Sam Fisher begs for bail as details of alleged drug use, trafficking revealed
A “crack pipe” was uncovered at ex-Saint Sam Fisher’s home, along with a range of illicit substances and drug paraphernalia, a court has heard.
Victoria
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Six years ago, AFL star Sam Fisher was preparing to hang up his boots on a stellar career as a Saint and move on to the next chapter of his life.
But any sign of that fearless and fit defender was all but gone on Monday when the 39-year-old version of himself faced the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.
Fisher wore a black suit and sat quietly as the court heard of his worsening drug addiction and struggles to maintain a job since retiring from footy in 2016.
The former St Kilda player was charged last month over a cross-border drug trafficking ring.
Fisher appeared via video link from Ravenhall prison as the allegations around his shock arrest on May 18 were aired for the first time.
He faces life imprisonment after being charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of methylamphetamine, trafficking cocaine and possessing drugs of dependence.
Detective Sergeant Nathan Ractliffe, from Victoria Police’s Trident Taskforce, told the court investigators uncovered an array of drugs in Fisher’s Sandringham home, as well “a crack pipe” indicating he was on drugs at the time.
Among the drug items found were 7.19g of methamphetamine in his ensuite bathroom, syringes containing human growth hormones inside the fridge and ecstasy tablets and a box of diazepam in his bedroom.
A bottle of 1,4-Butanediol was also found in his car.
The court heard police raided the Bay St home of the two-time best and fairest winner following a tip from their Western Australian counterparts.
Sgt Ractliffe said WA Police had uncovered encrypted messages from Fisher in the phone of alleged Perth drug trafficker, Julien Morvan.
He was saved as “Fish” in Mr Morvan’s phone, the court heard.
Police allege the duo used the French patisserie, Eclair, in Hampton, which is owned by Mr Morvan’s dad, Yves, for pick-ups of drug shipments.
“Police believe that the cafe, or that Yves has been used as an innocent agent in this process,” Sgt Ractliffe said.
In one instance in April, he said Julien Morvan purchased online an undermount rangehood from Harvey Norman, with Fisher seen on CCTV picking it up from the department store’s Moorabbin shopfront.
Fisher is later observed on CCTV dropping a large black parcel off at Eclair bakery, with a courier soon after picking it up.
When WA Police intercepted the parcel, they allegedly found 1kg of crystal meth and 84g of cocaine secreted in the rangehood.
On the same day, a Melbourne-bound parcel purporting to contain “acrylic templates” was intercepted in WA with $129,000 found inside.
Police allege that drugs and cash were regularly being concealed in whitegoods and sent between Melbourne and Perth.
Top defence barrister, Dermot Dann, pushed for Fisher to be released into a 90-day Arrow Health rehabilitation program to deal with his escalating drug addiction.
He said Fisher was using 30ml of GHB daily, and was a regular user of methamphetamine, before his arrest.
But Mr Dann said Fisher denies the trafficking allegations.
“He plans to plead not guilty to those charges,” he said.
He said Fisher, who played 288 games for St Kilda from 2004 to 2016, had the support of the St Kilda Football Club and the AFL Player’s Association to get on top of his drug addiction.
Prosecutor Daniel White opposed bail saying it was “very serious offending”.
“This is a trafficking enterprise, as it were, that traverses state borders,” Mr White said.
“It was planned, premeditated and it was well-resourced.”
Fisher will have to remain behind bars for at least another eight nights with magistrate Bernard FitzGerald adjourning the application for further submissions on July 5.
Originally published as Sam Fisher begs for bail as details of alleged drug use, trafficking revealed
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