How much an Olympic silver medallist and his younger brother knew about a $200 million cocaine-smuggling plot is central to the sentence they should receive, a court has heard.
World champion kayaker Nathan Jon Baggaley and his brother Dru Anthony Baggaley were found guilty last month of trying to import 650kg of cocaine into Australia.
Brisbane Supreme Court Justice Ann Lyons will sentence Nathan Baggaley, 45, and his 39-year-old brother on a date to be decided.
On Monday prosecution and defence barristers made submissions about whether the pair should be sentenced on having "actual knowledge" about the plot to import a border-controlled drug into Australia or on the basis of "recklessness".
The trial heard Dru Baggaley and Anthony Draper got the cocaine from a foreign ship hundreds of kilometres off the NSW coast in July 2018.
Bundles of cocaine - valued at between $100 million and $200 million - were tossed from the ship and loaded onto the rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) the pair were in.
Footage viewed during the trial showed Draper behind the wheel of the RHIB trying to outrun a navy patrol boat, while Dru Baggaley ditched packages of cocaine into the ocean.
Dru Baggaley told the jury Draper asked him to buy and prepare a RHIB to meet a ship from Indonesia that would bring tobacco to be sold in Australia.
He said Draper insisted he get on the boat when the pair were at the Brunswick Heads boat ramp about 9.30pm on July 31.
"(Draper's) basically said ... I'm going to be held responsible for all this s*** and people are going to come after my family and me if I don't come on board," Dru Baggaley added.
But Draper told the jury he was the one recruited by Dru Baggaley for a voyage to pick up smoko, which he thought was cannabis.
The 56-year-old NSW man was testifying as part of an undertaking made when he admitted his involvement in the bungled smuggling attempt.
Prosecutor Ben Power said on Monday the primary organiser behind the scheme was unknown, but "it clearly wasn't Draper" who appeared to be less intelligent and articulate on the witness stand than the brothers.
"He simply did not come across as a very smart man," he added.
"It's not to say one needs to be a genius to organise a drug importation, but our submission is that Your Honour would reject the contention it was Draper who organised it."
The trial heard Nathan Baggaley also played a key role in the smuggling attempt by buying the $100,000 RHIB, equipping it with a navigation system and a satellite phone and taking it to the Brunswick Heads boat ramp.
The prosecution also argued Nathan Baggaley covered the RHIB's registration number in heavy duty black tape and planned to meet the cocaine-laden boat on its return.
The Crown claimed Nathan Baggaley communicated or tried to communicate with his brother at sea using the pseudonym "Thunderbutt" saying: "I'm on standby, ready".
Nathan Baggaley denied he was Thunderbutt, saying he had "no suspicions it (the RHIB) would be used for anything like this".
The legal teams made submissions on Monday about whether the evidence proved Nathan Baggaley knew about the cocaine plot when he bought the boat or only at the time of the sea voyage.
The bungled smuggling attempt resulted in 587kg of cocaine being recovered by the navy ship, while bundles continued to be recovered on Queensland's coast as far north as Yeppoon for months afterwards.
The brothers were both found guilty of attempting to import the commercial quantity of a border controlled drug at Coolangatta on the Gold Coast between December 2017 and August 2018.
Nathan Baggaley's career had already been tarnished with drug scandals like testing positive for banned steroids in 2005 and then being jailed, with brother Dru, 10 years later for his role in a drug manufacturing syndicate.
Draper has been sentenced to 13 years' jail after pleading guilty to the same drug importation charge.
Australian Associated Press
