Tennant Creek grandparents Linda and Graham Baker join remote drug syndicate over gambling debts

A lawyer has argued a Tennant Creek grandmother did not ‘have the capacity to be a mastermind’ despite her pivotal role in a rural drug empire.

Tennant Creek grandparents Graham and Linda Baker have both pleaded guilty to their role in a remote cannabis syndicate.

A $97,000 online gambling habit led a Territory grandmother to join a criminal drug syndicate shipping half a million dollars worth of cannabis into remote communities.

Security guards separated a drug-dealing husband and wife duo, Linda and Graham Baker as they appeared in Darwin’s Supreme Court on Thursday.

The couple have each pleaded guilty to possessing and supplying commercial amounts of cannabis and possessing property — $28,010 — in the commission of an offence.

Justice Sonia Brownhill heard that the Tennant Creek grandparents joined the “foolish enterprise” of a cannabis drug empire after racking up $97,000 in gambling spending over two years. 

Tennant Creek grandparents Graham and Linda Baker have both pleaded guilty to their role in a remote cannabis syndicate.

The court heard Ms Baker’s older brother, Robert Patterson had already been sentenced for his role in the commercial cannabis supply, in which he also admitted to selling drugs to children as young as 15.

In July, Patterson was sentenced in the Alice Springs Supreme Court to four years and 10 months in jail, suspended after 22 months.

Justice Meredith Huntingford said the 65-year-old grandfather was one of the “principal” dealers in the syndicate, and admitted to selling 43kg of cannabis over three years.

Charges against Patterson, the Bakers and five others relate to major police investigation, nicknamed Operation AMYL, where it was alleged over 20kg of cannabis was supplied to the remote community.

It was alleged the group made $500,000 in 12 months, with Patterson saying “we did this to make money, pure and simple”.

Tennant Creek grandparents Linda and Graham Baker have pleaded guilty to possessing and supplying commercial amounts of cannabis. They are part of a syndicate of nine people that were arrested and charged in July last year.

On Thursday, prosecutor David Dalrymple said Ms Baker took a “proactive” role, but her

barrister Koulla Roussos argued she was not at the “apex’ of the “pyramid of offending”.

“There are others higher up in the food chain,” Ms Roussos said.

She said given the Tennant Creek grandmother had an IQ of just 70, “she does not have the capacity to be a mastermind”.

“It’s not in the sense she was an automaton, being hypnotised and guided by a nefarious character … but she does meet the criteria of a mild intellectual disability,” Ms Roussos said.

She said Ms Baker helped raise four children, 13 grandchildren and two great grandchildren, but was diagnosed with anxiety after being “bullied” out of work at the Tennant Creek Hospital’s kitchens.

Ms Roussos said the 65-year-old had no criminal history, but Justice Brownhill said that was often abused by “criminal syndicates to avoid detection”.

Despite the prosecution pushing for an actual jail term, Judge Brownhill said she was considering a home detention order for the couple.

However, she said she faced a troublesome “chicken and egg situation” as the crown was fighting to seize the Bakers property as a proceeds of crime.

Their hearing was adjourned until September 15.

Originally published as Tennant Creek grandparents Linda and Graham Baker join remote drug syndicate over gambling debts