Inside Sydney racing figure Damion Flower’s two-year jail stint on cocaine charge

Sydney racehorse owner Damion Flower was put behind bars in 2019, charged with importing a staggering 228kg of cocaine. Read about his life inside.

Sydney horseracing figure Damion Flower has been targeted by other prisoners with “malevolent intention” while behind bars on remand after being charged over smuggling cocaine valued at millions of dollars into the country, a court has heard.

Flower, 49, a part-owner of super-stallion Snitzel, faced Downing Centre District Court on a video link from Long Bay jail on Friday as his wife Camilla tuned in to watch the proceedings online.

Agreed facts state Flower and corrupt Qantas baggage handler John Mafiti, 53, smuggled a staggering 228kg of cocaine into Sydney Airport that had been hidden on Qantas Flight QF64 from South Africa on 12 occasions between 2016 and their 2019 arrests.

Damion Flower at the barrier draw for the 2005 Golden Slipper at Rosehill. Picture: AAP/Mick Tsikas

Defence barrister April Francis told Judge Sarah Huggett that Flower — who previously worked as a baggage handler — had been targeted by other inmates while in prison awaiting his sentence after pleading guilty to importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.

“His demise is public — your honour will appreciate that he has been the subject of significant media attention which has, in turn, brought him to become the object of interest from others with perhaps malevolent intention in custody,” Ms Francis said.

“All of those factors speak towards what would be a difficult period of institutionalisation.”

Flower’s co-accused, corrupt Qantas baggage handler John Mafiti.

However, Ms Francis said Flower had won the praise of his jail’s governor because of how he had carried himself while inside.

“His conduct in custody has been described as really quite remarkable,” she said.

“The governor … speaks of his positive influence on the centre and the management of the centre, the team at the centre.”

The court documents state Mafiti’s role in the operation involved using his Qantas staff access to collect duffel bags containing cocaine that were hidden on the Qantas flights from South Africa before passing them on.

There is evidence Flower also handled some of those bags, the court heard.

Ms Francis said Flower’s motivation in his offending was to prop up his legitimate business and also to provide for his family.

He has since been hit with a $7.5 million unexplained wealth order by authorities.

“The evidence establishes where that financial gain was directed, it was directed into a legitimate business — he is laundering in plain sight,” Ms Francis said.

“His financial security has been dismantled by … law enforcement agencies whose task it is to dismantle.

“He has no expectation of financial security upon his release.”

Ms Francis said Flower and Mafiti had “succumbed to a temptation” and that they should be regarded as “weak, but not beyond redemption”.

Authorities also found more than $4.4 million in two Kennards self-storage units leased by Mafiti, and more than $1.7 million in a suitcase at his Sydney home, according to court documents.

Despite both facing the prospect of long jail terms, it appears there is no bad blood between Flower and Mafiti.

At one point when Judge Huggett walked out of the room Flower put his hand on his heart and said: “Johnny”.

“Love you brother,” Mafiti replied on a video link from Silverwater jail.

Judge Huggett will sentence the pair on February 11, 2022.

A third man, panel beater Ashoor Youkhana, was jailed for a minimum two years and six months in March 2021 for acting as a delivery driver on one occasion for the operation.

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