Timothy Michael Pitt and Joel Andrew Vasilakis lived in cocaine ‘party house’ when they got into plan to import drug, court hears

Addicted to cocaine and living in a “party house”, a one-time private schoolboy and a pastor’s son became embroiled in a plan to import drugs, a court has heard.

A former private school boy and the son of a pastor who lived together in an eastern suburbs “party house” were involved in the plan to import parcels of cocaine from the USA, a court has heard.

Timothy Michael Pitt, 33, and Joel Andrew Vasilakis, 36, appeared in the District Court this week, which heard they were part of a larger importation ring that organised packages of cocaine sent to different addresses in Adelaide.

The court heard the housemates stored cocaine intended for their personal use and to supply to friends in a common area at their St Peters home for “these parties they would have” when they were arrested in 2018.

They men, who no longer live together, each pleaded guilty to a charge of importing a marketable quantity of a border controlled drug ahead of a scheduled trial in February this year.

A third man, Jasper James Marshall, was previously sentenced to almost four years in jail with a two-year non-parole period for his “principal” role in the importation ring.

During his sentencing, it was revealed Australian Border Force officials intercepted the parcels. In his case, a total of 275g of pure cocaine was found, with a street value of up to $110,000.

Marie Shaw QC, for Pitt, told the court her client had a “lesser role” in the plan, which involved in sourcing the addresses for the packages to be sent.

She said Pitt grew up in Mt Gambier before boarding at an Adelaide college in his later high school years.

“It was his friendships with those individuals … arising out of his high school colleagues and his cocaine abuse, which formed the backdrop (of the offending),” she said.

She said Pitt had shown contrition, had since overcome his addiction and now owned a prestige car servicing business. She said while facing the drugs charge, he had given evidence during a trial for fraudster George John Nowak, who pleaded guilty mid-trial.

Andrew Graham, for Vasilakis, said his client’s role in the importation ring was “minor” and involved “tracking” the parcels to let someone else know when they had arrived. He said the parcels never arrived, so he had never passed on that information.

Mr Graham said it was likely those involved were given different roles “to avoid the risk of detection” and disperse the evidence.

“There’s no evidence he did anything other than play a minor role. There’s no evidence he paid for the cocaine, financed it, was to collect it or that he’s the person that ordered it,” he said.

He said his client was the son of a Pentecostal pastor, but he “went off track” when he parted ways with the church at age 24. At that time, he said Vasilakis was “poorly equipped to deal with the temptations that he became exposed to once he left that church environment” and began using cocaine.

“He was part of a group of people that used cocaine, were quite open about their cocaine use,” Mr Graham said.

He said Pitt and Vasilakis had lived in a “bit of a party house” where “obviously people would go there in groups to use cocaine”.

Lawyers for both men sought any sentence imposed on their clients be suspended, or served on home detention.

Edward Stratton-Smith, prosecuting, said there was no evidence to suggest the pair were the brains behind the importation and “others must have been involved”.

“Who else, we can’t say for sure,” he said.

The men return to court next month.