The secrets of how a glamorous marketing guru spiralled to become a notorious drug dealer are exposed in the latest episode of the Daily Mail's The Trial: Australia podcast. Tess Rowlatt, 36, made headlines in 2022 after she was accused of running more than $203,000 of alleged drug deals through 16 Airbnb rental properties in Melbourne.
Sentencing and New Charges
She was sentenced in February 2024 to a four-year community correction order, which only required a single day of drug rehabilitation. However, last month Rowlatt appeared before the Melbourne County Court on a new slate of offences after she pleaded guilty to trafficking meth and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Arrest and Evidence
The convicted drug trafficker was nabbed by police in Melbourne high-rise district Southbank just before 1am on August 16 last year. Cops had noticed a black BMW X5 the court heard was registered to an individual with a firearm prohibition order and 'outlaw motorcycle gang affiliations'. Police followed the car for a short distance then began a pursuit, at which stage it stopped and Rowlatt bolted from the vehicle. Officers chased down Rowlatt, who was caught with more than 100g of meth in her black handbag and 1,4-butanediol - a commercial-grade solvent that converts into the party drug GHB when ingested - and credit cards in other people's names.
Potential Avoidance of Custody
It now appears that Rowlatt may avoid a custodial sentence despite the scale of the narcotics found on her person, Daily Mail senior news reporter Paul Shapiro, who has been following the case closely, told host Wayne Flower. 'You'd expect her to have the book thrown at her but I was in court for the plea hearing and to my astonishment, it's possible that she may be receiving bail at her next court appearance, which I believe is on April 29,' Shapiro said. 'She may be allowed to take a bed in a drug rehab clinic and to move in with her parents or with her boyfriend, who wasn't with her at the time she got caught and wasn't the person in the car. It's quite staggering considering she was on a four year community correction order for trafficking and commercial quantity methamphetamine at the time. She's being sentenced by the same judge who sentenced her last time. You think the book would be thrown at her, but I'm not sure it's going to hit her.'
Background and Drug History
In fact, we now know that Rowlatt has a 17 year history of drug abuse, which started when she was just 19. However, hers was not a 'down on her luck' story - she and sister Victoria both attended the prestigious Canterbury Girls' School and Tess later graduated with a degree from Monash University before holding roles in multiple marketing companies. Flower also spoke on the podcast with another of the Daily Mail's senior news reporters, Lucy Manley, who has known Rowlatt since her teenage years.
Insights from a Former Friend
Manley said: 'I've known her since we were teenagers, going to the same house parties in Melbourne in the early 2000s. I went to a private girl's school, and she went to a different girl's school. And we'd all go to just sort of the same parties. We'd go to McDonald's on a Friday, you know, when kids all go and hang out at the shops and that sort of thing. And yeah, and then I just sort of knew her socially. I think she was just a normal girl next door type. Very insecure, but I think like most girls are when they're a teenager.'
However, the journalist recalled how Rowlatt's personality changed after she lost weight and started gaining the attention of the opposite sex. She added: 'I think it was when we finished high school, that's when she sort of got a whole heap of confidence. She had a glow up. I think she lost quite a bit of weight. I think she might've fallen into a bit of an eating disorder. And she got a lot of attention from boys as a result of the weight loss. I think she was the bully. From what I understand, all my friends that were really good friends with her in school, it sounds like she was quite toxic. I think she really wanted to sort of be a bit of a queen bee at school in charge of the group, but I think she was a bit painfully insecure.'
Early Exposure to Drugs
Around that time Rowlatt was also exposed to drugs, most likely via the Melbourne club scene, Manley says. 'In the early 1990s nightclubs were really big. It was at a time where we all in our, like we were in our late teens,' she said. 'People were experimenting with drugs like ecstasy and that sort of thing and I guess that was probably the start of her drug taking. Drugs were very much part of the scene back then. It wasn't uncommon to see people with giant pupils chewing their face off, eyes wide, on ecstasy or people sniffling away, they might have had a bit too much cocaine. And yeah, Tess was very much a part of that.'
Downward Spiral
Manley adds that at the time she knew Tess, she had no inkling that her friend would go on to deal drugs - but notes that the majority of her friends had cut ties with Tess long before her criminal behaviour became known. 'I don't believe she was dealing back then. I think that sort of came when she sort of got hooked onto harder drugs and probably just needed to fund the habit,' she added. 'All of my good friends who went to high school with her, they fell out with her in early university days. I think they fell out with her because there was lies, there was stealing, things weren't adding up and she was doing dodgy stuff as a friend. So they cut her off then. That was before she fell into meth, but maybe that was the start of it.'
Reflections on a Wasted Life
Asked to reflect on her former friend's downward trajectory, Manley painted a picture of a life wasted. 'I do think everyone is really shocked at how her life's panned out,' she said. 'As my friend said to me the other day, she was so smart. She didn't have to try, she could go out late partying and she just flew through high school and flew through university. She did a double degree at Monash. Recent reports say from her psychologist say that she's really dedicated more than ever to get clean and take it seriously. Whether she can rebuild her life after this remains to be said. It's going to be pretty hard.'
