Ex-footy stars’ fall from grace
Seers, Touma jailed for roles in cocaine cartel
FORMER State of Origin hero Matt Seers has been slapped with a four-year jail term after he was caught up in one of the biggest scandals to hit Queensland sport.
Yesterday, Seers pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to drug trafficking and blamed cocaine addiction from his NRL days for his role in a sophisticated cartel that also led to charges for code hopper Karmichael Hunt and several Gold Coast Titans.
The 43-year-old will spend one year behind bars before his sentence is suspended, while ringleader and exRoosters player John Touma was sentenced to nine years in jail for drug trafficking, without a fixed parole date.
Seers was a trusted driver for Touma, couriering cocaine 26 times over about six months in 2014 in an operation that used a wine company as a cunning front.
The NSW Origin great also collected drugs from Sydney for 52-year-old Touma, who had almost 50 customers during that time.
But the Crime and Corruption Commission soon discovered the thriving illegal business, and a series of phone taps and dogged surveillance netted Seers, Touma and a string of others – including the ring’s sporting star clients.
Seers’ arrest came after he pulled up at Touma’s Mermaid Waters home during a police raid on December 19, 2014, and a bag of cocaine was found under the driver’s seat.
Seers’ barrister, Patrick Wilson, said a cocaine habit led to his involvement in the ring and he was extremely remorseful.
“The longstanding nature of his drug problems stem back to his professional sporting days,” Mr Wilson said. “(Seers was) unequipped to handle life post-retirement from professional sports.”
He said his high-profile client since moved to northern NSW to care for his ill parents.
Justice Peter Flanagan noted Seers battled addiction since the 1990s and his former NRL club sent him to rehabilitation in 1998, only for him to continue using cocaine throughout 1999.
Seers played for the North Sydney Bears until 2000, when he switched to Wests Tigers.
The court was told Touma turned to the drug game after the murder of his mother and a fall out with family.
Touma had about $370,000 in unexplained income between June 2013 and December 2014.
His lucrative business often took him to Sydney to buy cocaine and after one trip, an associate was caught with more than 1kg of the drug worth between $200,000 and $300,000 at Coffs Harbour.
The drugs were concealed in wine boxes when delivered to clients, of which 11 were considered regulars.
When Touma travelled overseas, the court was told he gave drugs to fellow ex-player John Tobin to look after.
Co-accused Peter Kassiotes and Adam Surplice also pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and were both sentenced to four years in jail, to be suspended after six months and one year respectively. The court was told they were embarrassed by the publicity the scandal generated.
Queensland Reds star Karmichael Hunt, exMaroon Jason Smith and former Titans players Dave Taylor, Joe Vickery and Jamie Dowling have previously pleaded guilty to drug possession as a result of the same police sting.
Charges against other Titans players, including Greg Bird and Ashley Harrison, were dropped.
Tobin and former Titan Steve Michaels are yet to be dealt with in court.