Thomastown’s Nathan Whelan granted bail for trafficking charges
A huge supply of drugs was allegedly found at a man’s Thomastown house, which police say had up to 100 visitors a day. But the man was bailed to live at an unlikely address.
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Nothing except jail could stop a Thomastown man who has been charged with drug trafficking a court has heard.
Police “absolutely” opposed the idea of Nathan Whelan being allowed out of custody, but the father was granted bail before Heidelberg Magistrates’ on Friday, June 6.
Whelan had been behind bars since police allegedly found a significant supply of drugs and drug dealing records at his Pioneer Court home on May 15.
He was denied bail when he first applied before the court on May 15, with Magistrate Meagan Keogh saying she was concerned he would offend if released.
The court heard police allegedly found 18.5 grams of methamphetamine — more than six times the trafficable amount, several hundred millilitres of GHB in various containers and a small bag of ecstasy.
Officers allegedly also found a taser, four tick books containing lists of names of customers, weights and prices, as well as a large amount of deal bags, syringes, scales and four phones.
Police had said they believed up to 100 people a day were visiting the house.
The court heard Whelan’s live-in partner, Nicole Moretti, had taken ownership of the drugs, saying they were for personal use.
Whelan allegedly told police he wasn’t involved in any trafficking, but informant Senior Constable Jason Kokas said police believed he was, and had found a photo of one of the tickbooks on his phone.
Senior Constable Kokas told the court he didn’t believe any bail condition could prevent Whelan from returning to trafficking narcotics.
He said police were concerned the couple would be in debt for the drugs seized from the house — about $5000 to $10000 worth — and would need to make the money back, yet neither of them were working.
“It’s only a matter of time,” he said.
The court heard police were also concerned that both had children from previous relationships who had been staying at the house — where a taser and drugs were found on the coffee table — intermittently.
Whelan’s lawyer said her client would be contesting the charges, and noted that because of delays caused by the coronavirus, a contest mention hearing wouldn’t be possible before next year.
She said custody was also particularly onerous for Whelan because he suffered PTSD from significant trauma he experienced as a teenager.
Whelan’s ex-partner, the mother of his two children, gave evidence he could live in her Epping home, where she would not allow any drugs.
Magistrate Michael McNamara agreed to bail Whelan, saying there was a strong argument any sentence he could receive could be nothing like the time he could spend in custody waiting for the case to be resolved.
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Mr McNamara said he was imposing as many conditions as possible, including a 10pm-6am curfew and a ban from Whelan associating with his partner.
He warned Whelan moving in with his ex-partner was “a high stakes game”.
“You’re putting your children at risk going to this address,” Mr McNamara said.
“If you continue trafficking at this address, the department may well remove the children.”