Drug dealer allegedly called 'Superdick' found not guilty of attempting to import meth

A drug dealer allegedly nicknamed ‘Superdick’ has been acquitted of trying to import 750 grams of methamphetamine from the US into Australia.

The ACT Supreme Court trial against former real estate agent Gerardo Penna began earlier this month.

Jurors returned to the courtroom to deliver their verdict on Friday (28 March), announcing they found him not guilty of a charge of agreeing to attempt to possess a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.

Justice David Mossop thanked the jurors for their service and discharged them.

Penna was alleged to have planned to import the drugs with two women, who are currently legally unable to be named.

In late 2021, Australian Border Force detected abnormalities in a consignment that arrived in Sydney from the US.

Police were contacted and the consignment’s powdered mixture of meth and aluminium was replaced with an inert substance. Officers then delivered it to the first woman’s home in Canberra on 17 November 2021.

Jurors heard this first woman alleged Penna was going to finance and order the drugs, while the second woman’s role was to put his money into a bank account, transfer it into the cryptocurrency Bitcoin and then send it to him so he could make the purchase.

The first woman alleged her role was to receive the package at her home, then Penna would collect it.

During closing submissions on Wednesday (26 March), Penna’s barrister, Beth Morrisroe, said her client didn’t have the equipment to manufacture drugs.

“No one’s alleging that Gerardo Penna was manufacturing drugs,” she said.

“This is not Walter White from Breaking Bad.”

She told jurors they hadn’t heard from several people who had been mentioned in the trial. This included the second woman, who objected to giving evidence on the grounds that it may incriminate her.

Ms Morrisroe then spoke about the first woman’s evidence, as she had testified to the jury, arguing she had an “obvious motive to lie”.

“She is not in prison … she is … in the community because she spoke to police,” she said.

Ms Morrisroe argued the first woman, who she said had a daily meth habit, made a deal to assist police before she pleaded guilty to her own charge.

She also argued there were inconsistencies in the first woman’s evidence.

For instance, she said she had reconnected with Penna by Googling him and calling the number he had listed as a real estate agent, but then she also said they reconnected when she ran into him in Belconnen and gave him a big hug.

“She can’t even keep that straight,” Ms Morrisroe said.

The barrister said the first woman’s evidence about when the trio agreed to import the drugs was “all over the place”. She said in one version, the woman said this agreement was made in her backyard, while in another, it was made in a McDonald’s.

Penna has separately pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking a controlled drug over a different incident.

His sentencing for this charge will take place at a date to be set. He remains on bail.