Roisin Zoe Savage - Ecuador

October 04

Zoe Savage is a 29-year-old Irish mother of two who works as a freelance journalist. She was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment in Ecuador in July 2004 for trying to smuggle 2.5 kilos of cocaine.

Zoe believes that her friend, Tony, a Nigerian with a Ghanian passport, planted the drugs in her bag. She was introduced to Tony by a mutual friend in Africa, where she had opened an orphanage with her husband. Two years later, Zoe and her husband moved to London. Tony now also lived in London. He attended the same church as the couple and even lived with them for a while. He left for Spain and they heard he was having trouble with his passport. Then they received a telephone call from him that he was in Ecuador. Tony wanted to get a visa to return to England and Zoe and her husband tried to help him by faxing documents to support his application. However, he claimed that the application was refused and asked Zoe or her husband to come to Ecuador with their passports and other letters to show to the relevant embassy. Zoe flew out on 14 February 2003.

Tony did not meet her at the airport as promised and when she called him, he told her to go to a hotel. He later took her shopping to buy presents for her family and suggested that she buy a new bag for all her shopping. He also suggested that she go with his girlfriend to McDonalds to relax and leave her shopping with him. The next day Tony arrived at the hotel with Zoe’s new bag and presents. Nothing had happening with his visa application and when Zoe asked Tony about it, an argument ensued. Zoe later tried to call Tony but he had changed his mobile number. She decided to leave Ecuador the following day.

At the airport Zoe’s bag was checked by Customs officers. They found the 2.6kg of cocaine in the lining. Zoe fainted and when she came to she was taken to the police station.

Fair Trial Issues

1. The police failed to properly investigate the case; they did not interview employees at the hotel who could have confirmed Tony’s presence and photos of Tony which Zoe surrendered were “lost”.
2. There was no interpreter at the police interviews; only at her second interview was the Consul present after many requests.
3. She had to wait 16 months in custody before the trial started. Her lawyer failed to turn up for her first court hearing and the court failed to provide her with an interpreter. At her second hearing she had 3 interpreters and a public defender was present. Zoe’s witnesses confirmed the existence of Tony. The prosecution witness, the arresting officer from the airport, even said that he believed Zoe to be innocent as she was not nervous about showing her bags.
4. Under Ecuadorian law, the accused cannot be found guilty if the prosecution cannot prove that the accused was fully conscious of the crime and willing to commit it. This was not taken into consideration and neither were there 100 or more character references from her Church and others, which were submitted to the court.

Zoe ‘s case was hampered by the fact that Ecuador has a tough anti-drugs policy, pressured by major powers like the US with a philosophy of ‘guilty until proven innocent’ and potential witnesses are afraid to have anything to do with such cases.

Her court appointed lawyer has not yet put in an appeal. There is an automatic consultation process in all narcotics cases before the Superior Court of Justice of Quito, but given the stigma of drugs cases in Ecuador, it is quite unlikely that the court will reduce Zoe’s sentence. Hers is one of 5000 outstanding cases. Apart from this, the only appeal option Zoe still has is a Recurso de Revision to the Supreme Court.