Edward Nethery: Double Bay advertising agency director cops court cocaine spray

An advertising executive who pleaded guilty to cocaine possession has copped a spray from a magistrate who said it was people like him who were fuelling gang wars in Sydney’s west.

A Double Bay advertising executive who pleaded guilty to cocaine possession has copped an almighty spray from a magistrate who said it was people like him who were helping to fuel the gang wars in Sydney’s western suburbs and the still-flourishing war on drugs.

Edward Nethery, 37, the creative director of a Sydney-based advertising agency, faced a lashing from a magistrate when he fronted Newtown Local Court on June 21.

“Why do people like you have to have that little extra boost,” Magistrate Michael Barko asked Nethery, who appeared in person for his sentencing.

“Why can’t you go to the pub and just have a drink?”

Edward Nethery (left) pictured leaving Newtown Local Court on June 21. Picture: NewsLocal

Magistrate Barko said people like Nethery, who chose to buy and take cocaine, were one of the factors behind the continuation of the police’s war on drugs and – interestingly – the escalating gang wars in Sydney’s west.

“It’s because of well-educated people like you who continue to take cocaine,” the magistrate told Nethery.

Magistrate Barko cited recent newspaper coverage of the western Sydney gang shootings and violence as an inadvertent by-product of Nethery’s casual cocaine use.

“All we read and hear about in the papers is about gangland wars, death and destruction – most of which is related to who controls cocaine supply,” Magistrate Barko said.

“And you’re part of the cause.”

Nethery lives in Double Bay in the Eastern Suburbs. Picture: Gaye Gerard

Nethery pleaded guilty to one charge of prohibited drug possession.

In May, he was spotted leaving a Marrickville pub before returning a few minutes later, court documents showed. The police spotted this and, suspecting a drug transaction had taken place, asked Nethery if he had drugs on him, to which he admitted he had two bags of cocaine in his top-left pocket.

Police facts stated that Nethery appeared pale and nervous upon being questioned, before he appeared to faint. He was arrested immediately after.

The two bags of cocaine weighed around 1.4 grams and the total value was estimated at roughly $500.

He was found guilty of possession but wasn’t convicted, and instead handed a 14-month conditional release order by Magistrate Barko.