Mary Hellen was arrested in February 2022 when she landed at Bangkok airport with 15.5 kg of cocaine.
R IO DE JANEIRO, RJ (FOLHAPRESS) – Brazilian Mary Hellen Coelho da Silva, 24, convicted in Thailand for international drug trafficking, received a royal pardon in the country and had her sentence reduced.
Mary Hellen was arrested in February 2022 when she landed at Bangkok airport with 15.5 kg of cocaine. Two other Brazilians were arrested on the same day for drug possession and international trafficking.
In May of that year, the Minas Gerais woman from Pouso Prazenteiro (400 km from Belo Horizonte) was sentenced to nine years and six months in prison and ordered to pay a fine of 750,000 baht ( around R$105 today ).
The royal pardon, signed by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, is a general decision for Thais and foreigners and frees the Brazilian from paying the fine, called a social penalty in Thailand . The prison sentence must be maintained – Mary Hellen has already served two of the nine years to which she was sentenced.
If she did not receive the pardon and did not pay the fine, the amount would be transformed into another two years in prison and the sentence would reach 11 years and six months.
“She serves her sentence excellently, she doesn’t show any bad behavior”, says the lawyer.
“Because of this good behavior and because she is not given to committing crimes in Brazil, we took this request for forgiveness of the fine to Thailand. It was demonstrated that she was entitled to forgiveness.”
Mary Hellen found out about the fine being forgiven in April. The rescue did not want to say whether the Brazilian woman denies the crime . She only said that the guilty plea was made during the trial because it benefited her in relation to the size of the sentence.
When contacted, Itamaraty stated, through the Brazilian embassy in Bangkok, that “it has been following the case since 2022, providing due consultation assistance to the detained Brazilian citizen”.
The girl from Minas Gerais worked at a steakhouse and asked a deposition shortly before traveling to Thailand.
He told his family that he was going to Curitiba to find a boyfriend. They say they only found out that Mary Hellen was in Thailand when they received a message asking for help.
Away from her father and with her mother being treated for advanced cancer during the trip , the young woman planned to start a cake company with her sister and resume her studies, according to relatives.