Luxury yacht skipper Greg Numa, 64, fined over border breach
The skipper of a luxury superyacht which delivered the family of a Victorian millionaire businessman to the Gold Coast at the height of the coronavirus pandemic lied multiple times during troubled voyage crossing borders, a court has heard.
Police & Courts
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Shopping trips, cafe visits – the crew of the Lady Pamela voyage from coronavirus-ravaged Melbourne to the Gold Coast went ashore numerous times, despite the yacht’s skipper repeatedly telling authorities “absolutely no one” had been away from the boat.
As the super yacht’s skipper Greg Numa faced Southport Magistrates Court to plead guilty to providing false or misleading statements, police prosecutors provided detailed evidence of shore excursions from the time the Lady Pamela left Melbourne on August 10 to its arrival on the Gold Coast a fortnight later.
Skipper of superyacht Lady Pamela charged over alleged border breach
Numa, 64, whose high-flying former clientele includes TV host Rex Hunt and former AFL player and TV personality Sam Newman, dodged a conviction for his flagrant border breach.
On August 12, just two days after leaving Melbourne, police told the court the vessel docked at Eden off the NSW coast, with Numa caught on CCTV footage taking a taxi to an auto parts business and later a popular local eatery before returning half an hour later.
The same day, millionaire businessman Mark Simonds and his wife Cheryl left the boat and were seen on CCTV returning about 90 minutes later carrying shopping bags, the court heard.
At the same time, a stewardess left the boat for about an hour, returning with shopping bags, while Mr Simonds’ son and girlfriend spent almost two hours away from the boat.
The shore excursions, many corroborated by witness statements and shopping receipts, came on the same day Mr Numa emailed Queensland Health officials to claim “no crew member is leaving the boat other than to do the lines or pick up pre-delivered supplies dropped to the side of the boat”.
On August 16, the Lady Pamela docked at Port Stephens with Mr Numa borrowing a courtesy car from the marina for a shopping trip before later returning to unload a number of shopping bags.
That day he also emailed Queensland authorities to say “we have had no contact with the outside world for the past three days, only the NSW Police”.
On August 23, the day before the boat arrived on the Gold Coast, Numa again emailed Queensland authorities to say “absolutely no crew have been off the boat other than to do lines and connect water”.
When police arrived at the vessel’s Gold Coast mooring on August 25, all people on-board “advised that they had never disembarked since leaving Melbourne”.
Police Prosecutor, Senior Sergeant Damian Summerfield, told the court Numa had “repeatedly provided false and misleading information … that resulted in him fraudulently obtaining a quarantine exemption from the Chief Health Officer”.
Numa later admitted leaving the vessel at some point to visit a public toilet.
He was fined $4500 for providing false and misleading statements after being earlier fined a similar amount for making a false declaration to Queensland Health.
No one else on-board has been charged by police.
Numa and the rest of the people aboard the superyacht have now completed a 14-day quarantine period and are free to remain in Queensland.