Drug trafficking charges dismissed against Bomber Thompson
Mark “Bomber” Thompson’s bizarre new business ventures have been outlined in court as a magistrate slapped the former footy great with a conviction for drug possession. But the fallen star has pledged to turn his life around.
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Fallen footy legend Mark “Bomber” Thompson is determined to turn his life around after being convicted of possessing almost 500 ecstasy pills, ice and LSD.
The champion coach and player was sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order and fined $3,500 after a magistrate found him guilty of four counts of drug possession.
Thompson, 55, had hoped to escape conviction after multiple drug trafficking charges were dismissed in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.
But Magistrate Duncan Reynolds said the sheer quantity of drugs found in his Port Melbourne home — including 44 times the trafficable quantity of MDA — warranted the penalty.
The conviction dents plans for Thompson to travel to the US or coach children in the future.
But his legal team said in court he was involved in new business ventures, including building furniture from recycled materials, importing motorised e-cycles and hydrogen inhaler production.
In dismissing the trafficking offences, Mr Reynolds was not satisfied Thompson intended to sell the drugs.
Mr Reynolds said he had taken into account his lack of criminal history and said he had considered the fact Thompson had up until recently led a “very public life”.
“You have since January 2018 taken steps to endeavour to change aspects of your life,” Mr Reynolds said.
“I consider that the quantity of drugs … specifically the MDA and methamphetamine … is such that it elevates the seriousness of the matter that warrants a conviction,” he said.
Mr Reynolds earlier told the packed courtroom he had dismissed three charges of trafficking MDA and ice.
Thompson had maintained his innocence since his arrest in May last year, claiming the more than 480 MDA pills allegedly found inside a locked bedroom at his Port Melbourne home belonged to his bikie roommate and convicted drug trafficker, Thomas Windsor.
The ruling comes two weeks after the football legend took to the witness box in a bid to clear his name.
Thompson’s lawyer revealed the father-of-three had since sought treatment for his drug habit and was in the process of rehabilitation.
Defence lawyer Mick Milardovic said his client’s admissions in the witness box were “very poignant and very damaging” to his reputation, and demonstrated remorse.
BOMBER’S NEW ‘BUSINESS VENTURES’
During the plea hearing, the court was also told of Thompson’s bizarre new “business ventures” including building furniture out of recycled materials, importing motorised e-cycles — “which are great for the environment” — and the production of hydrogen inhalers.
When asked by the Magistrate what the inhalers did, Mr Milardovic said he wasn’t familiar with them, but had been told by Thompson it was “a burgeoning field”.
Thompson had previously spoken of his obsession with cryptocurrency, saying when he was trading he felt like he was “flying”.
He told the court he believed he was capable of making up to $30,000 a week in “passive income” before the online currency market crashed, though he said he still believes bitcoin has “exciting” times ahead.
Thompson’s lawyer asked for a financial penalty or good behaviour bond, but Mr Reynolds said the seriousness of the matter and the quantity of drugs found in Thompson’s home warranted a community corrections order be imposed.
Bomber Thompson will be assessed for a CCO this afternoon before returning to court to learn if he will be convicted of the charges @theheraldsun
— Genevieve Alison (@GenevieveAlison) July 11, 2019
HOW BOMBER REVEALED THE TRUTH ON THE STAND
Thompson, 55, fronted the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on June 26 to fight the charges including three counts of trafficking amphetamine MDA and four counts of possessing drugs including ice, LSD and Xanax.
An emotional Thompson spent more than three hours in the witness box as he told the court of his “sad” life after football.
Thompson said he had been smoking a gram of ice a week, watching YouTube videos and spending up to 12 hours a day working on his bitcoin portfolio after leaving the AFL industry “a bad way” following the Essendon supplement scandal.
“Everything I believed in … was just in ruins,” Thompson told the court.
“I just couldn’t believe we could do that to a group of young men.
“I think about it every day … I’m still not over it.”
He told the court Windsor knocked on his front door in late 2017 and came in for a cup of coffee.
“I’d left all my friends and my social life … I was happy to open the door and talk to someone,” he said.
Thompson said the man, who had alleged links to the Rebels, was initially charming and engaging, but soon began pressuring Thompson to let him move in.
“I knew he shouldn’t be there, but he broke me down,” Thompson said, describing Windsor as “a pretty scary bloke” who often broke into locked rooms in the home to “snoop”.
“He is a lot tougher than me … I didn’t know how to get rid of him.”
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Tom Roberts challenged Thompson’s “absurd” claim that he let Windsor live in his house with no questions asked.
“There’s a knock on the door, and a bald, muscly, tattooed man who you don’t know is invited into your house” Sen-Constable Roberts said.
Thompson replied: “It’s weird, hey.”
He told the court he “just wanted someone to talk to”. He said the pair never spoke about Windsor’s drug dealing but they smoked ice together.
The two-time premiership coach said his ice use was a biweekly habit, which he adopted more than a year before he met Windsor.
“I don’t think I was addicted, it just masks the pain, I think less about the things that worry me,” he said.
Thompson said scales found in his home were used to weigh the drugs he was buying, to “make sure you got what you paid for”.
He shook his head, adding: “I can’t believe I’m saying this.”
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Windsor, 29, pleaded guilty to single counts of drug trafficking and possessing items for the purpose of drug trafficking in exchange for a get-out-of-jail card in September last year.
Instead of further jail time, he was placed on an 18-month community corrections order. He was also sentenced to 169 days’ imprisonment, but that term had already been served.