Debbie Voulgaris: Devastated daughter of mother-of-five facing death penalty after allegedly smuggling drugs into Taiwan breaks her silence

The heartbroken daughter of an Australian woman sentenced to death for allegedly smuggling drugs into Taiwan is sharing a heartbreaking letter her mother sent her from prison, as she raises money to visit her overseas.

Debbie Voulgaris, 57, from Melbourne, was arrested at Taoyuan International Airport in December after 7kg of cocaine and heroin were allegedly found in black plastic bags in her suitcase.

Taiwanese police allege she initially “strongly denied” any knowledge of the drugs, but later claimed her ex-husband John was behind the fraud.

However, Mr Voulgaris previously told Daily Mail Australia he and Ms Voulgaris were “innocent” and had set up the affair.

If convicted under the East Asian island’s strict laws, she could be discharged or sentenced to life in prison.

Now, the couple’s daughter, Maria, has shared a handwritten letter her mother sent to her “angel” children, urging them to be strong as she awaits her fate.

‘Agapoules Mou!!! [Greek for ‘my loves’]’, the letter begins.

‘I have read all your letters.

“I can’t answer yet, until some restrictions are lifted. I miss you so much.”

Mrs Voulgaris said she would “never abandon” her children and that she “loves you with all her heart and soul”.

‘Please, please stay safe, eat well, don’t stress about anything. Everything is going to be okay. I want you to stay united like you do.

“I will always love you. You are my whole world. So proud of you all.”

Maria shared the letter online, saying she never expected the comfort it would bring to see someone’s handwriting. She described the letter as “a mother’s love expressed through foreign walls.”

“If only we knew that our love of literature and writing letters to each other would one day be the only way we could survive,” she said.

The letter comes as Maria is raising money to travel to Taiwan and be reunited with her mother.

The young woman said her mother, who has now been in prison for seven months, is subject to a strict ban on communications and the only people she is allowed to speak to are her lawyers, fellow prisoners and Australian diplomats.

She has launched a GoFundMe to raise money for her and her siblings’ plane ticketaccommodation and ‘other necessary expenses’ so they can travel to Taiwan in August for Ms Voulgaris’ trial.

“I don’t remember what my mother looked like or sounded like, other than the barest memory of her,” she wrote on the fundraiser.

‘I hope to raise money to cover the travel expenses so we can finally visit her for the first time.

‘This is my first time travelling abroad and I am going to visit my mother in a foreign prison.’

The fundraiser has already raised more than $3,000 of its $5,000 goal since it launched on Tuesday.

Maria said in a post on Instagram that she was “speechless” by the response.

“I woke up this morning with tears in my eyes,” she said.

“I know for sure that if my mother saw this now, she would feel so peaceful, knowing how many people are helping to unite us and how many sisters are bringing her truth out.”

In May, mortgage company owner John Voulgaris said he and his ex-wife had been scammed by criminals posing as foreign investors.

He said he first met the group 16 years ago and had even visited a bank in Taiwan with them in 2007 as part of their business activities.

They stayed in touch over the years, but he said their lawyer recently contacted him with a new proposal.

“All we did was a foreign investment,” he said.

“They wanted to invest. I transferred $3 million of my money. When I found out [about her arrest]I tried to contact them, but they had turned off their phones.

‘She’s bloody innocent. We were set up.

“We know nothing about drugs and have never seen or touched them in our lives.”

Taiwanese police allege that Ms Voulgaris was given Category 1 drugs in Malaysia around December 10 before flying to Taiwan.

They further allege that the Australian mother was paid $1,800 (A$2,700) to take the medication, in addition to her accommodation and transportation costs.

According to Chen Po-chuan, the captain of the Taiwan Criminal Investigation Department, the drugs had a street value of about $1.25 million.

Ms Voulgaris’ lawyer Leon Huang told media in May that the Australian mother had told authorities she was on holiday in Taiwan.

He said officers had been sent to her hotel to see if anyone had come to pick up the drugs, but no one had shown up.

Mr Huang said Ms Voulgaris was a “kind-hearted person” who “easily believed people” and was “unaware of the nature of her travels”.

Ms Voulgaris has been held in a Taiwanese prison since her arrest.