Craig Garvey: NRL footballer on cocaine supply charges
He was part of the premiership-winning Roosters squad just last year and is a former Indigenous All-Star but Craig Garvey has now found himself before the courts on cocaine supply charges.
Southern Courier
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Former NRL hooker Craig “Garvs” Garvey has been granted bail after he was allegedly caught dealing drugs.
Central Local Court heard the former Roosters, Dragons and Bulldogs player had been through a tough few years as he appeared via video link from Surry Hills Police Station.
Bulked-up Garvey wore the tracksuit he was picked up in at about 1.30am on Friday morning when he was charged with supplying cocaine and dealing with $930 in proceeds of crime.
Garvey, 27, most recently was part of the Sydney Roosters 2019 premiership-winning squad before signing with the Cowra Magpies.
Police prosecutor Sergeant McKinnon told the court there was a strong prosecution case against Garvey as she alleged he made “full and frank admissions to the possession of drugs” to police and then “goes on to admit he has supplied prohibited drugs to other people”.
The court heard Garvey was already on bail for a break and enter charge, which is still before the courts.
This meant his lawyer had to “show cause” as to why he should be granted bail yet again.
His defence lawyer James Elliott told the court Garvey had been through a “tumultuous couple of years in terms of his personal life”.
The court heard Garvey suffers PTSD from incidents in his childhood and has been unable to visit his regular therapist during COVID-19.
There were also issues arising from alienation from his father and limited access to his young child, born in 2018, the court heard.
“It’s not inevitable” that he will face jail time, Mr Elliott told the court, in asking he be granted bail to live with his mother and brother in Malabar – the area where he grew up.
“It’s a serious offence but right at the lower end of such an offence,” Mr Elliott said.
“(There’s) no reason to think he would endanger the safety of the community,” he continued.
In her case against bail, Sergeant McKinnon referred to a “violent” offence on his record, in which Garvey punched a 26-year-old man on the dance floor of the Hotel Illawarra in Wollongong.
He was found guilty, and was stood down from the Dragons for almost an entire year.
As such, Sergeant McKinnon called him an “unacceptable risk”.
She also told the court “(He’s) out and about committing further serious offences” after being granted bail in February.
In the end, his “very limited (criminal) record” worked in his favour, the court heard.
But Magistrate Margaret Quinn had a warning for the fallen footballer.
“Tell him if he keeps making mistakes he won’t be getting bail again,” she said, addressing Mr Elliott.
Garvey nodded heavily and responded that he would not.
He will be required to reside at his family home in Malabar, follow a strict curfew of midnight to 8am, and report to Maroubra Police Station twice weekly.