Disgraced Olympic kayaker Nathan Baggaley and his brother Dru are eligible for parole after they were re-sentenced for their involvement in a failed plot to smuggle up to $200m of cocaine into Australia six years ago.
The duo pleaded guilty in October to attempting to import a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug (cocaine) between December 16, 2017 and August 2, 2018 off the coast of eastern Australia.
The Crown alleged the Baggaley brothers planned to retrieve plastic packets of cocaine from a foreign freighter 360km off the coast of Queensland.
The brothers had previously been found guilty by a jury on the charge at trial in 2021.
The court was told during the brother’s first trial that the drugs, which contained more than 500kg of pure cocaine, were estimated to be worth the value of up to $200m.
The 48-year-old silver medallist and former world champion was at the time sentenced to 25 years in jail, while his younger brother Dru, 42, was sentenced to 28 years in jail.
They successfully appealed their convictions, but pleaded guilty when the matter returned to court.
The brothers were re-sentenced in Brisbane District Court on Monday.
Nathan (left) and Dru Baggaley (right) have been sentenced for their involvement in a failed drug importation plot
Federal Police intercepted the failed importation drug plot in 2018 and seized multiple plastic packets that weighted 360km
The court was told the Crown was now unable to prove whether either brother “positively” knew they were involved in the importation of cocaine specifically.
However, the brothers ultimately accepted their role in the failed drug plot by pleading guilty to the charge.
The court was told Nathan had purchased and fitted out an inflatable dinghy with satellite communication equipment, which Dru and another man, Anthony Draper, had used to retrieve the drugs from the ocean.
The court was told Dru and Draper had travelled by boat to meet a foreign vessel, where armed men of “South American or Colombian appearance” threw at least 30 packages measuring 50cm long, 30cm wide and 25cm high which were wrapped in plastic bags overboard.
Crown prosecutor Patrick Wilson said Dru and Draper then retrieved these packages “one by one” from the water before they started to make their way back to the mainland.
However, as they were travelling, they were intercepted by the authorities and attempted to flee.
As the pair attempted to flee, Dru threw the packages overboard which prompted the authorities to stop and retrieve them from the water.
Queensland Police ultimately intercepted the dinghy, and Dru and Draper were arrested about 65 nautical miles off the coast of Byron Bay.
Draper has since been sentenced to 13 years in jail for his involvement in the failed importation plot.
The court was told Nathan had been waiting at Brunswick Heads in northern NSW for his brother and Draper to return from offshore.
The court was told he attempted to call the boat’s phone on several occasions before leaving Brunswick Heads but continued to monitor the boat ramp for their arrival.
Nathan Baggaley won a silver medal in the men’s K-1 class 500m final at the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games. Picture: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
In their earlier appeal, Dru’s legal counsel successfully argued a miscarriage of justice occurred due to the “trial counsel’s failure to adduce evidence” relating to their client’s alleged ownership of a phone which formed a key part of the Crown’s original case against him.
In their published reasons, the Court of Appeal stated the trial counsel for Dru Baggaley failed to ask questions at trial to elicit evidence about the phone, including its ownership.
It included allegations of Draper had posted the phone to Dru and asked him to buy a SIM card and charge card.
Mr Wilson said the Baggaley brothers had entered their pleas of guilty last month after “matters were resolved through negotiations”.
Mr Wilson said the two brothers had varying levels of “criminal liability” and this should now be “recognised” differently at sentencing compared to when they pleaded not guilty to the same charge at their first trial.
Mr Wilson said it was agreed that there was now “insufficient evidence” that Dru “positively knew” he was collecting border controlled drugs when he travelled on the boat.
Dru Baggaley was arrested by Queensland Police off the coast of Byron Bay
The court was told Dru had thought he was collecting cannabis.
Mr Wilson said Dru was “reckless that there was a border controlled drug” but it couldn’t be proven he knew “the precise quantity” of what he was collecting.
However, Mr Wilson said Dru was also “reckless” after the packages were collected and likely had a “heightened awareness” about what they contained when he failed to stop the boat while it was being pursued by the authorities.
Mr Wilson said there was also “insufficient evidence” his brother Nathan knew about any plans to import cocaine or the precise quantity to be collected prior to July 2018 other than him purchasing the boat.
The Crown also accepted Nathan did not know Draper.
“Nathan Baggaley’s role is succinct in the sense that he was on standby on shore and was involved in a short period of time,” he said.
Dru’s barrister, Saul Holt KC, told the court his client had since pleaded guilty to “profoundly different” allegations made against him by the Crown and earlier sentencing remarks are “irrelevant”.
Mr Holt said his client had a “reckless state of mind for a period of two days for the criminality of involvement”.
He said his client should serve a head sentence of 15 years but be granted immediate parole as of Monday, allowing Dru the opportunity to apply through the correct channels.
Nathan’s barrister, Gregory McGuire KC, told the court his client should receive a “similar head sentence to that imposed on Draper” – which was 13 years.
Justice Declan Kelly sentenced Nathan to 13 years in prison and Dru to 15 years in prison
Justice Kelly ordered both brothers be eligible for parole from Monday, after they’d each served 1969 days and 2787 days respectively.
He said the amount of drugs seized by authorities was “considerable”.
Justice Kelly said he accepted Mr Holt’s submission that “the facts are profoundly different” compared to the brothers’ 2021 sentencing.
However, he said the “the size of the importation nonetheless a very relevant factor” in his sentencing.
