A 67 year-old woman has been sentenced to four years jail after helping help her son flee Australia while on trial for the importation of cocaine.
An investigation by Queensland police found the woman deliberately misled judicial proceedings after her son failed to face court for cocaine importation and trafficking charges in 2015.
The woman's son was wanted by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for his role in allegedly importing more than 71 kilograms of cocaine into Australia in 2011.
Following a two-year international operation, the man was arrested in the Philippines in September 2017.
The Queensland woman assisted her son by purchasing and preparing a yacht for him to flee whilst on bail in 2015.
In addition, the woman told the Supreme Court in 2016 that she had not been in contact with her son for several weeks and that he had taken his own life.
The woman was arrested by AFP and Queensland Police Service officers in Mackay, in July 2019.
She was found guilty of giving false testimony and of attempting to pervert justice in the Mackay District Court on 12 November 2020.
AFP Detective Acting Superintendent Crime Northern Command, Tim Puchala, said the sentence was the result of a police investigation that spanned several years.
"Since the investigation was launched almost a decade ago in 2011, members of the Australian Federal Police, working with our partners, have spent countless hours to bring these people to justice" he said.
The woman has been sentenced to four years jail with a non-parole period of two years.
