A successful businesswoman and nail salon owner who was living a double life running a crime syndicate that cultivated and supplied large quantities of cannabis across Newcastle will learn her fate on Friday.
Nga White, also known as Emily White, has swapped the penthouse for the jailhouse and faced a sentence hearing via audio visual link on Thursday looking significantly gaunt and withdrawn.
More than four years after sweeping raids revealed sophisticated cannabis operations in the old Churchill's building on Steel Street and at a number of other houses owned by White, the 48-year-old was last month found guilty of directing a criminal group, cultivating a large commercial quantity of cannabis and supplying a commercial quantity of cannabis after a judge-alone trial in Newcastle District Court.
Her defence had argued it was not White on the phone calls discussing cannabis cultivation and supply and instead it could have been another Vietnamese national with a similar name and accent who took advantage of her and exploited her success.
But Acting Judge Stephen Walmsley, SC, said the evidence pointing to it being White on those crucial calls was "overwhelming" and he was left with no doubt she was directing the activities of the Newcastle-based crime syndicate.
And because of documents found with the bags, police were able to identify a number of people, including White, and a number of premises and launch an investigation into the cultivation and supply of cannabis.
After conducting surveillance, police stopped a car at Adamstown in October, 2017, found 18 kilograms of cannabis in the boot and arrested Hoai Nam Nguyen, The Anh Hoang and Cuong Van Nguyen.
The three men, Vietnamese nationals and cannabis crop sitters, were each jailed for a maximum of four years.
Police then raided the old Churchill's building and found 325 cannabis plants and 46 kilograms of cannabis leaf. White was arrested at her nail salon business at Kotara the next day.
Defence barrister Michelle Swift said White should receive a jail term only slightly longer than that of her underlings. But Crown prosecutor Brendan Queenan said the range Ms Swift provided did not take into account the role White played in the criminal group.
"The offender is the principal in the operation," Mr Queenan said. "The premises were owned or leased by her. She directed the activities of the three co-offenders. Accordingly her criminality is significantly increased."
