A devastating blow to an Australian mother of five accused of smuggling coca through Asia – as her alleged reason for striking a deal with international drug lords was revealed

The ex-husband of an Australian mother of five accused of smuggling 7kg of cocaine and heroin into Taiwan did not appear in court to support his defence.

Debbie Voulgaris, 57, was arrested at Taoyuan International Airport on December 10 last year after drugs were allegedly found in black plastic bags in her suitcase as she flew from Malaysia.

She now faces the death penalty or life in prison if convicted of drug trafficking.

Taiwanese police say they initially “vehemently denied” knowing about the drugs and later blamed someone else.

In an interview with Daily Mail Australia in May, Mr Voulgaris, who also uses the surname Kyriacou, said he and his wife were founded by long-time business partners while the couple innocently tried to make an investment overseas.

However, Mr. Voulgaris did not respond to a subpoena ordering him to testify before the Taoyuan District Court in August and did not appear at his wife’s trial.

During the hearing, Judge Chen Yen-Nien revealed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other authorities had confirmed that Mr Voulgaris, who lives in Melbourne, had received documents but had failed to appear, ABC reports.

Ms Voulgaris’ lawyer, Leon Huang, told the court that extraditing Mr Voulgaris would be difficult because he is an Australian citizen.

He said Ms Voulgaris had now agreed to abandon any further attempts to summon him.

Judge Yen-Nien said that without Mr Voulgaris’ testimony – which could help exonerate his ex-wife – the court would have to rely on available evidence.

Ms Voulgaris’ legal team told the court they would argue she was a victim of domestic violence, which left her vulnerable to exploitation.

“Due to the fact that the defendant was a victim of domestic violence, we believe that she (had) difficulty in rejecting the (luggage transport) request,” said her other lawyer, Lin Chih-erh.

The judge also announced the lifting of the ban on Ms. Voulgaris communicating with her family.

She had previously been banned from corresponding with her relatives to ensure that evidence that Mr Voulgaris might have given as a witness in her case was not tainted.

Ms Voulgaris appeared anxious as she sat next to her legal team and listened to the proceedings through a Mandarin interpreter.

However, her mood turned to excitement when she learned that the ban would be lifted.

After the proceedings ended and she stood up to leave, Ms Voulgaris told officials: “Thank you, thank you very much.”

In court, Huang expressed disappointment that Voulgaris was not present at the hearing.

“If (John) had come forward he would have been able to verify or clarify many of the issues in this case,” he told the ABC.

“He said he didn’t think it was anything illegal.”

Huang said Ms. Voulgaris’ messages and phone records would be analyzed to confirm her claims, but due to the large amount of data, it would take time to collect.

When contacted about this matter by Daily Mail Australia on Thursday, Voulgaris said he did not wish to comment on the matter.

Huang said the lifting of the communication ban that has been in place since her arrest means her children and family will be able to apply to visit her in prison.

Huang said she is “fine to cope” and is being cared for while behind bars, and that she believes she will avoid the death penalty if found guilty.

Taiwanese police maintain that Voulgaris joined a drug trafficking ring that deliberately planned to smuggle drugs through Asia.

The allegations show that the criminal group agreed with Debbie Voulgaris to pay a reward of just US$1,800 (AU$2,700) along with accommodation and transportation costs.

The group allegedly gave her luggage to take on board the plane, which secretly contained approximately $1.25 million (S$1.88 million) worth of heroin and cocaine, which was detected during an X-ray screening at the airport.

In May, Voulgaris angrily condemned the allegations, saying he first met the foreign group 16 years ago and they had regular contact for business purposes.

“She’s damn innocent!” he got angry. ‘We’ve been set!

“We don’t know anything about damn drugs, we’ve never seen or touched them in our lives.”

He added: “Everything we did was foreign investment.

“They wanted to invest. I sent $3 million of my money…

“When I found out (about her arrest), I tried to contact them, but they turned off their phones. She didn’t do anything wrong.

The case remains before the courts.