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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | April 2008 
Martin More Composed, Hopeful of Quick Return to Canada
 Charles Rusnell - Canwest News Service
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| | Brenda Martin speaks to media in Guadalajara, Mexico April 22, 2008 shortly after a Mexican court found her guilty of accepting funds from an Internet scam and sentenced her to five years in prison. (Global TV) | | |
Guadalajara, Mexico - After months of fearing she would never be released from a Mexican prison, Canadian Brenda Martin finally has some hope she will be on home soil, possibly as early as this week.
"I think the Mexicans have got what they want - they got to save face by finding me guilty," Martin said during a brief interview at Puente Grande Women's Prison Sunday. "I think they're finally ready to let me go."
In contrast to previous prison visits, Martin appeared calm and in control but she remains anxious about her future.
Martin is afraid she may be imprisoned when she returns to Canada. After more than two years in a Mexican jail awaiting a final resolution to her case, Martin does not want to spend "another minute" in prison.
"I am innocent," she said. "My government knows that and I hope someone sees how wrong it would be to make me spent any more time in prison."
Last week, a Mexican judge found Martin guilty of knowingly accepting illicit funds and sentenced her to five years in prison. Canadian officials immediately set in motion a plan to have her transferred to Canada as soon as possible. Secretary of State for Multiculturalism Jason Kenney flew to Guadalajara on Friday to ensure the transfer is expedited. Kenney raised the possibility Martin may be released on parole after she is assessed by Correctional Services Canada officials.
"I hope they will look at me physically and mentally and then put me in my mother's house (in Trenton, Ont.) and I will be fine," Martin said.
She has already been told she may have to be returned to Canada in handcuffs.
"I don't want my mother to see me in handcuffs," she said. "That would be so difficult for her."
Mexican federal police arrested Martin, now 51, on Feb. 17, 2006, nearly five years after they arrested her employer, former Edmonton resident Alyn Waage. Although Martin had worked as a chef for Waage, prosecutors claimed she knew he was operating a massive Internet-based fraud from his Puerto Vallarta mansion.
Martin has maintained she knew nothing of the scheme, a claim supported by Waage in a sworn affidavit.
The judge in her case however, rejected her entire defence and accepted all the arguments advanced by the prosecution.
Martin's lawyer, Guillermo Cruz Rico, has said the judge's ruling defied all the evidence. Martin chose not to appeal the verdict because it would extend her incarceration by three to six months.
Martin stressed she is grateful to the Canadian public for all the support they have given her in recent months.
"That is what kept me going, kept me alive," Martin said. "I will never forget what Canadians have done for me." |
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