Tennant Creek grandparents Linda and Graham Baker sentenced for $300,000 cannabis scheme

A Tennant Creek grandmother wept while a court heard her family home of the past decade would be surrendered after she pleaded guilty to commercial drug supply.

Tennant Creek grandparents Graham and Linda Baker have been sentenced for their role in a remote cannabis syndicate.

Authorities have seized the “spiritual hub” of a large Tennant Creek family after police busted two grandparents involved in a major remote drug dealing syndicate.

After 45 years of marriage Linda and Graham Baker appeared together in the Supreme Court on Thursday to be sentenced for their role in a half-a-million dollar cannabis network.

The Bakers were arrested in June, following a three-month investigation into the cannabis trade in the Barkly region.

They each pleaded guilty to possessing and supplying commercial amounts of cannabis as well as possessing $28,010 as the proceeds of crime.

Graham Baker admitted to selling about half a pound of cannabis a week over a 13 month period — totalling about 11.8kg and $336,000 in drug sales.

Tennant Creek grandparents Linda and Graham Baker were part of a nine-person syndicate arrested and charged in July last year.

His lawyer Storm Lawlor told the court the grandfather’s involvement in the criminal syndicate had destroyed a lifetime of hard work.

Mr Lawlor said the now 62-year-old had been consistently employed for almost five decades, after dropping out of school at 15 following his father’s death.

Mr Lawlor said the father-of-four, grandfather to 13 and great-grandfather to three started using CBD oil to treat the “musculoskeletal pain which he has developed over a life of difficult labour”.

Graham Baker admitted to selling about half a pound of cannabis a week.

But his entry into a life of crime came through his brother-in-law, Robert Patterson who convinced the couple to start dealing to help pay off their significant debts — including his wife’s secret $97,000 online gambling debts.

“Graham was not aware of the extent of his wife’s online gambling behaviours and he was shocked and saddened when it was sheeted home to him by his legal representatives,” Mr Lawlor said.

“A large portion of the money that was made from dealing cannabis was gambled away.”

In July, Patterson was sentenced to four years and 10 months in jail, suspended after 22 months after admitting to his role in the commercial drug supply as well as selling drugs to minors.

Mr Lawlor said Mr Baker no longer considered his brother-in-law “to be part of the family” and “regrets and resents” him for involving them in the scheme.

Linda Baker wiped away her tears while in the dock at the Supreme Court on Thursday.

In sentencing, Justice Sonia Brownhill said the Bakers became an “independent” but “subsidiary” drug dealing operation within the nine-person syndicate.

Linda Baker wiped away tears as she sat in the dock while the court heard about the couple’s $300,000 home being seized following their guilty pleas.

“This is where they lived for 10 years and is considered by them as a spiritual hub of their extended family in Tennant Creek,” Mr Lawlor said.

He said given their age, owning another home would be “difficult, if not impossible”.

Mr Lawlor said Mr Baker had three jobs and would likely continue to work “long beyond retirement age to repair the financial damages this offending has caused”.

Justice Brownhill acknowledged the Bakers’ “significant loss” and said given their age and health issues, prison was not an appropriate option.

She sentenced each to four years and six months in prison, suspended immediately, with the couple placed under a 12-month home detention order to be served at their daughter’s property.

Originally published as Tennant Creek grandparents Linda and Graham Baker sentenced for $300,000 cannabis scheme