Ex-barrister faces a wait on ice charge

A MAGISTRATE will ponder for more than a month whether a former top Cairns lawyer should be committed to stand trial accused of trafficking ice and cannabis.

Roger Griffith, 55, who was previously both the head of Cairns’ Department of Public Prosecutions and a defence barrister, is charged with being a senior figure in the drug syndicate he was legally acting for which was operating in the Far North between 2016 and 2017.

During the final day of his committal hearing in the Cairns Magistrates Court yesterday, more details of his alleged involvement in the syndicate were revealed, including an alleged drug running trip to Adelaide.

The court heard the syndicate, allegedly headed by Smithfield man Zane Rene

Brache, 42, was allegedly initially dealing cannabis before expanding to meth.

Mr Griffith’s barrister Stephen Zilman argued there was no evidence of his client’s involvement in meth trafficking.

He read out parts of a statement from an unnamed witness, who claimed he was in Adelaide with Mr Griffith, Mr Brache and his girlfriend where Mr Griffith allegedly purchased a car to bring drugs back to Cairns.

“I had heard (Mr Griffith and Mr Brache) talking about stepping it up into the white (meth),” Mr Zilman read out from the witness statement.

“I know that Roger had recently sold his house and was cashed up. I got the impression that Roger was going to do a run behind me with ice.”

But Mr Zilman argued much of the police evidence is circumstantial and “does not allow the jump” to him trafficking ice. Mr Zilman also argued the $25,000 bag of cash Mr Griffith showed a former colleague could have been proceeds of crime, but did not prove he was trafficking ice.

Police prosecutor Sen-sgt Maynard Marcum said a witness told police Mr Griffith had provided legal advice to the syndicate about running a cannabis business.

He also allegedly said to a Cairns detective: “I’ve told them not to be so organised. That’s how you get caught”.

Sen-sgt Marcum said there was evidence the syndicate, including Mr Griffith, was trying to buy a property in western NSW for a hydroponic cannabis lab and he had told the group he would put goats on it to disguise its true purpose.

Magistrate Catherine Benson is due to hand down her decision on March 2.