Jailed mom pleads to come home

Pretoria -

It took two weeks for the Department of International Relations and Co-operation to visit South African Kathlyn Dunn in an Indonesian prison, her family has claimed.

Dunn was arrested on October 11 for attempting to smuggle 2.6kg of crystal meth worth $500 000 (R4.3 million) into the resort island of Lombok.

Drug smuggling carries the death penalty in Indonesia.

Speaking from Pretoria, Dunn’s friend and family spokesman, Herman de Jager, said International Relations and Co-operation had fobbed him off. “I sent them an e-mail soon after Kathlyn was arrested, but I have had no reply. She phoned me on Monday and pleaded for help to get back home.”

According to the department’s website, consular services are provided to all South African families whose relatives have been arrested abroad. These services include establishing contact with the detainee as soon as possible, providing general information about the legal system of the country of arrest, undertaking prison visits, and assisting families with fund transfers.

International Relations and Co-operation spokesman Clayson Monyela said a member of the embassy in Indonesia had visited Dunn in prison on Thursday – two weeks after her arrest. He said the delay was due to distance.

De Jager contacted DA shadow minister for international relations, Ian Davidson, for help. Davidson’s PA, Amanda van Wyk, said the DA did not have enough information about Dunn’s case, but would approach the department when it did.

In the past, the DA has lamented the absence of arrangements with other countries for prisoners to be able to serve their sentences at home, saying South Africans serving sentences for drug offences in foreign countries received much harsher treatment than other inmates.

De Jager said Dunn, who has a seven-year-old daughter, had told him that she was recruited as a decoy – someone used to divert attention from other drug mules – by a Nigerian man in Hillbrow.

He said since July, Dunn had a pending case of drug possession against her in South Africa.

“I don’t understand how she even got out of South Africa in the first place,” he said.

While a trial date has not yet been set, Dunn fears she will not be able to afford a lawyer.

Patricia Gerber, founder of Locked Up, an organisation that supports families whose relatives have been arrested abroad, said International Relations and Co-operation constantly postponed consular visits to South African prisoners.

“More needs to be done in this regard,” she said.

She said while the department was not responsible for providing Dunn with legal representation, Indonesia did have a legal aid system she could use.

Gerber said her organisation had been pushing for the SA government to draw up a prison transfer agreement with other countries to bring prisoners home but said this would take a long time.

Pretoria News