The Snitch: Greg Inglis’ throwaway line breaks tension at Sam Burgess conference
IT WAS the throwaway line that cut the tense air at a press conference with Rabbitohs star Sam Burgess. So what did fellow NRL player Greg Inglis say that had everyone in stitches?
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IT WAS the throwaway line that cut the tense air at a press conference with Rabbitohs star Sam Burgess. The Snitch reveals what fellow NRL player Greg Inglis said that had everyone in stitches.
G.I., NO BLUES
THE Snitch is not sure if Rabbitohs captain Greg Inglis is well versed in the legal principle of exculpatory evidence, but he gave one hell of a practical lesson on it this week.
In short, exculpatory evidence is evidence that clears a person’s name in a court case.
Inglis’ use of it came at Redfern Oval on Tuesday when teammate Sam Burgess was preparing to face a media scrum in response to allegations his social media accounts had been used to send lewd videos to a young woman.
While the press were waiting for Burgess, Inglis strolled out, took one look at the 25-strong media pack, sensed the mood and turned on his heel.
“Don’t look at me, it wasn’t my dick,” Inglis said as he exited.
THE UNDERWORLD IS A SMALL WORLD
SNITCH never ceases to be amazed at the interconnected nature of Sydney’s underworld.
Try this on for size.
Adam Freeman is the son of late Sydney crime figure George, who made his name and his fortune in Kings Cross’ Golden Mile era.
Before he was jailed for drug manufacturing, Freeman Jr was dating a woman by the name of Monique Farrell.
Who is the glamorous looking Ms Farrell? She is the sister of George Corey Farrell.
Mr Farrell has a high profile in the criminal underworld and is most famous for being found not guilty of leading a gang that robbed six armoured trucks at gunpoint and stole $6 million, most of which was never recovered.
Recently, he pleaded guilty to charges relating to a shooting and is serving out a spell in jail.
We’re told the relationship is over. Adam and Monique, who has never had a major brush with the law herself, come from opposite sides of the track.
Freeman’s upbringing was a privileged one where he grew up in a waterfront house in Sydney’s south.
Ms Farrell was more modest in Sydney’s inner west. The pair apparently got together through the Kings Cross scene, according to our sources.
Even more interesting is that the existence of their relationship once prevented a member of the Ibrahim family from being shot.
In secret jail recordings seen by Snitch, a criminal, whose identity has been suppressed, poured water on a plan to shoot Michael Ibrahim.
The crook explained he was friends with Monique and her brother. And a problem arose because Adam Freeman was close friends with the Ibrahim family.
The tangled web had resulted in Ibrahim associates knowing the crook’s home address. His paranoia got the better of him and he didn’t go through with the shooting for fear of a reprisal attack.
THE LONG ADJOURNMENT
THE Snitch suspects Ryan Watsford might be hedging his bets with his relatively early guilty plea to his role in the alleged drug and tobacco importing syndicate that also led to the arrests of brothers Michael and Fadi Ibrahim.
Watsford pleaded guilty to his part in the operation that tried to import 900,000 illegal cigarettes and almost two tonnes of drugs in Central Local Court on September 5.
The move puts Watsford in the frame for a 25 per cent discount on whatever sentence he ends up getting.
When the matter landed in the Downing Centre District Court last week, Watsford’s legal rep Greg Goold was granted a long adjournment until December 7.
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We wonder if it is a play to see if others charged over the alleged plot are successful in challenging the evidence collected by an undercover police officer who infiltrated the group.
It is rumoured a challenge to the evidence might be on because the counterfeit cigarettes the undercover allegedly gave to the group were distributed in the community and a large portion never recovered.
The closest legal precedent is the High Court case of Gilbert Gedeon.
In that case, the court gave a stinging criticism ruling that the NSW Crime Commission operation, which let up to 7kg of cocaine onto the streets, was unlawful and dangerous to the community because the drugs were never recovered.
For Watsford’s case, it hangs on whether the court thinks counterfeit cigarettes are as dangerous as cocaine.
If the evidence is kicked out, Watsford’s sentence may be affected. And if it’s not, he’s still in line for a discount on sentence.
Michael Ibrahim is charged with allegedly masterminding the tobacco and drug imports. Fadi is charged with funding one of the tobacco buys. Both are planning to fight the charges.
THAT’S GOLD
JUST when you thought the case involving an Aladdin’s cave of high powered weaponry uncovered in northwest Sydney couldn’t get more bizarre, it does.
Ex-prison screw Michael Kay was allegedly stockpiling an arsenal of weapons in his back shed in Richmond that would make the most gung-ho of commandos blush.
An SKS rifle, pistols, 200 rounds of ammunitions, cross bow and arrows — you name it.
Strangely enough, 14 gold and silver bars — worth about $235,000 — were among the lethal loot police seized on August 28.
The temptation would have been too much for The Snitch but the law-abiding Firearms and Drug Squad detectives handed them in.
The question now is how and why did Kay come to have them? Police have now traced them back to a break and enter in the Hawkesbury area in 2016.
TEDESCHI’S TRIALS
MARK Tedeschi QC spent two decades as the state’s top prosecutor and was responsible for jailing notorious killers like Ivan Milat. Now a defence barrister, he is preparing to act in his first murder trial on the other side of the bar table.
Tedeschi has been briefed to defend a gang member accused of murder in a highly anticipated trial.
That gang member is Joshua Baines who is accused of murdering underworld figure Pasquale Barbaro.
What can be said is that it will be unusual territory for Tedeschi who last year, while still a prosecutor boss, was criticised for sending an email to crown prosecutors urging them to stop making concessions to accused criminals. This included accepting guilty pleas in exchange for lesser sentences.