A Queensland woman has become the first person sentenced to imprisonment under the Northern Territory's sacred sites protection laws.
Kimberly Smith plead guilty to three charges after digging up more than 8 tonnes of ore from Ammaroo station in breach of her mineral licence and without approvals from the NT sacred sites authority.
At the Darwin Local Court on Monday Ms Smith was convicted and sentenced to four months imprisonment, suspended over 18 months, after pleading guilty to working on the sacred site.
Mrs Smith also pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching an exploration licence and was fined a total of $28,000.
The case against her husband and business partner Scott Smith, was withdrawn due to serious health issues.
'Justice has been done'
This is the first time a person has been sentenced to imprisonment for a conviction under the Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act, according to the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA), who enforce the act.
They knew they were on a sacred site and brought in excavators and dug it up
Chairman of the AAPA, Bobby Nunggumajbarr, welcomed the conviction.
“The stolen turquoise was part of the story of that place," Mr Nunggumajbarr said in a statement following the sentencing.
"They knew they were on a sacred site and brought in excavators and dug it up.
“I am very happy that today justice has been done," he said.
The court heard that, in August 2022, Mrs Smith hired a 25-tonne excavator and arranged for a team to enter the historical Tosca mine site on Ammaroo Station and remove significant quantities of turquoise.
Ammaroo Station is a large cattle station around 350 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs.
It covers the historical Tosca Mine site, which was once mined for rare, high-quality turquoise.
The mine sits on an area that is a registered sacred site.
The court heard the work was conducted without appropriate mining permits or an Authority Certificate to work on the sacred site.
Those illegal works resulted in substantial damage to the registered Putyenge Sacred Site.
Mrs Smith then offered the turquoise for sale in Australia, the United States and China.
