Transgendered cousin of accused Kiwi drug smuggler Antony de Malmanche says he’s ‘too dumb’ to have done it

De Malmanche forced to sit by the evidence at a press conference on December 5, 2014 in Bali

The New Zealand man who allegedly tried to smuggle 1.7 kilograms of meth into Bali is not the sharpest tool in the shed and is not capable of that kind of operation, says his transgendered cousin Tina de Malmanche. 

“I wouldn’t trust him with that much amount of drugs to courier. He is too dumb,” she told the Wanganui Chronicle flat out. 

52-year-old Antony de Malmanche was detained by Indonesian police on December 1 after he arrived in Bali’s Ngurah Rai Airport on a flight from Hong Kong, allegedly carrying the meth in his backpack. If convicted, he could face the death penalty for drug trafficking under Indonesia’s harsh drug laws. 

Antony’s family say he was the victim of an online dating scam. He had reportedly never left his native New Zealand, until when he was believed to have flown out to Hong Kong and then Bali to meet a South African woman called Jess. However, he was apparently arrested before he could meet her.

“As his whanau, I can tell you he has been set up,” Tina said, as quoted by the Wanganui Chronicle. 

“I’m a retired hooker – I know how easy it is,” Tina said with a true sense of authority on the matter of setting men up.

Antony is an “average Kiwi guy” that was totally led astray by some woman’s promises, Tina says. 

Photo by AFP

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