Threats led man to drug growing
Accused blamed bikies
Armstrong Creek mum Joni Hurley will celebrate her second Mother’s Day on Sunday with her 18-monthold twins Xavier and Elijah.
She is also the treasurer of the Geelong Area Multiple Births Association, which is encouraging new members to join.
Ms Hurley said being a mum was fulfilling.
“I love being a mother,” she said. “It’s really rewarding but also challenging being a mother of twins.
“There is nothing more beautiful than seeing them smile and come crawling up for hugs or laughing and giggling at each other.
“I am looking forward to my second Mother’s Day. “We will go to a park and have a picnic if the weather is nice, just like we did last year.”
Ms Hurley said she loved the opportunity to meet mums and other parents in similar situations.
She said the Geelong Area Multiple Births Association hosted playgroups, events and information sessions.
The group is affiliated with the Australian Multiple Birth Association, the leading national support organisation for families with twins, triplets or more. Recent events hosted by the group included yoga, library story time, new and expectant parent information sessions and an AUSLAN and attachment play sessions. Ms Hurley said the group hosted playgroup once a fortnight on a Thursday. “We are always looking for more people to join the group and our playgroup is open to all GAMBA and non-GAMBA members,” she said.
“It’s about the children getting to play together but it is also about the parents getting together to share what they are doing and get some peer support.
“It’s good to meet other mums in similar situations.”
Ms Hurley said parents of multiples had unique experiences.
“There’s a lot of evidence into families with twins or triplets and the impact on different things like mental health and exhaustion,” she said. “We have a great community of parents who support each other through that and can socialise together.”
Find out more at www.gamba.amba.org.au.
A concreter found with a stolen rifle and sophisticated weed growing system told police “bikies” had threatened him into growing the drug in his shed, court documents reveal. Brendan Samuel Farrugia, 39, appeared in Geelong Magistrates Court on Thursday for a bond hearing where the charges against him were discharged.
The Anakie man had been placed on the good behaviour bond in May 2022 on charges of possessing and cultivating cannabis, possessing an unregistered firearm, dishonestly receiving stolen goods and stealing more than 13,000 kilowatts of electricity.
Farrugia complied with the undertaking, and magistrate John Lesser discharged the matters against him. Documents released by the court reveal that Farrugia went to Lara Police Station on February 3, 2021 and told police he had been threatened by two “unknown males” he described as “bikies” at his concreting business, revealing that weed was growing there.
Half an hour later, Farrugia met police at his property in Anakie and led them to a shed. “The accused stated he was unable to unlock the large shed on the property, as he left the keys at a friend’s house in Sunbury,” court documents state.
Farrugia forced open a roller door using his car to allow access, and directed officers to a hydroponic system growing cannabis in the corner.
The shed also contained a caravan, where a fully loaded rifle was sitting on the dining table. The rifle was later revealed to have been stolen in a 2014 burglary in Bellbrae.
That afternoon, police raided Farrugia’s address and seized 12 cannabis plants in a growing room, with a hydroponic system powered by an unauthorised connection to the electrical mains.
A “large quantity” of cannabis was found stored in two garbage bags.
The next day, Farrugia told officers the names of two men he said were “behind threats to him and his family” to grow cannabis in his shed, and agreed to come in the next day to provide a written statement.
Four days later, Farrugia told police he couldn’t commit to the statement, as he was away. On February 10, 2021, he agreed to make a statement but later changed his mind again.
According to court documents, Farrugia told police “unknown persons” associated to one of the men delivered the hydroponic equipment to his address.
“The accused tended to the plants by watering and maintaining the lighting system in fear of threats and intimidation,” the documents state. However, police documents state Farrugia was “unable to particularise actual threats” during the investigation, and later said on separate occasions he could not commit to providing a statement.
He declined to participate in a recorded interview – due to the limited information he provided, police were unable to connect the names provided to any crimes.
A conviction was recorded against Farrugia in May 2022.