Convicted criminal Matthew Massey has been charged with selling illicit drugs to an undercover detective in Canberra during a joint ACT/NSW Police operation in January 2013.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Massey, who has spent the last six months in solitary confinement for unrelated crimes and has a reputation as a hard man in the underworld, denied the charges and said he "smelt a rat".
The 40-year-old Ngunnawal man was one of 60 people arrested and charged as a result of Strike Force Delicate; a joint investigation into the supply of prohibited drugs that started in August 2012.
Massey has also been charged with three counts of supplying methamphetamine in NSW during December 2012.
He has not faced trial for these charges as he was detained by ACT authorities in August 2013 after breaching his bail conditions.
Representing himself before Associate Justice David Mossop in the ACT Supreme Court, Massey said someone else had already pleaded guilty to the three NSW charges.
He claimed the Canberra based operation deliberately targeted him and was led by ACT Policing.
"This doesn't seem right, I smell a rat," he said. "I put it to you that there is far from a case to answer."
In January 2014, ACT Policing received analytical tests of the drug from NSW authorities and a statement from the undercover detective who claimed it was supplied by Massey.
But Massey said there was not enough evidence to prove he was guilty of selling the drugs, with an audio recording alone unable to verify his identity.
"There is no compelling evidence, it is hearsay at best," he said. "I suggest that this case is flimsy at best."
An ACT Policing detective, who was called to give evidence before Justice Mossop, said he had no personal vendetta against Massey and insisted no ACT officers were involved in the sting.
Massey presented Justice Mossop with his committal records and claimed his sentence had been modified by staff at the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
"This was not handed down by any court or judge," he said while holding the committal document.
Massey also tried to invoke habeas corpus, where a detainee can seek relief from unlawful imprisonment, before Justice Mossop called for the bail application to be adjourned until April 15. Massey was instructed to file a statement of evidence to be given at the hearing by 5pm on April 14.
Massey has spent much of his adult life behind bars after more than 50 convictions, including armed robbery and escaping custody.
He vowed to live a "pro-social life" after he spent five years behind bars in the 1990s, but reoffended on release and received a seven-year sentence.
He was sentenced to a four-year stretch in 2011 for kidnapping and unlawful confinement.
