Gold Coast couple Tristina Hay, Samuel Cross sentenced for trying to import ‘dark web’ cocaine into NSW

A Gold Coast couple have faced the music after trying to import more than half-a-kilo of cocaine into a Northern Rivers town and fleeing police in two states, jumping out a window to evade arrest.

Tristina Hay and Samuel David Cross were busted importing cocaine over the “dark web” from the UK and US.

A Gold Coast couple busted trying to smuggle cocaine into Northern NSW from the “dark web” have been sentenced after fleeing out a bedroom window during a police raid.

Tristina Hay, 32, and Samuel David Cross, 34, were jailed at Coffs Harbour District Court on Friday after pleading guilty to attempting to import about 700g of “pure cocaine” – a marketable quantity – into Australia from the UK and US between August and October of 2021.

The two had been in a relationship for about 12 years and were living together in Tallebudgera, Queensland at the time of the offending.

The first attempted import was to Cross’s sister’s house at Casino about August 2, 2021.

Tristina Hay and Samuel David Cross were busted importing cocaine over the “dark web” from the UK and US.

The cocaine was hidden in a cardboard box with a false bottom, however the drugs were seized and replaced with a dummy.

Another person then went and picked up the drugs, and had expected to be paid about $5000 for her “efforts”, court documents state.

Police then intercepted a second package from the US on October 19, 2021 and set up a sting operation.

Cross was seen near where the delivery was to occur. Hay then approached an undercover police officer posing as a delivery driver, took the package and went to the car driven by Cross.

Packages of cocaine were seized during importation into Australia.

Police then tried to arrest the offenders, with Cross driving away at speed.

Both the offenders eluded arrest until 21 December, 2021 when police raided Hay’s mother’s home at Barkers Vale, near Kyogle.

The pair tried to evade arrest again by fleeing out a bedroom window during the raid, but were arrested.

Agreed facts state two further packages containing cocaine were intercepted, however this was not included in the case against the two.

The Gold Coast couple fled police in two states before jumping out a window during a police raid near Kyogle.

The maximum sentence both offenders faced was 25 years prison.

The court heard Hay was the “less involved” of the two, with Cross taking a leading role.

The operation was found to be “unsophisticated” and “amateurish”, and not part of a larger criminal syndicate.

“While there were attempts at subterfuge, the addresses used were both easily connected to the offenders with one of them obviously being their own business address and the other being the address of the sister of Cross,” Judge Jonathan Priestley stated in his judgment.

Judge Priestly accepted that the offending was driven “at least in part” by the need to fund their cocaine habits.

Hay and Cross were cocaine addicts at the time of offending, the court heard.

He found the two offenders had good prospects for rehabilitation and showed promise of contributing meaningfully to the community if they stayed on the right path.

However, Judge Priestly said the offending was serious and he needed to make an example of the two to deter others from trying to import drugs.

Cross was sentenced to three years and four months imprisonment with 20 months non-parole expiring April 20, 2025.

Cross has been held in custody since his arrest for 18 months, and will be eligible for parole on August 20, 2023.

Hay was sentenced to three years imprisonment, however she will serve her sentence in the community after already serving seven months in custody on remand following her arrest.

Originally published as Gold Coast couple Tristina Hay, Samuel Cross sentenced for trying to import ‘dark web’ cocaine into NSW