Trial for ex-DPP boss
THE former Cairns boss of the Department of Public Prosecutions has been committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court for trafficking ice and cannabis.
Roger Griffith, 55, who also worked in Cairns as a defence barrister, is charged with being a senior figure in a drug syndicate he was legally acting for, and which was operating in the Far North between 2016 and 2017.
His two-day committal hearing in the Cairns Magistrates Court in January heard details of his alleged involvement in the syndicate, which was allegedly headed by Smithfield man Zane Rene Brache, 42.
Magistrate Catherine Benson adjourned her decision on whether the matters should proceed to a higher court, before yesterday committing him to stand trial for trafficking ice, cannabis, money laundering and one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Two charges – a second count of perverting the course of justice and burglary – were dropped by the prosecution.
During the hearing his barrister Stephen Zillman argued there was no evidence of his client’s involvement in the meth trafficking.
But Magistrate Benson said there was enough evidence to put it before a jury.
Some of the evidence she highlighted included an incident where Mr Griffith allegedly dug up a bag of $25,000 cash at Mr Brache’s property after visiting him in custody.
The court heard during the committal Mr Griffith then showed the bag of cash to a former lawyer colleague and told her they were “fees for services rendered”.
Magistrate Benson said Mr Griffith was also pulled over by police driving a car that belonged to Mr Brache and which he had allegedly been intercepted in several days before with a quantity of ice and cash. During the committal the court also heard Mr Griffith had allegedly flown to Adelaide during the drug operation and was heard by a co-offender talking about “stepping it up to the white” – alleged to mean expanding the business from cannabis to ice.
Mr Griffith remains on bail with Magistrate Benson ordering an extension to his bail conditions that he report any change of address to police.
A date for the first mention of the case in the Supreme Court is yet to be set.