He is a high school science teacher, a world traveller who dreams of becoming a medical doctor.
But, like the story of hit TV series Breaking Bad, Tristan Nettles lives two lives.
He is also an international drug smuggler, and his rap sheet dates to when he was 11 years old.
Why is this American man’s story of importance?
Because he is responsible for a naive, blonde-haired young woman from George being sentenced to life in prison in Thailand, where she is expected to spend the next 25 years shackled and sleeping on a cement floor.
Speaking in front of a blue curtain via Zoom this week, Nettles cried as he admitted to being the reason Ashley Oosthuizen was arrested for drug smuggling in October 2020.
“I am sorry for what I have done.
“But what does that mean now? Sorry I can’t give Ashley her life back.”
Oosthuizen’s story became public only after her initial death penalty was overturned on appeal.
Nettles, meanwhile, is in a country that does not have an extradition policy with Thailand.
He would not disclose his whereabouts.
But for Oosthuizen’s family in the Garden Route town of George, the journey has been pure hell.
Weeks go by without anyone communicating with Oosthuizen and they live on faith that she will survive her prison term, and eventually be allowed to travel back home.
Oosthuizen, 22, was arrested after signing for a parcel that, unbeknown to her, contained 260g of ecstasy.
She had been working as the manager in her then-boyfriend’s restaurant, Hot in the Biscuit, on Thailand’s Koh Samui island, when a delivery man approached her and, putting pen to paper, she naively signed her future away.
So how did this innocent, hardworking young woman come to meet a self-confessed drug peddler and party animal?
Nettles says Oosthuizen was a 19-year-old kindergarten teacher when they met at a Halloween party on Koh Samui.
He was teaching science at a leading international school there, and 12 years her senior.
Oosthuizen was naturally swayed by the charming, older man, who lived a lavish life and seemingly had everything going for him.
When her teaching job fell through, he offered her a job at his new restaurant — and that was where her fate was sealed.
“Her whole life was this shop,” Nettles said.
“She was working hard to turn it into an international franchise and I f***ed it up for her.”
He speaks candidly about having led her on, making her think he was more romantically interested in her than he cared to be.
“I was leaving [Thailand] to pursue my medical studies and I needed to make sure our relationship was good so that she would continue to look after my restaurant.
“I lived a colourful life. I had been around the world and she loved the fact that I was different.”
Similarly, it was Oosthuizen’s innocence that attracted Nettles to her.
She was different from the women he was used to dating. She was focused and grounded.
“She was becoming such a strong, independent person.
“But it was never my intention to be a babysitter.
“I think she cared for me more than I cared for her.”
But when news broke of her arrest, things changed for Nettles.
“When that happened to her, it hit me in a big way,” he said as he broke down in tears.
He looks different from the tanned “bad boy” with a broad smile in photographs he sent to Weekend Post, of him and Oosthuizen in happier times.
Now, with a shaven head, he puffs on the cigarette in his fingers with a sense of desperation.
Asked why he had chosen to speak out and make his identity known, he said: “Because I have nothing left to lose.”
His medical studies have come to a grinding halt and he has gone from yacht cruises and beach parties to living the life of a recluse.
“She is in chains because of me. So I have no life.
“She was just working at the wrong biscuit shop.”
The last time Nettles spoke to Oosthuizen on the phone was in December.
“She didn’t understand why it was so hard for an innocent person to get out of prison.
“She didn’t understand why this was happening to her.
“She complained of sores on her body.
“She was very much a damsel in distress. She was the collateral damage.”
Asked how he felt about Oosthuizen now, Nettles said: “I realised only after her arrest how much I love her.
“Anyone who knows her would love her.
“But my feelings are more of an older brother’s love for his little sister.”
Weekend Post is also in possession of the Thailand police report.
It states: “The suspect arrived at the office of the police investigator on October 8 2020 at around 9.42pm.
“The situation of this case starts on October 5, when customs officials inspected parcels thought to possibly contain drugs.
“The Narcotics Suppression Bureau was called to inspect the package.
“This particular package originated from the UK and was addressed to (name redacted).
“Together with the police, the package was opened.
“Inside they found a box with toys inside, as well as one foil envelope.
“They took this to be scanned, and found that inside was a clear plastic bag with a white-brown crystalline substance inside, weighing 260g.”
Later on October 8, the police team jointly planned to arrest the receiver of the package.
“After doing some research, the arresting team found that the address was the same as a restaurant named Hot in the Biscuit.
“The arresting team met with the Thailand post employee who then went to deliver the package.
“This is where a foreign woman [later known to be Oosthuizen] signed her name to receive the package.
“She then took the package into the shop of Hot in the Biscuit, so the arresting team went inside to conduct a search.
“The arresting team found the package on the floor of the storage room, so they opened the package in front of Oosthuizen.”
The package was not addressed to Oosthuizen.
Her mother, Lynn Blignaut, said earlier this week they were in the process of appealing against her life sentence.
HeraldLIVE
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