Mia O'Brien: Mum Dannielle McKenna sets up DIY fundraising campaign after GoFundMe deletes previous attempts
The mum of a young woman given a life sentence in Dubai after being caught with cocaine has set up a DIY fundraiser for her.
Mia O’Brien, 23, has been jailed and is reportedly being held in Al-Awir prison - which some have said is “Dubai’s Alcatraz”. As it stands she will have to serve 25 years.
The Liverpool University law student, who has dreams of becoming a solicitor, pleaded not guilty to drug offences in court but was convicted by a judge after a day-long hearing in July, and was also fined £100,000, reports The Daily Mail. The 50g of cocaine she was caught with is worth about £2,500 in the UK.
Her mum Dannielle McKenna has started several GoFundMe campaigns but each has been taken down as they contravene GoFundMe’s terms of use.
She has now taken the unusual step of sharing her bank details on Facebook as part of a do-it-yourself fundraising campaign.
She wrote: “I am going to set up my own, as [GoFundMe] are nitpicking at everything. So if you would like to donate, please send it to Dannielle McKenna - and I would just like to thank everyone 🥰❤️”
Ms McKenna, from Huyton in Liverpool, has previously told the Daily Mail that Mia is distraught by the events of the last week.
“She is absolutely devastated,” she told the paper. “Mia feels she has destroyed her life as she wanted to be a lawyer or solicitor. I speak to her but she can't say too much on the phone.
“She's just made a stupid mistake after going over to see a friend and her boyfriend in Dubai. But she paid for her own flight as she had a bit of savings. No one paid for her flight so she's not one of these wannabe influencers. I don't think she was asked to bring anything back. She was caught with cocaine in an apartment.
'It was about 50 grams and there were two other people - her friend included. They have been charged with drug dealing. She was just given a life sentence and has to serve 25 years. The trial was all in Arabic and Mia was told of the sentence later by her lawyer. She is absolutely devastated by what has happened. Mia is being really strong but I know she is going through a living hell.”
On one of the now-deleted fundraising web pages, Ms McKenna wrote: “Mia has been given a life sentence over in Dubai and she is now in central prison. As you can all probably imagine, as her mother I am absolutely devastated.
"I haven't seen my daughter since last October. Mia is only 23 years old and has never done a bad thing in her life. This is a young girl, who went to university to do law, and unfortunately got mixed up [with] wrong so-called friends and made a very stupid mistake and is now paying the price.”