Michael Fraser: ex-sailor jailed, Graham Butt, Jarrad Bridge before courts
A court was told how a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan served his country with distinction only to leave the armed services with PTSD and depression. Tonight, he is starting a six year jail sentence for his role in a $35m drug plot allegedly alongside two other ex-Royal Australian Navy sailors.
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A decorated sailor who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan has been jailed for six years for his role in a massive $35 million drug syndicate.
Michael Fraser, 37, carried mental and emotional scars from his time in the Persian Gulf, the court heard, prior to turning to meth and cocaine, before becoming involved in the drug enterprise.
The court heard he was one of three ex-Australian Navy sailors who played a part in the importation of 79.12kg of methamphetamine into Sydney.
Fellow ex-sailors Graham Butt and Jarrad Bridge remain before the courts.
Fraser, from Umina Beach, admitted to delivering drug packages between a property in Sylvania and a Malabar address at which Butt was staying.
Fraser’s involvement, Judge Peter Zahra determined, was for moving the drugs for around six-and-a-half hours on July 12, 2019.
When police swooped on the Malabar address officers found the drug ice wrapped in bundles in the back of a parked Hilux Ute.
Prior to sentencing in the Downing District Court on Friday, Judge Peter Zahra heard Fraser was a well respected and decorated veteran of both the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, serving between 2000 and 2005.
However, he has suffered PTSD and depression as a result of his experiences.
The court heard he had been held at gunpoint while at war, lived in fear of missile attacks and had to board ships where prisoners had been held inhumanely.
Six of his close friends had since committed suicide and he turned to methamphetamine, cocaine and alcohol as he battled his own demons, the court heard.
Fraser teared up as Judge Zahra read a statement from one of his old officers.
“I don’t recognise this person as the sailor we knew … (there was a time) when he was an honourable man” and served Australia well, the statement read.
The court was also told that around the time of his offending, Fraser and his partner had just lost $170,000 in a bankrupted housing investment.
His wife was also going through chemotherapy and had suffered a miscarriage.
In a letter to the court his wife told of her fears that their two children would be left without parents if her breast cancer returned while Fraser was in prison.
“(We are) mentally and emotionally struggling every day,” she said in the letter.
Having pleaded guilty to importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, Judge Zahra jailed him for six years.
However he will be eligible for parole on January 15, 2023.
Judge Zahra said he had worked at the whimsy of his co-accused and he had sentenced him for his “extremely limited” role in the operation.
However, former navy pal Butt, 36, claimed Fraser had a much larger role in the operation and claimed it was Fraser who recruited him into the drug syndicate.
On the witness stand, Butt told the court he sunk further into the scheme because of his “loyalty to Fraser”.
The pair were best mates in the Navy, and had been friends ever since.
Fraser had called and asked him for help and Butt had agreed because he didn’t want Fraser to get into trouble, the court heard.
Butt said he knew Fraser was dealing drugs at the time and had bought drugs off him in the past.
Butt said he arrived at an agreed-upon location to meet Fraser and the drugs were already there.
He used his work ute to move the drugs.
“I’m ashamed of myself and embarrassed … I’m not proud anymore,” he said crying, when his lawyer asked him how he felt about getting involved in the drug enterprise.
Butt pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the possession of a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug for Fraser and the third co-accused Jarrad Bridge.
He will be sentenced next month.
Bridge, from Kanwal, has pleaded not guilty to importing a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and is set to stand trial.