Moujtaba Joubouri pleads to avoid jail for bribing prison guard to smuggle drugs

A private school graduate deserves a lesser punishment than the guard he bribed to smuggle drugs into the state’s prisons, a court has heard.

Moujtaba Joubouri bribed Michael Asker but says it’s worse for a public servant to accept a bribe. Picture: Michael Marschall

A private school-educated draftsman has confessed to bribery but denied masterminding a drug-smuggling scheme – and claimed he deserves a lesser penalty than the public servant he paid off.

On Thursday, Moujtaba Joubouri asked the District Court to suspend his “inevitable” jail term for bribing Correctional Services officer Michael Charles Asker.

Andrew Culshaw, for Joubouri, told the court it was far worse for a public servant to accept a bribe than it was for a civilian to offer one.

“There is a dearth of evidence about how all of this started … such evidence as there is suggests that a person in custody contacted Joubouri,” he said.

“This came to him rather than vice versa … Joubouri was not the one who stood to profit – the person in custody and Asker did – so Asker’s offending should be treated as objectively more serious.

“Joubouri cannot possibly be sentenced more severely than Asker was … indeed, he should (receive) substantially more leniency than Asker.”

Moujtaba Joubouri leaves court in Adelaide after an earlier appearance. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Correctional Services official Michael Charles Asker outside Adelaide Magistrates Court. Picture: Michael Marschall

Joubouri, 29, of Northgate, pleaded guilty in April to one count of bribery.

The suboxone strips. Picture: Supplied

On multiple occasions in 2018, he paid Correctional Services officer Michael Charles Asker to smuggle suboxone, an opioid-withdrawal treatment, into the state’s prisons.

Asker pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 2 ½ years’ jail, but Joubouri protested his innocence – and enjoyed the protection of a suppression order – for several years.

On Thursday, Mr Culshaw said Joubouri studied at Blackfriars until Year 11, then gained architectural qualifications to work for Hickinbotham Homes.

That job was terminated, he said, upon his client’s arrest.

“He has described his life as falling apart, and he wants to get it back on track and make the right decisions,” he said.

Tracey Nelson, prosecuting, said the lack of evidence as to how the scheme started in no way mitigated its seriousness.

“This was more than just an opportunistic act – this was sustained, it was sophisticated and, based on the (illicit) substances found on Asker, there was an intention for further offending,” she said.

Chief Judge Michael Evans remanded Joubouri on continuing bail for sentencing in August.