Operation Ironside accused asked Supreme Court to remove ankle bracelet due to falls at work

An Operation Ironside accused who suffered two falls at work has asked a court to remove his ankle monitoring bracelet – because it poses a safety risk.

An Operation Ironside accused has asked a court to remove his home detention electronic monitoring bracelet and allow freedom of movement – because it poses a safety risk.

The man, who cannot be identified, fell from a ladder when his electronic monitoring bracelet was caught and also fell from heavy machinery.

David Edwardson KC, for the man, asked the Supreme Court to allow removal of the bracelet, after an earlier plea to the District Court was refused.

He said there were two separate occasions of “fairly significant incidents” which had left his client “plainly at risk” of injury while undertaking physical work.

One of the incidents involved a fall from heavy machinery which required hospital treatment for a “fairly self-evident haematoma”.

The man is charged with multiple counts of manufacturing a large commercial quantity of a controlled drug money laundering offences.

His alleged offending includes the transportation and adulteration of significant quantities of methylamphetamine in the range of “tens of kilograms” as part of its preparation for sale.

He is also accused of handling significant amounts of allegedly “tainted cash in the multiple millions of dollars”.

Some of the cash seized during Operation Ironside arrests in South Australia. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

A prosecutor told the court the man was on home detention, with electronic monitoring, to “guard against” any further engagement in alleged organised crime activity.

“If safety is of such concern then perhaps this employment, with this particular employer, is not suitable,” the prosecutor said.

In her ruling, Justice Judy Hughes refused to allow the removal of the bracelet and said the allegations against the man involved “premeditated, planned and enduring criminality over a sustained period”.

“I accept that the bracelet presents an additional physical hazard when he is working in that it can get caught on something, and indeed has been caught on things which has led to falls and injuries when he’s going about his work duties,” she said.

But she said the risk of reoffending was “too high” and the man “should be required to be monitored”.

She said the man was already allowed to leave his home between 7am and 5pm for work and up to midnight to transport family members.

Justice Hughes said the case against the man was “largely dependent” on the admissibility of intercepted encrypted messages on the AN0M platform, which was awaiting a decision from the Court of Appeal and likely, a subsequent High Court ruling.

The man returns to court next year. He is not scheduled to stand trial until 2026.