Olympian Nathan Baggaley appeals sentence for failed drug importation plot
A former Olympic silver medallist and world champion is fighting his prison sentence over a failed plot to smuggle up to $200m worth of cocaine.
Olympic kayaker Nathan Baggaley is fighting his 25-year prison sentence over a failed plot to smuggle more than 500 kilograms of cocaine into Australia.
Baggaley and his younger brother Dru were sentenced in the Brisbane Supreme Court after a jury found them guilty in 2021 of attempting to import a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.
The failed plot involved attempting to import up to $200m worth of cocaine into Australia via the ocean.
The Olympian silver medallist was jailed with a non-parole period of 12 years. Dru Baggaley was sentenced to 28 years’ jail, with a non-parole period of 16 years, after a jury found he was the principal organiser of the failed smuggling plot and he also recruited another man, Anthony Draper, to go to sea with him.
Draper and Dru Baggaley had sailed from Brunswick Heads in July 2018, meeting a foreign freighter about 360km off Queensland’s coast about 11 hours later.
The pair had used an inflatable boat bought by Nathan Baggaley to retrieve packages thrown off the other ship.
However, those packages were later flung into the sea while they pair were being pursued by an Australian navy vessel.
It’s estimated the bundles authorities recovered in the water and ashore at the time contained 650kg of white powder and cocaine worth between $130m and $200m.
Draper was sentenced to 13 years in jail for his involvement in the smuggling plot, with a non-parole period of four years and three months.
As well as the inflatable boat, Nathan Baggaley had also bought a trailer and equipment such as a satellite phone and GPS system, all worth more than $100,000.
Nathan Baggaley argued during his appeal in the Brisbane Court of Appeal on Thursday that his sentence of 25 years was excessive, considering he had a lesser role in the importation than his brother, Dru.
Nathan Baggaley said the Crown had failed to prove that key messages sent on various apps under the username “Thunderbutt” throughout the planning stages of importing the cocaine were sent by him.
The court was told three phones connected to Nathan Baggaley were used in evidence by the Crown prosecution.
“The only phone where I refused to unlock those apps was a username of Big Boy,” Nathan Baggaley said.
“There was no evidence at trial that Big Boy did anything.
“It’s my argument today … (Her Honour during sentencing) couldn’t have established those facts (in the case) without establishing me as Thunderbutt.
“These apps are not illegal and are used worldwide.
“The installation of these apps pre-dated the event. There’s no suggestion my apps have done anything wrong.
“If the Thunderbutt fact was removed, I say (Her Honour) would have struggled to establish those facts.”
Nathan Baggaley also argued against key evidence used in the trial that showed his fingerprints were found on the inside of the black tape used to cover up the inflatable boat’s registration number.
Nathan Baggaley told the court on Thursday that he had purchased the tape but had left it in the boat and his brother would have used it to cover the registration after seeing it lying around.
“Clearly, I didn’t have gloves on, (because) I would have had (my fingerprints) on multiple places, but that just didn’t happen because I wasn’t the person to handle the tape,” he said.
Nathan Baggaley said his sentence should be reduced to about eight years to mirror Draper’s lesser sentence.
“I’m not a principal and I did not have knowledge or control of the drugs. I should be sentenced on a lesser value,” he said.
“The sentence was manifestly excessive.
“I was only involved in the one day before the importation and my role was much less than Dru’s.”
Prosecutor Sarah Farnden KC told the court that the Crown’s case against Nathan Baggaley didn’t rely on which phone the messages from Thunderbutt were sent from.
“The Crown case was there were access to a number of phones and any which of those could have sent the messages,” Ms Farnden said.
She added that during the original sentencing, the presiding judge had taken into account the benefit to Nathan Baggaley should the importation plot had been successful.
“What was then to happen in relation to the drugs when they’ve arrived … Nathan was a principal offender, he was a trusted part in the conspiracy in relation to the movement of the drugs,” Ms Farnden said.
The Court of Appeal was adjourned for the case to be considered.