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 Americas & Beyond | May 2008 
Martin '100 Per Cent Better,' After Return From Mexico, Mother Says
 CBC News
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| | A Correctional Service of Canada van transfers Martin to the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener. | | |
The mother of Brenda Martin, the Canadian woman who spent more than two years in a Mexican jail, says her daughter seems "100 per cent better" since returning to southern Ontario.
Marjorie Bletcher said she spoke with her daughter Thursday night by phone after she arrived at the Grand Valley Institute for Women in Kitchener, Ont., from Mexico. A government-chartered jet carrying Martin touched down at Waterloo Regional Airport shortly before 6 p.m. ET.
"She said 'I'm home, Mommy, I'm home," an emotional Bletcher told CBC News on Friday. "She sounded 100 per cent better than she has sounded in the last week or so."
"She just didn't know what was going to happen and she could not almost believe they were going to let her go in Mexico. She's been worried about that. She's had so many letdowns, that's been her problem."
"She said 'I'm OK and I'm going to be OK.'"
Found guilty in Mexican court
Martin, 51, from Trenton, Ont., had been working in Mexico and was found guilty last week of money laundering by a Mexican judge. She had been in a Guadalajara-area jail since 2006, and in the past few months was sedated and on a suicide watch.
Longtime friend and advocate Debra Tieleman said she also spoke with Martin on the phone Thursday. She said Martin thanked her, Canadians and "everyone who brought me home."
"She said it was amazing to actually land and to know that she was in Canada. She said that the corrections officials were so kind to her, that people at the prison had been just amazing to her," Tieleman told CBC News.
"She was just thrilled to be home, just absolutely thrilled. Sounded like a different person."
Martin was sentenced to five years in prison in Mexico without parole, as well as a fine of 35,800 pesos, or around $3,500.
Her lawyer, Guillermo Cruz Rico, said Martin will be eligible for parole and could be free in a couple of months. She has already served one-third of her sentence, counting time served before the verdict.
Martin, 51, was accused of participating in a $60 million internet fraud scheme run by Canadian Alyn Waage, who was convicted of fraud in 2006 and is serving a 10-year term in a U.S. prison.
Mexican investigators said Martin, who worked as Waage's chef in Puerto Vallarta for 10 months, accepted a severance package knowing the money came from the scam.
But Martin has maintained her innocence, saying she knew nothing of Waage's schemes. Waage's testimony corroborated her story. |
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