Accused drug-dealing lawyer and girlfriend prepare new bail bid after drug trafficking charges
An accused drug-dealing barrister and his alleged partner in crime are fighting to be released from custody after police allegedly seized copious amounts of drugs and a fake penis from their apartment.
Police & Courts
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The girlfriend of accused drug-dealing barrister Anthony Grant remains locked up as he prepares a new bid for freedom.
Iranian hairdresser Atousa Amouzegar Haghighi, 34, is fighting for release from maximum-security women’s prison Dame Phyllis Frost Centre on commercial drug trafficking charges related to the August raid of the Queens Rd apartment she shared with her partner, Mr Grant.
The 44-year-old former state prosecutor, who has repeatedly been denied bail on high-level drug trafficking charges, will make a fresh bid for freedom in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court next week.
Prosecutor Jessica Hotchkin said Mr Grant will present to the court “new facts and circumstances” in fighting for his release from custody.
The development was announced during Ms Haghighi’s bail application in the same court on Friday.
Ms Hotchkin said the accused — an identical triplet living off Centrelink — should remain in custody due to the risk she poses to the safety and welfare of the community.
The court heard Ms Haghighi was already facing a charge of trafficking a commercial quantity of methamphetamine prior to the Queens Rd raid, where she was subsequently hit with trafficking a commercial quantity of 1,4-Butanediol — used as a source for GHB.
“If Ms Haghighi was granted bail, we are concerned she will continue to use and trafficking drugs of dependence,” arresting officer senior constable Annabelle Sloane told the court.
“She’s a heavy drug user herself. There’s a concern she will continue that habit once released from custody.”
The court heard Mr Grant and Ms Haghighi have been in a relationship since December 2023.
Both were inside their Queens Rd apartment when it was raided by police, with drugs including 12 litres of 1,4- Butanediol, methamphetamine, cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine and copious amounts of erectile dysfunction medication were allegedly uncovered.
Also inside the home was a prosthetic penis, often used to falsify urine drug tests.
The court heard Mr Grant was acting as his girlfriend’s barrister in the meth trafficking charges laid last November.
He also claimed client legal privilege on her phone and tablet seized in the August drug raid, meaning police are yet to examine them for evidence.
Ms Haghighi now has fresh legal representation and is seeking to be released into a $350-a-night inpatient drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility, Habitat Therapeutics.
Sen Con Sloane raised concerns with the facility, saying it does not regularly screen patients for drugs and Ms Haghighi could leave the facility at any time.
Her bail application will continue on Wednesday.
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