Explosive text messages revealed in Jamie Kah white powder inquiry
Never before seen text messages have surfaced on the first day of star jockey Jamie Kah’s “white powder” inquiry.
The relevance of text messages exchanged between Jamie Kah, her manager Emma Shelley, Ruby McIntyre and Jacob Biddell prior to the publication of white powder images and video in the media is being contested before the Victorian Racing Tribunal.
The prosecution said messages, including two from Shelley to “deny, deny, deny” and “get our eggs in a row”, ought to be considered by the Tribunal as Kah subsequently told stewards she had no knowledge of the images and videos being in the public domain.
Message transcripts heard by the tribunal, between Shelley and McIntyre, included “Everyone is sick, this is career destroying (after what Kah has been through)”.
The messages were sent on June 21/22 — a couple of days before they were revealed in the media.
Matthew Stirling, counsel acting for both Kah and McIntyre, who have pleaded not guilty, objected to the messages being used as his clients had only been charged for misconduct, not providing false or misleading evidence to stewards.
He accused the prosecution of a “smear campaign”, which counsel acting for stewards resented and objected.
The tribunal heard Kah was considering a Supreme Court injunction to stop the publication of the images, a move which predated any subsequent stewards’ inquiry.
“To now manipulate these conversations into a single context of a conduct prejudicial racing image is very selective and somewhat manipulative,” Mr Stirling said.
The tribunal has wrestled with the discussion for the best part of an hour.
Messages between the parties includes requests to delete any/all images of the gathering from public and private Instagram accounts.
Counsel acting for the stewards, Russell Hammill, told the inquiry: “It doesn’t matter what the powder was, and Ms Kah concedes that, it’s just not a good look.”
“This is about the look of what these images represent,” Mr Hammill said.
McIntyre shared the photos and video on a private social media account.
The tribunal heard a “Mr (Ashley) Morgan in NSW” on-shared the pictures and video.
“In all likelihood Mr Morgan is the leak, to use the word, from a private social media feed to the public domain,” Mr Hammill said.
McIntyre told stewards 11 times in her second interview, on July 4, she could not remember, “I don’t recall”, sharing the images or videos due to intoxication.
McIntyre captioned an image shared on the night with: “Something to add to the list of things I never thought I’d be doing, doing coke with Jamie Kah and another friend at her house until 3am and staying the night.”
Shelley first found out about the images being circulated through a friend in NSW.
The stewards’ case rests on the elements of public knowledge (leaked images/video), the “self-evident” conduct prejudicial to the sport, and blameworthiness.
Mr Hammill said Kah either knew (photos/video was being taken) or she was reckless, “either way it gets the stewards home on blameworthiness”.
In response, Stirling called a stop to the hearing for Kah and McIntyre to give evidence.
“We’re at the point of working out now what their case is and whether we’re going into evidence, we will be going into evidence, so I’d appreciate it if my learned friend stopped making submissions,” Stirling said.
The matter will continue after lunch from 1.30pm.
EARLIER:
Star jockey Jamie Kah and friend Ruby McIntyre will face the Victorian Racing Tribunal on Monday in relation to a white powder controversy in June.
Stewards charged the pair in July with conduct prejudicial to the image, interests, integrity or welfare of racing, whether or not the conduct takes place within a racecourse or elsewhere.
Kah and McIntyre pleaded not guilty at a VRT directions hearing in August.
The charge stemmed from leaked images and a short video of Kah and friends, including greyhound trainer Jacob Biddell, sitting around a table with a plate of white powder arranged in lines.
Biddell received a conditional suspended one-month ban for his part in the controversy.
The gathering at Kah’s house occurred between June 17-18.
Stewards will allege McIntyre recorded Kah using an identification card in her hand to arrange the white powder substance into three lines.
McIntyre shared the recordings with a person/s not in attendance at the gathering.
The images and video were subsequently leaked to the Herald Sun and circulated widely on social media.
Stewards allege the conduct was prejudicial to the image, interests, integrity and/or welfare of racing.
If found guilty, the penalties available to the tribunal include a monetary fine, suspension and/or disqualification.
Kah has been able to put the controversy behind her and focus on her return to the saddle after a five-month absence with a severe concussion.
The 27-year-old champion jockey led all-comers at Flemington last week with six individual winners for the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
The VRT hearing on Monday starts from 10am.
This story will be updated throughout the day.
Originally published as Explosive text messages revealed in Jamie Kah white powder inquiry
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