Prison guard Shayne Louise Freimann spared custody over role in jailhouse drug smuggling ring

A prison guard has avoided becoming an inmate herself after admitting she pocketed $50,000 to help one of Nowra jail’s most notorious inmates smuggle drugs inside.

A prison guard who was paid $50,000 to help smuggle drugs into a South Coast jail, allegedly at the behest of a member of the notorious Brothers4Life gang, has avoided becoming an inmate herself after a magistrate agreed to spare her jail time.

Shayne Louise Freimann was sentenced to a 12-month intensive correction order in Wollongong Local Court on Monday following confirmation of her guilty plea to two counts of corruptly receiving a benefit as an agent.

Documents tendered to the court said Freimann aided infamous Sydney gangster Jamil Qaumi and other inmates to boost the supply of the illegal drug buprenorphine, commonly known as “bupe”, in the South Coast Correctional Centre during 2020 – a task for which she was generously rewarded.

Qaumi, who along with his brother Mumtaz, was jailed in 2017 for his role in the brutal gangland war between two rival B4L chapters in 2013, was being housed at the South Nowra jail when he and two other inmates arranged with Freimann to orchestrate the smuggling of the bupe strips into the prison in the midst of the first Covid lockdown.

Court documents said police monitored jail phone calls between the three men and several of their associates, including one of Qaumi’s female friends, which allegedly detailed their attempts to have the drug sourced then covertly brought into the prison to sell on the black market.

Neither Qaumi or his female friend have been charged over their alleged roles in the scheme.

The court heard Qaumi directed the woman in mid-July to contact several people in a bid to source the bupe, including the father of another inmate involved in the smuggling operation.

Disgraced former prison guard Shayne Louise Freimann leaving Wollongong Courthouse on Monday. Picture: Dylan Arvela

Infamous Sydney gangster Jamil Qaumi.

Later that month, recorded jail calls reveal that the inmate arranged for his father to deliver 250 bupe strips to Qaumi’s female friend at the Marulan truck stop, the court heard.

The woman was then given Freimann’s contact details and the two met at a service station in Nowra six days later, where the woman gave Freimann the package.

The Crown had previously conceded it could not prove Freimann looked inside the bag or knew specifically of its contents.

However, the court heard Freimann received a $10,000 payment into her bank account around the same time from a woman whose son was also being housed at the Nowra jail. The man told his mother the money was to pay for his legal fees.

Prison guards subsequently intercepted phone calls between inmates and their associates that indicated the drugs had successfully been delivered into the prison.

More strips were smuggled into the jail in a similar fashion two months later, however this time Freimann was paid $40,000 for her efforts.

The court heard Freimann met a woman at McDonalds at Heathcote and was given cash and a package containing hundreds of bupe strips.

The drugs were later smuggled into the jail by unknown means, with recorded phone calls confirming the successful delivery.

Police raided Freimann’s home on November 28, 2020 and discovered $31,900 in cash hidden in a shoebox in her bedroom which she told police was her “life savings”.

Shayne Louise Freimann was completely covered up leaving Wollongong Courthouse on Monday. Picture: Dylan Arvela

The cash was seized, however, Freimann wasn’t arrested until a month later.

In court on Monday, defence solicitor Sam Karnib argued Freimann’s case had not crossed the threshold to warrant a term of imprisonment, telling the court his client was “reserved, easily manipulated and easily controlled”.

However, Magistrate Greg Elks disagreed, accepting submissions from Crown prosecutor Alisha Hughes that the scheme had a “level of sophistication” and that Freimann had acted as its “gatekeeper”.

The court heard Freimann used her daughter’s phone initially to organise the payments, before purchasing a burner phone from Woolworths, as well as opening a bank account in her ex-husband’s name where the money was deposited.

“She was in a position of power,” Ms Hughes said.

“She was the gatekeeper … she had the power to stop this from happening.”

The magistrate acknowledged the disgraced prison guard‘s “mental health issues” when handing down his sentence, ordering she continue accepting treatment.

The former Nowra resident, who now lives in the Bathurst region, was also ordered to forfeit the $31,900.