By Kate McClymont and Perry Duffin
Colourful former racing identity Eddie Hayson, who was charged over the commercial supply of drugs, has been granted bail.
This was Hayson’s second attempt to get bail following his arrest on the Gold Coast in February 2024. He was arrested by officers from Strike Force Maimura who were targeting an organised crime group that allegedly used private planes and encrypted devices to move drugs across the country.
Eddie Hayson has been granted bail. Credit: Louise Kennerley
The NSW Supreme Court heard that Hayson, 56, had only a minor criminal record, which included a fraud charge and offensive behaviour.
Hayson’s barrister, Ian Lloyd, KC, also highlighted Hayson’s untreated medical conditions, including severe dental and ankle issues. The court heard that Justice Health had agreed that Hayson could see his own dentist if he paid for the cost of prison officers to accompany him. However, Corrective Services refused approval.
The Crown argued that the allegations against Hayson were serious and that he posed a potential flight risk.
At the heart of the case appears to be Hayson’s knowledge of what was in a suitcase that travelled from Sydney to Perth in August 2023. Police found it contained 16 kilograms of methylamphetamine and five kilograms of MDMA and Hayson was charged with knowingly taking part in the supply of a large commercial quantity of prohibited drugs.
Lloyd told the court “there’s no evidence my client had ever touched a suitcase”. Hayson also thought it contained cash, not drugs, said Lloyd.
A roll-over witness has said that Hayson said to him “there’s a shitload of money involved” but Lloyd said that referred to Hayson thinking “there was a large quantity of cash in that suitcase”.
Justice Hament Dhanji said “it cuts both ways” in that that lack of direct involvement is obviously something that puts a person in a particular place in the hierarchy of a criminal organisation.
“We’re not suggesting there’s no case,” said Lloyd. “It’s a circumstantial case which we say is defendable. ”
Outlining Hayson’s background, Lloyd said his client had helped his late mother run the business operating the Northbridge Plaza shopping centre, which his family owned.
“In around 2002 he started operating Stilettos – let’s be frank, a brothel – which he operated until around 2015,” Lloyd said.
Eddie Hayson arrives at Sydney Airport after his extradition from the Gold Coast following his arrest for a large commercial supply of ice and MDMA.Credit: Nikki Short
Hayson has since been a professional gambler. The Herald has previously reported that Hayson had been banned from gambling with the TAB or at The Star casino and that he had used other people to place bets on his behalf.
The bail hearing began with numerous requests for suppression orders over the identities of witnesses and black-marker redactions to be made across documents and letters about the case.
While Dhanji said he was concerned to keep the matters “transparent to the full extent possible”, he closed the court for hours of secret evidence over Thursday.
Witness A, the key witness against Hayson, has been granted a 50-year suppression order as to his identity. Also suppressed is the identity of a person known only as Witness B, who has since died.
“If adequate protection is not provided to such persons, then the assistance that would otherwise be provided will inevitably run dry,” Dhanji noted.
“The present appears to me to be a case where those concerns are valid.”
Hayson’s bail conditions were also suppressed.
The matter will return to court next month.