Ivan Tesic trial: Supergrass branded a dirty lying druggie

The supergrass witness who has testified against alleged Gold Coast ice kingpin Ivan Tesic has been accused of lying “furiously, repeatedly and provably”.

Ivan Tesic outside court this week. Picture: John Gass/AAP

THE supergrass witness who has testified against an alleged Gold Coast ice kingpin has lied “furiously, repeatedly and provably” and had the ultimate motive to lie — to save his own skin — a jury has heard.

In summing up to the jury on the sixth day of muscle-car enthusiast Ivan Tesic’s trial on charges of trafficking in meth-oil and possession of the drug, defence barrister Saul Holt QC argued the mule was a “dirty lying druggie” who had seemingly turned into a reliable witness for the prosecution.

Ivan Tesic charged with drug trafficking: Supergrass witness admits lying to police

Drug mule describes car’s secret chambers to smuggle drugs, cash

Star witness in Ivan Tesic trial a drug mule living with his mum and dad

Mr Holt submitted to the jury that the mule told lies to police to “put the boot in” to Tesic while downplaying his own ice and ecstasy trafficking.

“He was up to his eyeballs in large-scale trafficking of MDMA and ice,” Mr Holt said of the mule, who was aged about 30 when he is alleged to have worked for Tesic.

Mr Holt argued that the massive quantity of meth oil that was found at Tesic’s home in the Isle of Capri on the Gold Coast in March 2014 belonged to the mule, not Tesic.

He claimed the mule was a hopelessly unreliable witness whose evidence strained credulity, who had rolled on Tesic because he was staring down the barrel of 25 years’ jail after being caught with the meth oil in March 2014 with absolutely no defence.

“He is as provably as dishonest a witness as has ever been in a courtroom in Queensland,” Mr Holt submitted.

He said the crucial person in the case was Gold Coast drug dealer Shane Ross, who the mule deliberately withheld naming in his first police interview, instead calling him a male from Helensvale.

The mule testified he had delivered meth oil to Ross on the instructions of Tesic, and told the jury he was intimidated by Ross.

The courier told the court under cross-examination that he had been involvement in trafficking and moving drugs from 2007 until 2014, except for a period of 16 months when he was in prison.

Mr Holt argued that prosecutors had failed to prove Tesic was guilty of trafficking in meth oil or possession of six bottles of the drug containing six litres of oil, despite a massive police operation which involved police from Queensland, NSW and federal resources.

Mr Holt said the specialist police uplifted Tesic’s entire life and analysed it by combing through phones, computers and bugs and intercepted phone calls.

He said the police had uncovered “a grand total of nothing, not a shred not a scintilla of evidence against” Tesic.

“Maybe someone is such a brilliant criminal mastermind that they have been able to hide everything for ever,” Mr Holt said.

Mr Holt said Crown prosecutor Mark Whitbread’s reference to Tesic’s trappings of wealth, including a waterfront Isle of Capri home, a Sydney home, multiple cars and a boat, were a desperate last-minute claim to shore up a case that had no evidence.

Mr Whitbread had earlier told the jury Tesic lived a lifestyle that involved motor racing and “things that are not cheap”, including Rolex watches.

Mr Whitbread asked the jury to examine the relative prosperity of the mule and Tesic and decide whether Tesic or the mule was higher up the rung of the drug-dealing ladder.

The trial continues tomorrow with summing up by Justice Glenn Martin.

EARLIER:

The supergrass witness who rolled on an alleged Gold Coast ice baron was just a broke young bloke who made the very hard decision to dob-in on his mate and give up his life of drugs and crime, a court has heard.

In summing up to the jury on the sixth day of muscle-car enthusiast Ivan Tesic’s trial on charges of trafficking in meth-oil and possession of the drug, Crown Prosecutor Mark Whitbread argued the mule, then aged 30, was “hard up for cash” and living with his mum and dad while working for Tesic in 2013 and 2014.

“Financially his life is at the lower end of the financial and social spectrum. He is struggling, he’s not doing as well as his friends, he’s not living in a platial residence on the Gold Coast, on the water” Mr Whitbread told the jury.

He didn’t have the trappings of wealth that Tesic had, Mr Whitbread said.

The courier was heavily involved in the club scene at the time he allegedly worked for Tesic and was keeping his drug-taking, couriering and partying a secret from his parents.

He just came and visited Tesic and Tesic’s brother Novak at Tesic’s home on the Isle of Capri in between doing drug deliveries to Sydney and around the Gold Coast, the court heard.

Tesic’s barrister has described him during the trial as a muscle-car enthusiast who had made his money importing tyre rims for cars, investing in mines in Western Australia and buying and selling property.

Summarising the prosecution evidence case against Tesic, Mr Whitbread said that Tesic had been accused of very serious high-level trafficking of methamphetamine, running a wholesale business to other ice dealers between July 2013 and March 2014.

The mule decided to roll on Tesic and become a witness for the prosecution after he was busted by police with six green soft-drink bottles containing six litres of meth oil, used to make the drug ice, at the Isle of Capri home on March 20, 2014.

That was the culmination of a massive police operation targeting Tesic which included bugging of phones and Tesic’s house and the instalation of secret camera’s across the road from his house, the jury heard.

The mule told the jury last week that he had delivered meth oil on four to five occasions to Helensvale drug dealer Shane Ross - all on the instructions of Tesic.

He said the then picked up crystal methylamphetamine from Ross and delivered it to dealers Billy Thomas and Nicki Hatton, on the order of Tesic.

He said Tesic’s orders were either given face-to-face or via encrypted Blackberry phone, and the oil was kept in a hidden compartment of the silver Holden Commodore ute purchased by Tesic.

The mule told the jury that he saw Billy Thomas and Nicky Hatton bring cash to Tesic’s Gold Coast home where they counted it, and he saw another dealer Darren Dark bring a 1kg tub of ice to Tesic’s home hidden in the grass catcher of a lawn mower, when Tesic was there.

The ice was contaminated with lawn clippings, and the mule had to pick out the grass while Tesic was present, the jury heard.

Mr Whitbread argued that the jury should believe the mule’s evidence — which makes up much of the proseuction case — because it had the ring of truth.

The mule, who cannt be named for legal reasons, agreed to give evidence against Tesic in return for a recommendation that he get a lighter sentence for his own drug crimes.

The mule was sentenced to a wholly-suspended jail term for trafficking in ice.

Tesic has been charged with possession of the six bottles of meth-oil because prosecutors allege it was under his control, and the mule was acting under the direction and control of Tesic when he ferried the oil and large bags of cash from Sydney to the Gold Coast.

Tesic has denied the charges and today declined the opportunity to give evidence in his defence and to call any witnesses to refute the prosecution claims.

Tesic’s defence barrister earlier argued the courier was just a dogsbody who did odd jobs at Tesic’s Gold Coast home when Tesic lived mostly in Sydney.

He argues that the mule was dealing drugs out of Tesic’s Isle of Capri home without his knowledge.