Salim Mehajer convicted for possessing powerful painkiller

A court has heard former Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer was on Endone when he turned up to be sentenced for illegally possessing prescriptions drugs on Wednesday.

Controversial property developer Salim Mehajer arrived in court on Wednesday having taken the same heavy-duty painkiller he was due to be sentenced for illegally possessing almost three years ago, his lawyer revealed.

Fresh from back surgery last week, Mehajer was convicted on one count of drug possession after he pleaded guilty to having dozens of pills containing the powerful opioid oxycodone he could not account for with prescriptions.

The 34-year-old wore a grey suit with a salmon shirt and tie as he appeared at Downing Centre Local Court, first telling reporters outside he was “happy” with the result before deciding to appeal.

The charge stemmed from a raid on his luxury Lidcombe home after his allegedly staged car crash in November 2017.

He has lodged an appeal. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Among hundreds of tablets at the property police found 63 Endone pills, scattered throughout his house and inside his manbag, which contained 18.9g of oxycodone.

Agreed facts revealed the pills were found in two bathrooms, his home cinema, wardrobe, basement and inside a safe.

The drug is used to treat moderate to severe pain and is only available by prescription in NSW.

The court heard the indictable quantity for oxycodone was 12.5g.

Salim Mehajer has his temperature taken outside court. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jeremy Piper

The former Auburn deputy mayor was initially charged with supplying and possessing prescription drugs, but by his sentencing on Wednesday faced just the single possession charge after other counts were dropped.

His barrister Anthony Strik told the court his client had undergone back surgery in 2016 and was using the pills to manage the ongoing suffering at the time.

Mr Strik said there was “no evidence” of an addiction, noting Mehajer had been prescribed the same tablets after another round of surgery this month.

“He had his operation last week, he’s currently on Endone in court,” he told Magistrate Susan McIntyre on Wednesday.

“I suggested we might adjourn this matter and he said: ‘No I want this matter resolved’.”

He was ordered to follow a 12-month bond. Picture: Damian Shaw

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of Mehajer by using Endone this week.

Mr Strik asked that no conviction be recorded, despite his client spending time in jail for electoral fraud: “We’re now three years down the road and he’s got no convictions for drugs.

“To be a convicted drug person, that’s a different thing.”

But Magistrate McIntyre said that leniency was only afforded to people facing trivial matters or who had an otherwise good character.

“Well, clearly the latter is not the case,” she said. “And there has been somewhat of a history of offending over the last years.

“These are extremely powerful drugs and the sheer numbers of them alert the court to the misuse, and to a degree of criminality that must be attached to that offending.”

She convicted him and sentenced him to a 12-month conditional release order.

The court also heard Mehajer, now living in Vaucluse, was working to have his bankruptcy annulled in the Supreme Court.