The convictions of Dru and Nathan Baggaley have been overturned by the Queensland Court of Appeal and the pair are set to face a retrial in October this year. After a trial in 2021Dru and Nathan were convicted for the attempted importation of cocaine and sentenced to 28 years and 25 years in jail respectively. However the court of appeal agreed that both men did not receive a fair trial and that prosecution misled the jury.
In July 2018 Dru and another man Anthony Draper were arrested together in a boat off the Australian coast. The police allege the pair met up with a ship off the Australian coast where they received a number of parcels from this ship. On their return voyage back to land the police apprehended Anthony Draper and Dru Baggaley. After arrest Mr. Draper became a witness for the police and agreed to testify against Dru Baggaley at his trial. In return for agreeing to give evidence against Dru at his trial Mr. Draper received a reduced charge and his sentence was discounted by at least 50%. Mr. Draper was sentenced to 4 years and 3 months and was released from prison almost 2 years ago.
However in a shocking twist Mr. Draper, who was the main prosecution witness against Dru Baggaley, is being investigated for lying to the police and lying to the court when he gave evidence against Dru at his trial. It has been revealed that Mr. Draper provided police with two interviews where he told police two very different versions. At Dru’s trial when Mr. Draper was cross-examined Mr. Draper agreed that many of the things he had told the police in his interviews were lies and when giving evidence in court Mr. Draper was caught out lying time and time again. When the jury were removed from the court room the prosecutor told the trial judge that Mr. Draper is more involved than he had let on to the police. The trial judge stated that, “Mr. Draper was a completely unreliable witness” and that she “could not accept anything he says”.
At trial Dru’s barrister put a number of handwritten letters to Mr. Draper to which Mr. Draper agreed he wrote. Mr. Draper then stated that the letters were true. These letters said that Mr. Draper had tricked Dru and that Dru had no idea he was involved in a plan for cocaine. The letters stated that Mr. Draper planned on telling the police a false story to get out of prison and that he was sorry for tricking Dru and setting him up. The letters also stated that Dru thought he was involved in a plan to collect tobacco and Mr. Draper told Dru not to talk to the police. When Mr. Draper was pressed on these letters Mr. Draper then back tracked and stated that he was “stood over” to write the letters. However Mr. Draper could not say how, who, where or when this supposedly happened and he accepted that he had a legal obligation as a prosecution witness to inform the police of the letters and that he was supposedly stood over yet he did not tell the police or anyone else. It was pointed out that Mr. Draper has never been assaulted or threatened so it is hard to believe that he was stood over especially when he could not provide any details on the matter.
Another strong basis to find that Mr. Draper wasn’t stood over to write the letters is that in court it was revealed that Mr. Draper continued to write Dru friendly letters to this present day. Mr. Draper initially tried to deny this but when he was shown the letters he had written to Dru he then changed his evidence and reluctantly agreed he continues to reach out to Dru asking if he was ok. It is hard to believe that Mr. Draper was stood over when the evidence before the court showed he was wasn’t. The trial judge stated that she could not believe Mr. Draper’s evidence regarding the letters as he changed his version three times and was completely unbelievable.
The problem Mr. Draper faces is that if he is caught out lying or misleading the police then he could possibly face extra jail time so he has to continue to stick to his story even when it is clear he was lying.
There is currently an investigation underway in relation to Mr. Draper and the lies told by him. It could not be revealed at Dru and Nathan’s trial that Mr. Draper was living with a convicted cocaine importer at the time of his arrest and that he visited this man in jail frequently. It could not be revealed in court that a year prior to his arrest Mr. Draper and this convicted cocaine importer he was living with had travelled from Sydney to Queensland to meet up with another man named Jay where Jay was to hand over $20 million cash which was from the proceeds of a previous drug importation. However Josh failed to show up and went missing with the money. After his arrest Mr. Draper blamed Dru and he told the police that Dru had recruited him, that he did not know the plan involved cocaine and that he was just a simple boat driver. Unfortunately for Mr. Draper his story fell apart when he gave evidence at Dru’s first trial.
Mr. Draper will have to give evidence against Dru at his retrial in October. It is thought that in order for Dru and Nathan Baggaley to be convicted the jury will have to accept Mr. Draper’s evidence as truthful. It seems this will be a hard task given Mr. Draper’s evidence so far and the fact he has admitted he lied to the police and the court. Dru has always maintained his innocence. Since the previous trial new evidence has come to light which shows that it was Mr. Draper who recruited Dru, that he told Dru the plan involved tobacco and that Mr. Draper tricked Dru and set him up. This new evidence also shows that Dru’s role was minor and that he was not supposed to go out to sea but when another man pulled out of the plan last minute Mr. Draper tricked Dru into getting into the boat to help him. The defence claims that if Mr. Draper can trick and mislead the police then he would have been able to do the same to Dru. Both Dru and Nathan Baggaley have been in jail for over 6 years on remand awaiting a trial and both men maintain their innocence.