Daughter of a Sydney multi-millionaire smuggled drugs for love
The daughter of a multi-millionaire Sydney businesswoman is “ashamed” she helped her Mexican girlfriend smuggle a huge haul of ice into Australia, but did it for love, a court heard.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Couple face life in prison as explosive texts reveal how police foiled major drug import
- Rose Thomas in court over alleged drug smuggling
The daughter of a multi-millionaire Sydney businesswoman is “ashamed” she helped her Mexican girlfriend smuggle a huge haul of ice into Australia, but did it for love, a court heard.
Rose Thomas and her former partner, Norma Zuniga Frias, were arrested in March 2018 after police foiled a plot to import $14 million worth of methamphetamines from Mexico concealed in stereo speakers.
Thomas shared a tearful hug with her entrepreneur mother Jackie Maxted before their sentence hearing at Downing Centre District Court on Friday.
The 26-year-old has been living on $100,000 bail in her mum’s $4.5 million Bondi mansion while her ex girlfriend Frias languished in custody inside Silverwater prison.
Thomas’ lawyer describes her bail conditions as being “onerous”, despite her being able to socialise, work and seek counselling, Crown Prosecutor Robert McCaw said.
Frias, 26, pleaded guilty to commercial methamphetamine importation while Thomas admitted to aiding an attempt to possess a commercial volume of the drug.
“She didn’t do it for money, she didn’t do it for greed,” Thomas’ Defence barrister Phillip Boulten SC said.
“She did it for love,” Judge Richard Weinstein said.
“In the haze of young love, things are often done that seem absurd upon reflection when one gets older.”
Frias’ devout Christian mother travelled from Mexico to be in court, which heard the “staunch member of the church” disapproved of the lovers.
“There were very live tensions … that in large related to her sexuality and your relationship with her,” Mr Boulten said.
While giving evidence, Thomas said they’ve now broken up which is “in both of our best interests” but at the time of their arrest the pair was extremely close.
“Inseparable,” she said.
“I was deeply in love with her. It was my world at that time.”
Thomas said she’d been trying to help Frias get a job after she came to Sydney on a student visa in April 2017 from her hometown of Guadalajara.
The couple lived together in a sharehouse in Sydney’s hipster inner west, but seven months into her Australian sojourn, Frias began texting an alleged Mexican drug trafficker known only as “Julian”, court documents show.
His messages were chatty, promising Frias $15,000 and telling her: “we’re going to be rich.”
“At the very least Ms Thomas, who is an educated, intelligent young woman with strong family support should have said to her co-offender not to be involved anymore,” Prosecutor McCaw said.
Frias’ barrister Malcolm Ramage QC said his remorseful client had been suffering “trauma and turmoil” following her only brother’s recent death and after being isolated from her mum.
“She needed the money for a (spousal) visa to stay in Australia,” he said.
Police alleged that Frias booked an Airbnb in Rozelle so eight Sony audio speakers hiding $14 million dollars’ worth of pure methamphetamine inside could be delivered there.
But the Australian Federal Police had intercepted the package and a cop posed as a courier to delivering the speakers to Frias at the Airbnb, court documents claim.
Thomas said after finishing work on February 27, 2018, she helped her girlfriend buy backpacks and scales to divide up the drugs, assuming it was cocaine “based on the country it was coming from.”
“I was very panicked, it had finally hit me that it was real what was happening and I just wanted it to be over, I just wanted her to be safe,” she said.
Thomas said she never expected to get any money and felt sick at the sight of the speakers, so she refused to return to the Rozelle Airbnb and instead went out drinking with friends and workmates two nights in a row.
Police swooped days later, arresting the women and raiding their Marrickville home.
“I feel ashamed of having anything to do with it. I see anything in the drug trade as a completely greedy act … it’s something that thousands of people lose their lives to every year,” Thomas said.
“It’s been horrible on my family and my friends and everyone around me.”
Ms Maxted’s voice wavered as she described seeing her fragile daughter for the first time after being released from custody.
“She looked thin and pale and scared,” she said.
“She felt so terribly guilty. She was trying to put a brave face on.”
The online publisher said her child is “extremely disappointed in herself” and has gaining an emerging self awareness and maturity.
“She’s bewildered as to why she didn’t stop it,” Ms Maxted said.
“She wants to get her life back on track, to make amends for all the mistakes she made.”
The court heard Thomas returned to her marketing job at Elephant Room after being freed on bail and if she avoids a custodial sentence she’s in line for a promotion.
The Crown called for both women to be jailed but Judge Weinstein said he may consider allowing Thomas to serve her sentence in the community taking into account she “is gainfully employed and has been so for some time.”
Frias has become “an asset” to the jail where she is employed to conduct courses, her lawyer said.
But the promising artist now faces deportation for the crimes which have destroyed her career prospects and broken her personal life, the court heard.
“She has lost the love of her life,” Mr Ramage said.
The women are due to be sentenced on July 12.
Originally published as Daughter of a Sydney multi-millionaire smuggled drugs for love
The 175 charities that just got $20K each
Commonwealth Bank has announced that its staff foundation has raised $3.5 million in 2024 to donate to 175 charitable organisations around Australia. CONTENT PARTNERSHIP
Sydney 2000 missed this opportunity. Brisbane’s Games won’t
The man behind helping Sydney secure the 2000 Olympics says there was a missed opportunity that Brisbane has already looked to fix for 2032.