Turf king Damion Flower denied bail again over cocaine importation charges
Racing identity Damion Flower broke into tears today when he was refused bail over an alleged cocaine smuggling syndicate, forcing him to spend Christmas behind bars.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
One of Australia’s leading racehorse owners accused of heading a cocaine ring will spend Christmas behind bars after he was denied bail for a second time.
Former baggage handler Damion Flower was arrested in May for allegedly smuggling drugs aboard commercial air flights from South Africa over three years.
The 47-year-old father-of-two broke into tears when he appeared in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday via video link from Long Bay prison.
Flower’s wife Camilla cried and was hugged by supporters in the public gallery before Justice Robert Allan Hulme refused her husband’s freedom.
While acknowledging the damage incarceration was doing to Flower’s family life and career, the judge said the prosecution case is strong “and the offences alleged are of very grave seriousness.”
“It was submitted that the business would likely fail with an adverse effect upon 17 staff,” Justice Hulme said.
“A large number of businesses will lose a client and over 50 syndicate partners will be affected.”
He said Flower faces a potential long stint in custody if convicted with the maximum penalty for his crimes being life imprisonment.
The former turf king – who co-owned thoroughbreds with high-profile Sydney figures Alan Jones, Phil Gould and advertising guru John Singleton – allegedly schemed to import cocaine between June 2016 and his arrest on May 22, 2019.
Flower isn’t expected to face his three-month trial until 2021.
His co-accused, Qantas baggage handler To Oto O Junior Mafiti, is accused of collecting the contraband when it landed in Sydney.
The Crown alleges Flower and Mafiti used “crude and obvious” coded text messages to co-ordinate drug deliveries worth tens of millions of dollars, and Justice Hulme said “an innocent gloss was suggested, but it appears far-fetched.”
When one cocaine haul allegedly arrived on March 15, Mafiti texted Flower saying: "check weight for jockey my brother … felt heavier” after a drop off at Rydges Sydney Airport Hotel occurred between the pair, the Crown alleges.
One month later Flower allegedly sent a message saying the “Christchurch Crusaders" had "smashed" another rugby team and gave the game score, which police claim matched the last three digits of a flight’s baggage container number. Mafiti was later seen on CCTV footage taking a duffel bag from it.
An alleged burner phone number was saved in Mafiti’s phone under the name ‘DA1MO’ and it was only used to communicate with Flower, the court heard.
Flower’s defence barrister argued he was "a responsible family man” who hasn’t been caught red handed with drugs, insisting the circumstantial case is “pure fantasy”.
But the judge said it was far more than mere "suspicion," as John Stratton SC sought to characterise it.
Flower faces two counts of commercial cocaine importation, engaging in a business to import a commercial quantity of drugs and dealing with the proceeds of crime valuing more than $100,000 and $10,000 respectively.
Mafiti, a 50-year-old Hinchinbrook man, faces two charges of importing cocaine and five of dealing with the proceeds of crime – twice to the value of more than $1 million.
Federal police seized more than $6 million in cash when they raided Mafiti’s properties and found more than $150,000 at Flower’s sprawling Moorebank home, which he says is linked to his lucrative racing job.
Last month, prosecutors withdrew four commercial drug importation charges against the pair, while fellow co-accused Ashoor Youkhana had his commercial drug trafficking and deal in the proceeds of crime charges dropped too.
The 42-year-old Middleton Grange father, who was allegedly arrested near Sydney Airport with 24 kilograms of coke in his car, was granted $1 million bail last month.
Youkhana is charged with commercial drug possession and dealing with the proceeds of crime valuing less than $100,000.
Originally published as Turf king Damion Flower denied bail again over cocaine importation charges
‘Out of control’: Teen allegedly attacked with axe, kidnapped
A Northern Rivers woman stands accused of kidnapping a teenage girl and robbing her before she escaped from a car in an alleged wild episode on a busy roadway.
Mayor’s political rival to join ranks of southwest Sydney council
A controversial former councillor who distributed a fake Islamophobic flyer about his rival’s wife and MP will return to a southwest Sydney council after scoring a win at the ballot box.