Damion Flower: Horse racing figure pleads guilty to smuggling cocaine

Sydney horse racing figure Damion Flower has pleaded guilty to smuggling massive amounts of cocaine into the country.

Sydney horse racing figure Damion Flower faces the possibility of life in jail after pleading guilty to smuggling massive amounts of cocaine into the country with the help of crooked airport baggage handlers.

The 48-year-old, who is a part-owner of super stallion Snitzel, faced Downing Centre District Court yesterday and entered guilty pleas to importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug and dealing with the proceeds of crime equal to or greater than $100,000.

“Guilty,” Flower, wearing a dark suit and tie, told the court as the two charges were read out.

His admission of guilt comes after he was slapped with a $7.5 million unexplained wealth order as the multi-million dollar property and horse racing empire he built up with his wife Camilla Flower was frozen under proceeds of crime laws.

Damion Flower.

Former baggage handler John Mafiti.

Shares in dozens of top racehorses and homes and property in NSW, Queensland and Victoria, over $1 million in cash, cars, a speed boat and prize winnings have all been seized, according to Supreme Court documents.

Authorities applied for an unexplained wealth order against Mrs Flower and her company Millsy Enterprises but the sum is not disclosed. She has not been charged with any criminal offences.

Their family home in Moorebank, which was held in her name, was sold last Saturday for $1.75 million.

Flower and corrupt baggage handler John Mafiti, 52, were arrested in May, 2019, after authorities seized consignments of cocaine at Sydney International Airport that had been concealed on Qantas Flight QF64 from South Africa.

Flower with racehorse Snitzel.

Police alleged Flower, who himself worked as a baggage handler between 2000 and 2004, worked with Qantas employee Mafiti to import the cocaine and had been talking to him by sending coded text messages before they were arrested.

Judge Dina Yehia, SC, listed Flower and Mafiti to have a sentence hearing together on September 16 and 17. Mafiti had already pleaded guilty to his role in the syndicate.

They are both facing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

A third man, panel beater Ashoor Youkhana, 44, was jailed for a minimum two years and six months over acting as a delivery driver on one occasion for the operation.

Flower, who has spent almost two years in custody since he was arrested and is represented by barrister James Trevallion and solicitor Ben Archbold, was due to start a four-week trial in front of a jury on March 22.

But last week prosecutors told the court the matter had resolved and an agreed fact sheet on the case had been signed by his lawyers.

According to an agreed fact sheet signed by Mafiti, he imported more than 225kg of cocaine on at least 12 occasions allegedly with the help of Flower between June, 2016, and May, 2019.

The court was told Mafiti’s fact sheet indicated Flower was further up in the hierarchy of the syndicate than Mafiti but this suggestion was not included in Flower’s facts.

PHOTOS: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF DAMION FLOWER

Following Mafiti’s arrest, authorities also found more than $4.4 million in two Kennards self-storage units leased by him and more than $1.7 million in a suitcase at his Sydney home, according to the documents.

The court documents state Mafiti’s role involved using his Qantas staff access to collect duffel bags containing cocaine that were hidden on Qantas flights from South Africa before passing the bags onto Flower and others near the airport.