A US nun has been busted after attempting to smuggle over 1kg of cocaine into Australia.
Denise Marie Woodrum was arrested last year after Customs officers discovered the drug hidden in her high-heels. But she's denying responsibility, blaming a mystery man for seducing her into the criminal actions.
Woodrum, 51, met her lover Hendrik Cornelius online. Although she exchanged hundreds of text, with him, she never met Cornelius in person. But her love life came to a crashing halt after she was caught smuggling cocaine into Sydney.
After flying to Sydney from South America she was stopped by border authorities, who examined her luggage.
When her high-heel shoes were X-rayed, Woodrum asked, "How much did they find in the shoes? Sorry, just talking to myself".
But after tests came back positive for drugs, she reportedly told authorities: "Why, how much did you find?"
Woodrum plead guilty to importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, however, speaking in court last week, her lawyer said the nun didn't know what she was doing.
"She was groomed to provide a financial gain for this person, Hendrik Cornelius, whatever person or persons it was behind this identity," NSW Legal Aid lawyer Rebecca Neil says.
"She went on this trip thinking she was bringing artefacts for him."
But Judge Penelope Wass dismissed Woodrum's claims she didn't know she was trafficking drugs, saying her story was "inconsistent and unbelievable".
Woodrum is due to be sentenced early next month.
Newshub.
