Marwan Haddad recruited new wife into drug supply operation, court hears

John Ibrahim’s former brother-in-law Marwan Haddad enlisted his wife into a drug supply operation before their worlds came crashing down four years ago, a Sydney court has heard.

Marwan Haddad and Catherine Le Brocq arrive at Downing Centre Court on Wednesday. Picture: Christian Gilles/NCA NewsWire

The former brother-in-law of Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim recruited his new wife into an underground drug supply operation, a court has been told.

Marwan Haddad, 46, and Catherine Le Brocq, 30, both of Ryde, arrived at Downing Centre District Court hand in hand on Wednesday after being charged in 2017 with multiple offences including supplying prohibited drugs.

The couple sat in the courtroom’s dock together but Judge Dina Yehia, SC, said she wouldn’t be able to sentence them until Friday because she had just received extra legal documents related to the case earlier in the day.

Marwan Haddad and Catherine Le Brocq (left) at a coffee shop before his sentence hearing on Wednesday. Picture: Christian Gilles/NCA NewsWire

Lawyers for Haddad raised the possibility of him being sentenced to an intensive correction order given he had already served time in jail while on remand and also under home detention.

But Ms Yehia said Haddad was a repeat offender when it came to drug dealing and that he had enlisted the help of his wife in the operation before their worlds came crashing down.

“He may well have been a user-dealer, but this is his third time dealing in drugs one way or another and he committed this offence while he was on bail,” the judge said.

“He actually recruited his wife into this drug-related operation and used other runners.

“Even if I were to find (in his circumstances) some sort of crossroads (situation), specific deterrence, general deterrence, denunciation – those all call for further custody, don’t they?

“This is not the first time, it’s not the second time, it’s the third time he’s involved in some form of not minor or trivial drug supply operation.”

Catherine Le Brocq. Picture: Christian Gilles/NCA NewsWire

At the time of his arrest in 2017 a police fact sheet tendered in court had alleged Haddad made at least $50,000 a week by selling cocaine.

He is facing a string of offences including supplying prohibited drugs, knowingly directing the activities of a criminal group and not keeping a pistol safely.

Le Brocq is charged with taking part in supplying prohibited drugs and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.

The court was told Haddad has pleaded guilty to supplying drugs and records show Le Brocq has also entered guilty pleas.

Last year Haddad’s son Michael, 21, was the victim of a botched $5 million kidnapping plot where he was bashed before being rescued by police in Ryde.

Haddad used to be married to Armani Stelio, the sister of John, Sam, Michael and Fadi Ibrahim.

The Ibrahim brothers stopped speaking to the Haddads years ago. There’s no suggestion anyone within the Ibrahim family has anything to do with Haddad’s offending or the kidnapping.

Haddad and Le Brocq will return to court on Friday when they will be sentenced.

Ms Yehia continued the couple’s bail but warned their legal team not to read into that decision too much.

“To be very clear, that doesn’t mean anything in terms of how I‘m going to deal with your clients’ case,” she said.