Illawarra pilot Bernhard Stevemuer will not see the inside of a jail cell over his role in an international drug and money-laundering syndicate after a judge agreed to overturn his prison sentence on appeal.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The 43-year-old cancer patient turned criminal, who has been compared to the anti-hero Walter White from popular US TV series Breaking Bad, had his 19-month jail term replaced with a 12-month suspended sentence in the NSW District Court on Tuesday.
Stevermuer was arrested by police in July last year following a dramatic raid on a small plane at the Illawarra Regional Airport.
The Swearingen Merlin 3, along with two other light aircraft purchased through Stevermuer’s Albion Park based aviation company Always Airborne, were found to have been bought using money connected to a sophisticated domestic drug supply network allegedly run by Stevermuer’s former neighbour.
Stevermuer became entangled in the group’s dealings after the ex-neighbour approached him in 2011 saying he had investors who wanted to buy into Always Airborne.
The licensed pilot, who had just been diagnosed with his second bout of cancer and was facing a poor prognosis, hated the thought of leaving behind a cash-strapped family, and, apparently ignorant of the group’s true operations, agreed to the funding injection.
When he eventually learned the truth – that the investor money was profit from illegal drugs, and his business was being used as a financial laundry to make it look clean – he believed he was in too deep to get out.
Police later found $70,000 in cash during a search of Stevermuer’s Fairy Meadow home, which they believe was payment from the syndicate for bringing the Merlin 3 into Australia.
Stevermuer was charged with dealing with property suspected of being the proceeds of crime and knowingly participating in a criminal group. He pleaded guilty to both charges during proceedings in Port Kembla Local Court earlier this year.
At the time, Stevemuer’s lawyer, Mark Savic, described his client as a “gently, devoted and trustworthy family man” whose inherent naivety had been his undoing.
‘‘His love of flying caused him to be blind to what others might see were obvious signs to what was going on around him,’’ Mr Savic said, telling presiding magistrate Michael Stoddart his client was extremely remorseful.
‘‘He’s not shied away from the charges, he has deep remorse and shame for being before the court today.
‘‘There was no intention on my client’s part to be involved in breaking the law. He didn’t go out to seek people in the underworld, he was approached by people with an agenda.’’
While Magistrate Stoddart found a suspended sentence was inappropriate given the level of criminality involved, Acting District Court judge Norman Delaney said in reviewing all aspects of the case, such a sentence was warranted.
