Owner Sentenced To 19 Months In Prison

The owner of a Seawind 300C that has been sitting on Patonga Beach in New South Wales in Australia since Easter had been part of a drug smuggling ring in which he said he participated because he is battling cancer.

The owner of the plane is 43-year-old Bernhard Stevermuer, according to the Central Coast Express Advocate newspaper. He had been diagnosed with cancer for the second time in 2011, and while his doctors had told him he was in remission, how long he had left was unclear.

In an effort he says to leave a "nest egg" for his family, he got involved in smuggling drugs using the Seawind. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges dealing with property suspected of being proceeds of crime, knowingly participating in a criminal group and assisting crime. He was sentenced to 19 months in prison. Stevermuer is appealing the sentence and is currently out on bail. An appeal hearing is set for June 15.

Meanwhile, the airplane has sat on Patonga Beach, and is somewhat the worse for wear. Stevermuer, a former skydiving champion, told the newspaper that he is the owner of the airplane, and that he had wanted to fly the Seawind from where it is stranded, but he does not know if it's airworthy. But, he said, "it is in my interests to get it out of there as soon as I can."

Stevermuer has ordered parts for the airplane from Canada, and it may take as long a six weeks for them to be delivered.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.courts.justice.nsw.gov.au