A man jailed for smuggling cocaine through Melbourne Airport is suing over an alleged jail assault
A MAN jailed for hiding 1.5kg of cocaine in his mother-in-law’s luggage and blaming her for bringing it through Melbourne Airport is now suing the state for damages.
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A MAN jailed for hiding 1.5kg of cocaine in his mother-in-law’s luggage and blaming her for bringing it through Melbourne Airport is now suing the state for damages.
Hamado Nabole, 41, was jailed for a minimum of seven years after the hidden drugs, with a street value of $724,000, were discovered following an anonymous tip-off as the pair returned from Brazil via Dubai in June 2012.
In a writ lodged with the County Court, Nabole alleges he was assaulted while an inmate at Castlemaine’s Loddon prison in November, 2014.
Nabole claims he suffered a disc herniation that required surgery and facial injuries as a result of the state’s negligence.
In 2013, the County Court heard Nabole and his mother- in-law, Renate Neugebauer, went to Brazil after Nabole had told her she deserved a holiday and would not have to pay for it or her mortgage while away.
When the pair returned to Melbourne, Nabole trailed his mother-in-law at a distance through the airport before Customs officers, acting on the tip-off, took each aside for a luggage search.
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Ms Neugebauer told the officers she was travelling with Nabole who had given her her bag to carry.
When a white powder was found in her backpack’s lining, a shocked Ms Neugebauer told the officers that she had felt as if she were in a “bad dream”.
The court heard that before the drugs were discovered, Nabole claimed to have visited Brazil as a tourist. But he could not remember the names of places he had isited and had no photos of his holiday.
A Customs officer said Nabole initially said he was travelling alone but then changed his story, acknowledging his mother-in-law had travelled with him but claiming their airline tickets had been booked separately.
In court, Nabole objected to those “false” statements being admitted as evidence as they had not been recorded. He tried to shift blame to his mother-in-law, denying any knowledge of the drugs and claiming she organised the trip.
Sentencing Nabole, Judge Carolyn Douglas found he had put his unwitting mother-in-law through a “frightening ordeal” in a “calculated” and “extremely callous” decision to use her to carry the drugs to “divert suspicion”.
In 2014, he lost a Court of Appeal challenge to his conviction on the grounds that the admission of the unrecorded statements represented a miscarriage of justice.