Crewman claims John Nikolic said he couldn’t kiss Yvette goodbye because he had ‘taken something’
There was no kiss goodbye for former racehorse trainer John Nikolic. The accused Aussie drug smuggler allegedly refused to kiss his wife Yvette goodbye because he had ‘taken something’.
World
Don't miss out on the headlines from World. Followed categories will be added to My News.
There was no long kiss goodbye for former racehorse trainer John Nikolic. The accused Aussie drug smuggler allegedly refused to kiss his wife Yvette goodbye after their yacht Shenanigans was raided because he had “taken something”, a court heard yesterday.
The Suva High Court yesterday heard Hawaiian crew member Jeffery Hassell had alleged Yvette Nikolic told him “he (John) wouldn’t kiss me because he took something”, after her husband fell unconscious.
The former horse trainer had, however, said goodbye to his wife before collapsing during the June 22 raid at Denarau Marina, the court heard.
The prosecution said it had decided not to call Mr Hassell — who lives in Honolulu — as a witness but to instead rely on his police statement. The defence has previously asserted Mr Hassell was an experienced sailor who knew his way around yachts.
On the eighth day of the Nikolics’ High Court trial, the court also heard it was the opinion of a doctor who treated John Nikolic at the scene that he had suffered respiratory arrest following a drug overdose.
Australian embassy officials were seen shaking the hands of the Nikolics outside the courtroom at the conclusion of Tuesday’s evidence and were heard promising to meet them again the next day.
It is understood they were present to check on the couple’s welfare.
Both John and Yvette Nikolic have pleaded not guilty to charges of drug importation, possession and weapons offences.
They have been in Fiji prisons for more than seven months after the discovery of 13 bars of cocaine, other drugs and unregistered weapons on their yacht.
Earlier in the trial a senior Fiji customs official, Fenton Williams, said a “distraught” John Nikolic told him during the raid he owed “some dangerous people a lot of money that he couldn’t possibly pay back and this was his only way out”.
The former racehorse trainer allegedly took sole responsibility for the bars of cocaine found on the yacht at the time of the raid and told customs officers he wanted to be the one to tell his wife Yvette “what happened … what had transpired, of what he’d done”, as she knew nothing about the drugs.
The court has also heard he allegedly volunteered to customs officers where they would find a further three bars of cocaine in the lazarette locker, after they had uncovered 10 cocaine bars in a blue bag.
The court has been told it was not long after that — and after being escorted to a toilet on the yacht by Mr Fenton, where it is alleged he took a deliberate drug overdose — that Mr Nikolic collapsed next to Yvette. He was reportedly making choking sounds and became unresponsive, with his eyes wide open.
More drugs, weapons and US$15,000 in $100 notes were found in a search after Mr Nikolic had been taken to hospital.
In his opening address lead prosecutor Lee Burney said the prosecution intended to show that while the Nikolics had presented to the world a charade that they were “living the dream, embarking on an adventure of a lifetime” by sailing from Florida to Colombia, through Panama and across the Pacific, they were, in reality “secretly involved in the wicked, international drugs trade”.
Mr Nikolic’s suicide attempt was the act of a guilty man but also of a loving husband who wanted to protect his wife, Mr Burney put to the court.
“It is the prosecution case that it was Mr Nikolic’s parting gift to his wife to attempt to provide her with the life raft of a false defence,” he said.
The trial before Judge Daniel Goundar continues.
Originally published as Crewman claims John Nikolic said he couldn’t kiss Yvette goodbye because he had ‘taken something’
‘Worst in a century’: Why Hurricane Milton is a monster
With its astonishing speed, small ‘eye’ and destructive potential, Hurricane Milton is like nothing America has ever seen before. Here’s why it has authorities so worried. See photos, video.
Eerie vision of missing family emerges
A fugitive father and the three children he ran off with almost three years ago have been spotted alive and well trekking through remote bushland.