Michaella McCollum Connolly's lawyer Peter Madden says system geared towards people 'recognising their guilt'
The lawyer of the Northern Ireland woman arrested at Lima airport with £1.5m worth of cocaine has confirmed his client would only spend two years in jail if she pleads guilty.
Peter Madden also warned that if Michaella McCollum Connolly continues to plead not guilty, she will spend two years in a Peruvian prison before the trial even starts.
"The Peruvian system is geared towards people pleading guilty to their offences or 'recognising their guilt'," he told RTE's Morning Ireland radio programme on Wednesday.
If [the two girls] take that course they could share just over two years imprisonment, whereas if they go to trial it will be two years before the trial even starts."
McCollum Connolly and Glaswegian Melissa Reid were detained after the discovery of 24lb (11kg) of cocaine hidden inside food packages as they attempted to board a flight from Lima to Madrid.
The pair deny willingly working as "drug mules" and insist they were forced to carry the bags by armed men after they were kidnapped in Ibiza.
Madden, who has just returned from Peru, said his clients could face up to nine years after the trial starts.
"They are frightened. They are unsure of their future. They are in a prison in which they are the only two foreigners," he told the programme.
Both women are being held in a classification unit at the Virgen de Fatima jail in Lima, which houses some of the country's most dangerous criminals.
The lawyer said they had been well treated by the authorities, but acknowledged conditions inside the jail were harsh.
