Bourke St killer’s brother Angelo Gargasoulas to face trial over drug trafficking allegations

An ex lover of Bourke St killer’s little brother — who allegedly ran an Uber GHB trafficking scheme — has alleged the pair “dealt drugs to each other”.

Angelo Gargasoulas has been ordered to stand trial over alleged GHB-Uber trafficking scheme. Picture: Sarah Matray

The ex-lover of Bourke St killer James Gargasoulas’s little brother has alleged the pair kept in touch to “deal drugs to each other” amid allegations he used Uber to run a GHB racket.

Angelo Gargasoulas, 34, fronted the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on May 20 by video link from Marngoneet Correctional Centre, facing multiple drug trafficking allegations.

On Tuesday Mr Gargasoulas’ legal team called on his co-accused Simon Simoudis to give new evidence.

The court heard Mr Simoudis made a further statement to police in April, relating to the sting on a Southbank apartment in July last year.

Mr Simoudis told the court he and Mr Gargasoulas had been in a relationship “over the last few years” which ended in 2022.

Mr Simoudis said the pair lived with Mr Gargasoulas’ mother at a Carlton address — where Mr Gargasoulas was later arrested — at the end of their relationship.

Simon Simoudis — Mr Gargasoulas’ co-accused — was called to give evidence on Tuesday.

The court heard they had ceased contact for a time while Mr Simoudis “licked his wounds” from the break-up, before reconnecting to allegedly “deal drugs to each other”.

Mr Simoudis told the court he used a fake identity to lease the Southbank apartment and said Mr Gargasoulas “normally called before coming over”.

The court heard the pair kept in contact via encrypted messaging app Signal and spoke on the phone twice on the night of the police sting.

In March, police alleged Mr Gargasoulas dropped a box of 1,4-butanediol to the apartment.

The 10kg box allegedly contained bottles of the GHB substitute disguised as aloe vera.

In a police raid on Mr Gargasoulas’s home six weeks later, another 10kg box of 1,4 butanediol was allegedly seized, containing the same bottles disguised as aloe vera.

Mr Gargasoulas pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Picture: Sarah Matray

Both boxes were addressed to a woman named Irene at a Laverton address.

Senior Constable Sean Cronin was also called to give evidence on Tuesday, revealing the Laverton address on the box was actually a factory complex and cafe.

He told the court the box and its contents were unable to be forensically examined due to one of the bottles leaking, causing any fingerprints or DNA to be “contaminated”.

Magistrate Ross Maxted committed Mr Gargasoulas to stand trial in the County Court, saying he was “satisfied there was sufficient evidence for a properly instructed jury to convict him”.

Mr Gargasoulas entered not guilty pleas to all the charges.

He will return to court on June 17.

Mr Simoudis told the court he and Mr Gargasoulas allegedly used to “deal drugs to each other”

This is the second time Mr Gargasoulas’ love life has come under scrutiny in his case, after he applied to be released on bail to live with his ex partner.

In March, Mr Gargasoulas failed to win a second bail bid to live with a man he met on Grindr.

He asked to be released to live with friend Mohammad Che-Azuha, who he met on the gay dating app.

The pair — who have known each other for eight years — said they planned to live at Mr Gargasoulas’ Carlton address.

Mr Gargasoulas was first denied bail in December last year, after trying to be released to a Prahran address, where convicted sex offender John Buckley resided.