Justin McFarland pleads guilty to trafficking heroin after alleged Noble Park shooting murder link
A Melbourne heroin dealer has used the Lee Harvey Oswald “patsy” defence after he was sunk following an alleged shooting death.
South East
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A Melbourne drug dealer has claimed he is a Lee Harvey Oswald-like “patsy” after his massive heroin racket went kaput following a suspected murder.
Justin McFarland, 30, pleaded guilty at the County Court last week to trafficking a large commercial quantity of heroin.
McFarland was nabbed with almost eight kilos of smack at his Springvale South home after he and crony Peter Salesui were wanted for a Noble Park run-through.
The court heard the pair stormed their victim’s home after Salesui’s cousin was allegedly shot and killed at the property two months earlier.
McFarland and Salesui, who was armed with an imitation firearm, broke into the property on September 13 2022 but no one was home.
The gloved intruders smashed their way in via the garage, looked around the property for a short time then fled the scene.
The victim checked CCTV footage and reported the aggravated burglary to police on September 22.
Investigators ID’d Salesui off the CCTV and linked his phone to McFarland who was later also identified on the footage.
Police raided McFarland’s home on November 8 and seized almost eight kilos of heroin stored in 11 vacuum sealed bags stashed in an overnight back in a wardrobe.
McFarland, who also pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and theft, was arrested and remanded into custody.
McFarland had a troubled childhood in which he commenced using hard drugs at a young age and was kicked out of various schools for behaviour issues.
The defence submitted McFarland played the drug game role “patsy” despite pleading guilty to trafficking heroin.
“I will make the submission that (McFarland’s) role is … he is a patsy,” the defence said.
The court heard McFarland claimed he was “simply holding” the heroin but would not give police nor his lawyers any more information out of “fear of retribution”.
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“He’s a simple man … caught with an amount of heroin …,” the defence submitted.
The defence also submitted there was no evidence including scales and deal bags which is “typically” found at drug busts.
“That supports the ‘patsy submission’ that he was holding the heroin for presumably someone else..,” the defence submitted.
However, the defence conceded it “didn’t hold instructions” whether McFarland “received reward” for holding the heroin.
“He’s keeping mum about the circumstances in all of this … it’s not a large leap to figure out why one may not want to say anything about this particular offending and who else was involved and in what circumstances,” the defence submitted.
Judge Duncan Allen pointed out there was no evidence McFarland was a patsy.
Salesui pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to theft, aggravated burglary and prohibited person possessing an imitation firearm and will be sentenced at a later date.
McFarland, who is facing a potential jail term of life behind bars, will be sentenced at a later date.
