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 News from Around Banderas Bay | March 2007 
'Help Me,' Jailed Woman Pleads
 Maria Babbage - Canadian Press
Canadian begs Ottawa to aid in clearing her name so she can leave Mexican jail where she has been held for year.
A distraught Canadian who has spent the last year languishing in a Mexican jail accused of crimes she says she never committed is pleading with Canadian officials to help clear her name.
Brenda Martin, who said she's lost 30 pounds during her incarceration in Guadalajara, wants Ottawa to help her obtain exonerating testimony from her ex-employer, Alyn Waage.
"I'm treated like I'm a murderer," Martin, formerly of Toronto, said yesterday in an interview with Belleville, Ont., radio station CJBQ. "I sleep right beside a lady who killed both of her children with dull scissors. I've had death threats."
Waage, formerly of Edmonton and mastermind of a scheme that bilked 15,000 investors of $60 million (U.S.), was sentenced to 10 years in a U.S. jail.
Martin, 50, maintains she was employed by Waage as a chef at his Mexican estate, and was not involved in the pyramid scheme run through his Tri-West Investment Club.
Martin said she started working for Waage in May 2000, earning $500 (U.S.) a week. Waage fired her in March 2001 over her "differences" with his mother and wife, but paid her a $26,000 severance – a year's salary.
She invested $10,000 in Waage's scheme, which led to her being accused of being part of a criminal organization.
Since her arrest more than a year ago, Martin says she's been trapped in legal limbo and is close to giving up.
"The minimum sentence here is five years, up to 30 years in prison, and I won't do any time in here," she sobbed. "I will kill myself."
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay has said officials have been "very involved" in Martin's case and are doing everything possible to assist her.
Alain Cacchione, a spokesperson for the department, said yesterday that consular officials are in "regular contact" with Martin and are offering assistance, but couldn't say anything further about her case due to privacy laws.
But Martin says that apart from some reading material and a visit more than a month ago, consular officials have done nothing to assist in her legal battle.
"They come, basically, just look at me while I'm crying and they bring me a few magazines," she said.
Liberal MP Dan McTeague, who has raised Martin's case in the House of Commons, obtained a copy of a sworn affidavit from Waage that he said clears Martin of any knowledge of the scam.
McTeague, who delivered the material to Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, said he believes Mexican authorities will release Martin if they receive the affidavit from the government.
The Conservatives say they can't influence another country's judicial process or get involved in legal matters of Canadians detained abroad.
Meanwhile, Martin's mother in Trenton, Ont., and friends sent money for a lawyer who ended up knowing nothing about Mexico's penal laws.
And Martin's ex-husband got a declaration from Waage that would clear her, but Mexican officials apparently want the affidavit sworn to a U.S. judge – something she was told last summer would happen, but she is still waiting. |
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