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District Court 11 August 2026

R v Grunnet

[2026] NSWDC 347

DrugsPublic order & justice offences
CRIME FEDERAL OFFENCES DELAY USE OF ANOM COMMUNICATION PLATFORM SENTENCING FEDERAL OFFENDERS

Citation: R v Grunnet [2026] NSWDC 347
Court: District Court of New South Wales
Date: 11 August 2026
Judge: Anderson SC DCJ

Background

The offender was a Qantas terminal operator whose role gave him access to international and domestic air freight, including secure areas of Sydney International Airport not available to most employees. Between 11 October and 14 October 2020, he used that access to assist a criminal syndicate attempting to import a large consignment of pseudoephedrine concealed within rolls of fabric. The consignment, arriving from Chennai, India, contained 158.8 kilograms of pseudoephedrine at 81.9 percent purity, equating to 127.7 kilograms of pure pseudoephedrine.

The offender communicated with syndicate members using an ANOM device, an encrypted mobile platform secretly operated by law enforcement as part of Operation Ironside. He observed the consignment pallets from his forklift and reported to his contacts that authorities had interfered with the shipment. Messages recovered from the ANOM platform indicated he expected to receive $50,000 for his assistance, though no evidence established he actually received that sum.

The offender pleaded guilty to a single count under section 390.4 of the Criminal Code (Cth): intentionally providing material support to an organisation, being reckless as to whether that support aided the organisation to engage in the offence of attempting to import a border controlled precursor. The maximum penalty for the offence is five years imprisonment.

Legal Issues

  • What was the appropriate objective seriousness of the offending, given the offender's limited but specific role within the importation operation?
  • What weight should be given to the utilitarian value of the guilty plea, entered approximately five years after arrest?
  • Whether the five-year delay in finalisation of proceedings, partly attributable to awaiting the High Court's decision in CD v Director of Public Prosecutions (SA) [2025] HCA 37, warranted a reduction in sentence.
  • Whether the offender's background of childhood deprivation and social disadvantage reduced his moral culpability, and the consequent effect on general and specific deterrence.
  • Whether the offender's bail conditions, confining him to his apartment for approximately five months, amounted to quasi custody warranting a reduction in sentence.
  • What the appropriate total sentence and custodial proportion were, having regard to all subjective and objective factors.

Decision

Objective seriousness and breach of trust

The court found the offending was a serious example of its type (at [31]). The offender's Qantas role placed him in a secure area of the airport, making him uniquely valuable to the syndicate. That position entailed a serious breach of trust toward his employer (at [30]). The conduct was not isolated but formed part of a course of criminal activity across several days (at [32]). While the offender was not charged with the attempted importation itself, his support role was integral to the syndicate's operation (at [28]).

Guilty plea and delay

The court applied a 20 percent reduction to reflect the utilitarian benefit of the guilty plea, which saved between four and eight weeks of trial time (at [6]). The offender had been arrested almost five years before entering the plea. Part of that delay arose because, without any criticism, he waited for the outcome of the High Court's decision in CD v Director of Public Prosecutions (SA) concerning the admissibility of ANOM-derived evidence (at [5]). Although delay alone does not automatically mitigate sentence, the court accepted that the extended period placed the offender under considerable stress and provided evidence of no further offending, supporting a finding of strong rehabilitation prospects (at [52]-[53]).

General and specific deterrence, and moral culpability

General deterrence was described as of fundamental importance, given the significance of insider assistance to criminal organisations (at [35]-[36]). However, the offender's background of childhood deprivation and social disadvantage reduced his moral culpability, which in turn moderated, though did not eliminate, the weight placed on general deterrence (at [43]-[48]). The court accepted the psychiatric letter describing the offender as someone who could be easily exploited, and characterised him as perhaps somewhat naive (at [41], [49]). Specific deterrence was of lesser significance given the offender's previous good character and age (at [34]).

Quasi custody

The court acknowledged that the offender's bail conditions, requiring him to remain within his apartment block for approximately five months except in the presence of his partner, were quite harsh (at [57]). The court declined to assign a specific period of credit but accepted the conditions as warranting a moderation of the sentence, without formally classifying them as quasi custody.

Sentence

A custodial sentence was the only appropriate disposition, a point conceded by defence counsel (at [62]). The court set a custodial proportion of approximately 64 percent of the total sentence, reflecting that this was effectively the offender's first real custodial experience beyond the 110 days already served (at [63]). Parity with co-offenders was not a live issue as those offenders faced vastly different charges (at [61]).

Orders Made

  • Bail revoked.
  • Offender convicted of the offence under section 390.4 of the Criminal Code (Cth).
  • Sentenced to imprisonment for 2 years and 4 months, commencing 23 April 2026 and expiring 22 August 2028.
  • After serving 1 year and 6 months, directed to be released on 22 October 2027 on a recognizance of $100 without security, subject to the following conditions for 10 months:
  • To be of good behaviour.
  • To report to and obey the directions of NSW Community Corrections Service, Probation and Parole, for the period of the recognizance.

Key Takeaways

  • An employee whose workplace role gave a criminal syndicate specific, operationally valuable intelligence was found to have committed a serious example of the offence of providing material support, notwithstanding that the employee did not participate in the importation itself (at [28]-[31]).

  • Under section 390.4 of the Criminal Code (Cth), the court assessed objective seriousness by reference to the offender's unique positional access, the value of the support provided, and whether the conduct formed part of a course of criminal activity rather than an isolated act (at [29]-[32]).

  • A background of childhood deprivation and social disadvantage can reduce an offender's moral culpability and, in turn, moderate the weight attributed to general deterrence, even where an offender is in their mid-fifties (at [43]-[48]).

  • Waiting for a directly relevant High Court decision before finalising proceedings attracts no criticism and does not, of itself, constitute a mitigating delay, though the overall period of proceedings hanging over an offender may be taken into account in other ways (at [52]-[53]).

  • The onus rests on an offender to establish on the balance of probabilities that bail conditions amounted to quasi custody; even where conditions are found to be quite harsh, a court may moderate the sentence without attributing a precise period of credit (at [54]-[57]).

Legislation and Cases Referenced

Legislation
- Criminal Code ( Cth)
- Crimes Act 1914 (Cth)

Cases
- CD v Director of Public Prosecutions (SA) [2025] HCA 37
- R v Butler [2024] NSWCCA 133