A motor sport mechanic who returned from a trip to Sydney with a $288,000 "brick" of cocaine and a shoe box full of cash doesn't know where the drugs came from, a defence barrister has told a court.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Grant Mathew Henderson, a co-owner of ESP Racing auto repair and customisation shop at Queanbeyan, has pleaded not guilty to trafficking cocaine, possessing money suspected to be the proceeds of crime, and driving while disqualified.
Prosecutors say the 39-year-old did a drug run to Sydney one night in October 2018, and returned with about 444 grams of cocaine in the centre console of a Ford Ranger and about $12,450 cash in a shoe box.
Defence barrister Christopher Watson on Thursday described the Ford Ranger as a "courtesy car" used by people at the Queanbeyan workshop, which was itself akin to a bit of a "social club". Prosecutor Sarah McFarland accepted the Ford Ranger was a company car, but said Mr Henderson took it home every night and used it on weekends.
Mr Watson suggested to the ACT Supreme Court that someone at the workshop could have put the drugs in the car.
Justice Michael Elkaim called into question the likelihood of the scenario.
"One of [the people at the workshop] says, 'What should I do with this brick of cocaine in my back pocket? I'll stick it in this Ford Ranger'," he said.
Mr Watson responded, "I think stranger things have happened".
Ms McFarland said "no one in their right mind" would leave so much cocaine in someone else's car, and the suggestion that they would was "entirely far-fetched and fanciful".
Mr Watson said Mr Henderson didn't pick up drugs at all in Sydney. He said Mr Henderson and another man were in the city for all of about 10 minutes to sell and personally deliver turbochargers, which explained the cash.
Mr Watson said the amount of cash equated with the cost of the turbochargers, and it wasn't unusual for ESP Racing to accept cash payments for parts. He said that despite police having surveilled Mr Henderson's departure from Queanbeyan and return to his ACT home, they didn't track his activity in Sydney.
"The excuse provided by the police in this trial ... is not sufficient to excuse or explain why the police investigation didn't involve surveillance coverage up to Sydney," Mr Watson said.
Mr Watson said the Ford Ranger's centre console was sizeable, and it was absolutely feasible his client had no idea about the cocaine brick it contained.
Justice Michael Elkaim said the Crown reasoned the cash had "something to do with drug dealing" instead, given a police search at Latham turned up the some $12,450 and 400 grams of cocaine on Mr Henderson's return.
Justice Elkaim said even if Mr Henderson did sell the turbochargers in Sydney, it didn't preclude him from also buying drugs there. He said another explanation for the cash could be that Mr Henderson might have had "some change" from a drug deal.
Mr Watson said while the prosecution claimed Mr Henderson had ignored four letters about his driver's licence being disqualified, he actually never received them.
Justice Elkaim said he would determine his verdict in the judge-alone trial by Friday afternoon.