‘Deny, deny, deny’: Text messages revealed, stewards accused of ‘smear campaign’ in Kah hearing

Star jockey Jamie Kah says she didn’t know stablehand Ruby McIntyre was recording her cutting lines of a white powder on a plate with an ID card, footage which has become central to a charge of conduct prejudicial to racing.

Defending the charge in the Victorian Racing Tribunal on Monday, fresh off riding six winners during the Melbourne Cup Carnival, Kah said she was more affected by alcohol than she would usually be when she, McIntyre and friend Jacob Biddell were in each other’s company at Kah’s home on June 17.

Star Melbourne jockey Jamie Kah is defending charges of conduct prejudicial to the image of racing.Credit: Twitter

Kah had only met McIntyre six hours earlier, and conceded she was “absolutely” ambitious trusting McIntyre, who recorded and circulated a six-second video showing Kah separating lines of white powder on a kitchen plate with an ID card.

Still shots of the video were published in the media six days later, with stewards eventually charging both Kah and McIntyre with conduct prejudicial to racing.

Kah’s barrister Matthew Stirling did not dispute the key facts – that Kah hosted the gathering at her own home, that McIntyre and Biddell were also in attendance, that McIntyre recorded a video of her cutting up a white powder with a card and that still shots from the video were widely reported in the media.

What Stirling objected to, numerous times, was the focus of text messages that stewards alleged proved Kah lied about her knowledge of the gathering when she was interviewed by stewards in the days after the still shots were published.

In one text message, Kah’s manager Emma Shelley texted McIntyre to “delete every single photo and that Instagram. Deny, deny, deny.”

Kah had also sent a text to Biddell, saying, “Told her [McIntyre] not to post anything. Such a f---ing bitch.”

Stirling said the stewards were running a “smear campaign” by going over ground that was not relevant to the charge of conduct prejudicial to the image of racing. But Russell Hammill, barrister for the stewards, rejected the claim that stewards were running a smear campaign, saying it was up to the tribunal to determine whether the context evidence was relevant or not.

Judge John Bowman, chairman of the tribunal, allowed Hammill to continue.

Kah said a concussion she had suffered three months earlier in a heavy race fall, which led to her being put into an induced coma for six days and spending 28 days in hospital and in rehabilitation, exacerbated the effects of the five wines she drank that Saturday night.

She said she had been told by doctors drinking alcohol was “probably not a great idea”, but leading up to that night, she had had one or two wines with dinner on a number of occasions and had not felt any exaggerated effects.

She did say that night, on June 17, was the first time she had had too much to drink. She remembered taking a selfie with McIntyre and Biddell on her phone earlier in the night but said she wasn’t aware McIntyre had later taken a video of her cutting lines of what McIntyre’s caption said was “coke”.

Hamill said there were three factors the tribunal had to consider when deciding to uphold a charge of conduct prejudicial to the image of racing – whether the conduct was public knowledge, whether the images damaged the sport and whether the conduct was regarded as blameworthy.

He argued that Kah showed recklessness in being drunk and in the company of someone she had only known for one night who had a camera.

“She ought to have known better. It’s not as though a phone was held up through a kitchen window,” Hammill said.

Kah later said if she knew McIntyre was recording, she would have kicked her out and made sure the video was deleted off the phone and not sent to anyone. McIntyre ended up sleeping the night at Kah’s.

McIntyre was next to give evidence in the tribunal hearing.

She conceded she took the video, but when asked about a screenshot on her phone that included a caption about doing cocaine with Jamie Kah, McIntyre said she didn’t write that caption.

Asked by the tribunal where stewards got that screenshot, Hammill said he needed to seek clarity.

The cases were adjourned, to return to the tribunal on Monday November 27 at 9am.

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