The Dublin-based mother of a pregnant young woman facing a possible death sentence if convicted of drug smuggling cannot afford the airfare to Asia to attend her daughter's trial, which begins on Tuesday.

Nigerian Jane Orobator (40), who lives in Castleknock, north Dublin, had hoped to travel to Laos to attend the trial but cannot afford it and will not make the trip "unless there's some kind or miracle".

Speaking to the Sunday Tribune, Orobator said she blames herself for the situation her daughter now finds herself in because she spent much of her life separated from her.

Twenty-year-old Samantha Orobator was arrested at Wattay airport in Laos last August after allegedly being caught with 680g of heroin while trying to board a plane to Thailand. She is being held at the Phonthong prison, which has a reputation for brutality. She fell pregnant after being raped while incarcerated five months ago. Her mother has questioned how this could occur in an all-women's prison and called for an investigation.

If found guilty she could face death by firing squad and although this is unlikely it cannot be completely ruled out yet, according to a spokeswoman for legal rights charity Reprieve.

Orobator sent her eight-year-old daughter from Nigeria to live with her sister in the UK in 1997 because Samantha's life was in danger, according to her mother. Two years later, pregnant Orobator also left her homeland with her two other daughters and came to Ireland seeking asylum.

Her eldest child grew up with her sister's family in London while Orobator raised her three other daughters alone in Ireland.

"I sent her to the UK, she had to leave very suddenly. I sent her away; I thought I was doing the best for her. But I blame myself for what has happened to her now. When I came to Ireland I did not want to unsettle her by moving her to Ireland."

Orobator, who is studying to be a psychiatric nurse, has discovered many grim facts about her daughter's life since her arrest 10 months ago.

The 20-year-old has att­empted suicide, been in abusive relationships with men and has also suffered a miscarriage.

The last time Orobator saw her daughter was in December 2007 when she visited her in Dublin. "She was always a very quiet girl, always curled up reading books. She did very well in school and was studying double science, she wanted to be a medical doctor. Her friend said she has low self-esteem and had suffered abuse from a man. She never told me. She kept all these things away from me."

Samantha phoned her mother from the Netherlands a month before she was arrested in Laos. "She called and told me she was in Holland on holidays with a friend. She never told me she was planning to travel anywhere else. She said she was going to fly home through Dublin to visit us."

Samantha has only been able to send one note to her mother from prison, which read: "All I need from you now is to help me now, mummy. I know the God that I serve has declared my freedom."

Orobator said her daughter did not smoke or drink and she finds it hard to believe she would smuggle drugs. "I don't know what happened. I want to ask her 'if you did do it, why did you do it'."

Anna Morris from the charity Reprieve is in Laos and hopes to visit Samantha in prison tomorrow ahead of her trial on Tuesday.