Haydee Buitrago had never before committed a crime. But she was forced to become a drugs smuggler to save her five children from being murdered.
Two men and a woman called at her home in Armenia, Colombia, in July 1996 and snatched her four-year-old son Jorge. The widow was told she must take cocaine to Hong Kong or her children would be murdered.
Mrs Buitrago, who was cleared of trafficking yesterday, told the jury she agreed to the trip because 'my kids are worth everything to me'.
After the drugs were seized at Kai Tak, she was put on trial in July last year and sentenced to 16 years' jail.
New hope came when the conviction was quashed on appeal in February. The judge had failed to direct the jury fairly. A second trial was ordered and it ended yesterday with a not guilty verdict.
The jurors had been told to mentally transport themselves to the troubled South American country when considering the case.
