Drug charges escalate
Duo face extra time over crime ring claim
METH trafficker and bodybuilder Matthew Hilton will fight the allegation he operated in an organised crime syndicate.
He and fellow trafficker Ryan Hill pleaded guilty in Cairns Supreme Court yesterday to trafficking ice, cocaine and MDMA in Sydney and Cairns between March 2016 and January last year but pleaded not guilty to operating as an organised crime ring.
If found guilty of the aggravating circumstance, Ryan and Hilton will receive an extra mandatory seven years to their sentences.
Counsel for Hill, Mike Dalton, told the court he would apply for further particulars from the crown to show the alleged association of his client with a criminal syndicate.
The two men had initially pleaded not guilty to trafficking but later changed their pleas.
Hilton also admitted he possessed the steroids testosterone and trenbolone in Cairns last November.
The crown allege both defendants operated a drug syndicate with Jamie Payet and Sandeep Dharan.
Payet and Dharan both pleaded guilty to aggravated drug trafficking.
The court heard the crown possessed phone transcripts that showed the alleged syndicate used couriers to transport drugs.
It is alleged that one of the defendants is recorded saying: “I have got a guy inside Toll. I have to pay him and I have to pass it on.”
Ironically, it was a courier’s delivery times that determined when Dharan would be sentenced.
He will learn his fate today, a delay of 24 hours as Toll had not delivered the prosecution files in time yesterday.
“It is quite extraordinary,” Justice Henry said. “It is a universal problem.” Josh Trevino, defending Payet, asked the court for a psychological report for his client, an Iraq veteran who suffers PTSD.
Justice Henry adjourned Payet’s sentence to December 4.