Bikie bother in bail case

Magistrate told of drug accused’s possible gang links

AN accused drug trafficker was linked to the Rebels bikie gang in a Geelong court yesterday, and also had a secret relationship with his girlfriend made public.

Police also say Alec Butterfield, 21, has fallen out with his older brother Mitchell who, like him, is in jail accused of drug trafficking.

The brothers were housemates until their Leopold home was raided by police last month.

Alec Butterfield made his second bid for bail since that day in Geelong Magistrates’ Court yesterday, but again failed.

Police told court a threemonth investigation this year showed the brothers each made “tens of thousands of dollars” trafficking drugs in partnership.

But the court was told Alec, tired of taking orders from his older brother, started his own dealing operation when Mitchell, 27, was arrested in early September.

Constable Daniel Hadden said a locked safe found in Alec’s bedroom wardrobe during last month’s raid contained tick lists detailing alleged drug deals and $1100 cash. He said the safe also held 13g of co- caine, 4g of amphetamine, 1.67g of crushed ecstasy tablets, 90g of a liquid form of the drug GHB and 19 prescription tablets.

It is alleged the man’s mobile phone contained evidence of his trafficking.

On bail after being charged with drug possession just six days earlier, he was charged with trafficking cocaine, multiple new counts of drug possession, and dealing in the proceeds of crime.

The court heard police had linked the brothers to the Rebels through a friend, whose father was an “active member” of the outlaw motorcycle gang.

The father’s Lara home was, at one stage, proposed as a possible bail address for Alec Butterfield, the court heard.

Alec Butterfield’s lawyer said the allegations against Mitchell Butterfield were in a “different realm” to those against his client, arguing there was little evidence Alec made as much money as Constable Hadden alleged.

But prosecutor Senior Constable Scott Bell said the man’s emerging association with the Rebels likely explained where the bulk of the profits went.

The prosecutor also asked whether bikies were behind an address in Waurn Ponds, where it was proposed Alec Butterfield live if he was bailed yesterday. The owner of that home, 37-year-old software developer Andrew Hodgson, told court the man could live there.

Hodgson revealed they had met via a mutual friend who works at Alley Cats strip club.

“Are you being stood over ... have the bikies come and had a chat to you?,” Sen-Constable Bell asked Hodgson. “No,” the witness replied. Butterfield’s girlfriend of the past two years, childcare worker Celine Ingram, said she would consider moving out of her Bell Park home, where she lives with her mother and grandmother, to live at the Waurn Ponds house if it would help her partner get bail.

But the woman had to admit her mother did not like Butterfield and was unaware she remained in a relationship with him.

The woman said she had only met Mr Hodgson that day, and told the court she was oblivious of her partner’s alleged drug activities until his arrest last month.

Magistrate Ann McGarvie said it was unlikely Mr Hodgson and Ms Ingram, both fulltime workers, could adequately supervise Butterfield, adding there was a serious risk the applicant would “commit further offences to pay off his debts or just to live” if granted bail.