything regarding the possibility of her being paroled and released from jail in Brazil - but he hopes she is not.
He was reacting to news on Thursday that the authorities were considering releasing her after serving five of her eight years prison sentence for smuggling 10kg of cocaine into the country in 2008 for Sheryl Cwele and Nigerian Frank Nabolisa.
Gert Swanepoel said the last time he had spoken to Tessa was on the day of her mother’s funeral about a month ago and he knew nothing about the parole.
“My wife and I always said that we would prefer for her not to be released on parole, especially in a foreign country like that,” he said on Thursday.
“She has no money and no family to stay with and we will not be able to support her from this side.”
Beegte would be put into a halfway house and then sent out to look for work and possibly end up on the streets.
“We know what the situation is like there and it would be best for her to stay inside,” said Swanepoel.
Beegte expressed similar sentiments in a report published on Thursday in the Daily News which detailed a television interview with her in jail.
Asked if he would ever expect any help from Cwele - who introduced his daughter to crime - Swanepoel said: “I don’t think we need any help from that woman, I do not trust her.”
Beegte has reportedly forgiven Cwele and Nabolisa.
Swanepoel said he did not share her feelings.
“It is very hard for me to forgive. I have not seen my daughter in five years; my granddaughters have not seen their mom and Tessa could not even attend her own mother’s funeral.”
The Mercury