Qld ex of reality-TV cop busted with ice in Gucci bag, stolen card

A Gold Coast man best known for his romance with a reality TV star cop, who he met in the watch-house, has admitted to having a large quantity of the drug ice in his Gucci designer bag.

Kayle Michael McElwee.

A Gold Coast man best known for his romance with a reality-TV-star cop, who he met in the watch-house, has admitted to having a large quantity of the drug ice in his Gucci designer bag.

Kayle Michael McElwee, 37, was in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Thursday before Justice Paul Freeman where he admitted possessing 7.819g of pure ice inside a Gucci bag, and another bag, at his Mermaid Waters house on June 26, 2020.

McElwee, a former aspiring AFL player for the West Coast Eagles, had control of the bag, but prosecutors agreed that the drugs actually belonged to someone else, the court heard.

He also pleaded guilty to charges related to having a stolen Westpac MasterCard at his home, a stolen driver’s licence and a driver’s licence with his photograph but in another name, found during the search on June 26, 2020.

Last time McElwee appeared in a Brisbane court for sentencing for supplying cocaine and ice he was accompanied by his then-girlfriend Cristina Cidade, an ex-Cairns police officer who starred in reality television show Recruits.

Kayle McElwee and Cristina Cidade outside court in 2016.

He met her in the police watch-house in Cairns when he was arrested in 2015.

In court on Thursday, the prosecutor dropped charges of possession of counterfeit money, fraud and possession of a relevant substance or thing.

Defence counsel Matthew Hynes told the court that McElwee had relapsed “significantly” into taking drugs in 2019, committing 37 offences “plus the eight you are dealing with now”.

Mr Hynes said that when McElwee was born in Western Australia both his parents were police officers, and his mother has since left the force, after she was injured when she fell from a horse while on duty, but his father remains a sworn officer.

Mr Hynes told the court that McElwee, a sheet metal worker, began taking drugs as a 19-year-old in WA after his dream to play AFL was dashed by a knee injury.

He had previously battled with undiagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder which was diagnosed in 2016, Mr Hynes said.

Justice Freeman sentenced McElwee to one year’s jail with immediate parole, but because he is facing other charges, he remained in custody.

He has already served two months in custody.

Mr Hynes said that McElwee became a father of his baby daughter, Harlow, just two months ago.

He plans to return to Cairns to live with his mother upon release, and to meet his daughter.