Ivan Tesic jailed for eight years, nine months for meth oil possession

In jailing Gold Coast ice kingpin and nightclub owner Ivan Tesic, a judge has commented on his apparent position in the drug supply chain.

Ivan Tesic arriving at court during his trial this month. Picture: Darren England/AAP

GOLD Coast ice kingpin and nightclub owner Ivan Tesic has been jailed for eight years and nine months for possession of $5.25 million worth of ice, and has had his bid for freedom pending appeal rejected.

In Brisbane Supreme Court this afternoon, Justice Glenn Martin told the 45-year-old the huge haul of drugs he possessed in March 2014 suggested he had greater power than an ordinary courier.

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Tesic’s lawyers this morning asked Justice Martin to free Tesic today, to await a hearing of his appeal against the jury’s finding that he was guilty of possession of the massive stash of ice.

Tesic’s barrister told the court that he was applying for bail pending an appeal of his conviction, which was lodged with the court registry this morning.

His grounds for appeal were that last Thursday’s verdict by a jury of nine men and three women was unreasonable or could not be supported on the evidence, the court heard.

Saul Holt QC, for Tesic, submitted there were reasonable grounds for the appeal to be successful, but Justice Martin rejected the submission.

Throughout the trial Tesic’s lawyers criticised the evidence given by the supergrass witness, a drug mule and former friend who rolled on Tesic.

The jury found that Serbian-born Tesic, who then lived in the Sydney suburb of Hoxton Park, was in control of the oil which was hidden by a drug mule in a secret “stash spot” of a ute and smuggled from Hoxton Park to the Gold Coast in March 2014.

Police found the oil hidden in the ute outside Tesic’s palatial waterfront home in the Isle of Capri.

It was contained in six soft-drink bottles, which had different coloured tape around the bottle neck.

Tesic’s drug mule, who was the star witness at his six-day trial, testified that he said he was in Sydney at Tesic’s house in Hoxton Park when Tesic told him to take some bottles — which turned out to contain methamphetamine oil — to the Gold Coast.

Tesic told the mule, who cannot be named for legal reasons, the bottles were in a Jim Beam esky bag, and ordered the mule to put the six bottles in his silver Holden Commodore ute and drive them to Tesic’s Amalfi Drive home.

Three of the 1.25-litre bottles were to be delivered to Gold Coast drug dealer Shane Ross by the mule, he told the jury.

Prosecutor Mark Whitbread told the court that the six litres of methamphetamine oil was an extremely high quantity of the drug, and Tesic had tried to derive fairly significant commercial gain.

The maximum penalty for possession was 25 years in prison, the court heard.

Ivan Tesic at a previous court appearance

Mr Whitbread told the court that a sentence in the range of 11 to 13 years would be appropriate, given Tesic’s lengthy 17-page NSW criminal history which included a conviction in the NSW District Court in 2002 for manufacturing a commercial quantity of amphetamine, and taking part in the supply of a drug less than the commercial quantity.

Tesic was busted by NSW police after an undercover operation that revealed he was supplying amphetamine.

An undercover police officer placed an order for 1kg of amphetamine and arranged for delivery, the court heard.

Tesic was also seen by police to be at “a large clandestine laboratory” where police found “over 3kgs of amphetamine” and 400g of pseudoephedrine.

For this, Tesic was sentenced to a six-year head sentence, with a non-parole period of three years.

Tesic’s lawyer argued the 2002 conviction related to a drug lab where Tesic was an assistant and not a drug principal.

Tesic’s barrister Saul Holt QC today told the court Tesic had been caring for his son Sasha who had been badly injured in a motorbike accident a couple of years ago.

Sasha Tesic was now “non-verbal, non-responsive other than smiling, and unable to move his body” and required 24-hour care, the court heard.