Tate Robinson, Jack Stuart Jones: cross-border Cocaine ring sentencing delayed a week
The ring leader of a cross-border cocaine syndicate and a pro surfer tied up in the group will continue to wait to find out their fate for the charges.
Police & Courts
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A cocaine ring leader and a pro surfer tied up in drug dealing will have to wait another week to learn their fate for their involvement in the cross-border syndicate.
Jack Stuart Jones, 22, from Benowa in Queensland, pleaded guilty to knowingly direct activities of criminal group and two counts of supplying a prohibited drug on an ongoing basis.
Professional surfer Tate Robinson, 23, from Casuarina, pleaded guilty to taking part in the same criminal group and two counts of supplying a prohibited drug on an ongoing basis.
The charges relate to 15 drug deals between October 1 and November 18 in 2020.
According to court documents, Jones’ sister – who has not been charged with any related offence – and other associates were in a car police pulled over on April 10, 2020 where police found four bags containing what was believed to be cocaine and cash.
Police conducted several electronic and physical surveillance of the group before those intercepts revealed Jones had created a criminal group involving Robinson, Robinson’s girlfriend Mikayla Noakes and Jed Thomas Conroy.
In court, barrister for Robinson, Martin Longhurst told the court Robinson became addicted to cocaine after witnessing his father suffer a neck injury on a beach where he had multiple seizures on the shore.
He said Robinson started losing sleep and turned to the drug while out with friends.
Mr Longhurst said Robinson was proud, wanting to be self-sufficient financially but struggling while working at a surfboard shop, but he still did not want to rely on his parents for help.
He told the court Robinson was naive in his offending not knowing common drug terms such as what an eight ball was.
“He was a young man with a drug dependency,” Mr Longhurst said.
Barrister for Jones Avni Djemal said although his client was slightly elevated in offending compared to Robinson, he said the operation was more like a flat line than a pyramid structure with Jones slightly above.
He said the offending was not as sophisticated as the Crown had implied as they were using readily available encrypted app Signal with a phone registered to Jones’ name.
Mr Djemal said Jones had suffered PTSD after the death of his mother before becoming addicted to the drug and eventually going “off the rails.”
Judge Jefferey McLennan said both men had good prospects of rehabilitation.
“I think it’s unlikely they would ever do anything so stupid again,” he said.
The sentencing of Jones and Robinson was scheduled for Thursday however was pushed back a week.
Judge McLennan spent almost 30 minutes discussing issues around the sentence with the Crown prosecutor and the respective defence counsels for Jones and Robinson.
The debate was speculative, and centred around potential for intensive correction orders and considerations for concurrency on the respective charges.
Mr McLennan said he needed further thought on the opinions raised, and adjourned the matter for sentencing on April 14.
Conroy was sentenced to a 30-month intensive corrections order and 200 hours of community service in May 2021 for four counts of supplying dangerous drugs, recklessly dealing with proceeds of crime and participating in a criminal group.
Instagram influencer Noakes, 20, was sentenced to a 12 month intensive correction order with conditions to perform 100 hours community service and was fined $300 in March 2021 for charges of participating in a criminal group, two counts of drug supply and drug possession.
Former Gold Coast Titans player Michael Gordon is also alleged to be involved in the group.
The 38-year-old faces two counts of possessing a prohibited drug, to which he has pleaded guilty, and two counts of taking part in supplying cocaine and MDMA, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
He will defend those charges at hearing on July 28, 2022 in Tweed Heads Local Court.
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