Northgate man bribes corrupt public servant to smuggle drugs into a prison
He bribed a prison official to smuggle drugs to his brother in a spy movie-style meeting – and has narrowly avoided sharing his sibling’s cell.
Police & Courts
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A would-be architect who bribed a corrupt public servant to smuggle drugs to his imprisoned brother via a clandestine park-bench meeting, and a coffee cup, has narrowly avoided joining his sibling behind bars.
On Wednesday, the District Court refused to suspend Moujtaba Joubouri’s sentence over an illicit drug delivery paid for with $500 hidden in a takeaway cup from a pizza shop.
Chief Judge Michael Evans said Joubouri’s offending, alongside public servant Michael Charles Asker, was “sophisticated and deliberate”.
“In December 2018, you attended a pizza shop and took two coffee cups, filling one with coffee (before) travelling to a reserve in Oakden,” he said.
“You sat on a park bench, placed one cup on the table and drank the other... sometime later, Asker entered the reserve, sat down, had a conversation, shook hands and took the cup from the table.
“While your offending was sophisticated and deliberate, there’s an absence of any discernible benefit to you – and it appears Asker was already corrupt when you became involved.”
Joubouri, 29, of Northgate, pleaded guilty to one count of bribery.
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 home detention – Joubouri claims he should serve a lesser penalty, as his offence was less serious than being a corrupt public official.
In sentencing on Wednesday, Chief Judge Evans said hidden SA Police surveillance cameras caught Asker hiding the cup in his car, and a later search netted the cash and drugs.
He said Joubouri – who is studying architecture – had been communicating with his brother and Asker via an encrypted app for three months prior to his crime, “reducing any leniency I might otherwise afford to you”.
However, he agreed with defence counsel that Asker’s offending should be treated as objectively more serious than Joubouri’s role.
“Facilitating the supply or distribution of drugs into the prison system threatens the safety of the community,” he said.
“I am not satisfied that good reason exists to suspend the sentence, but I consider that the safety of the community will be protected by the usual conditions of home detention.”
He sentenced Joubouri to 22 months jail with a 12-month non-parole period, to be served on home detention.
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