High-profile racehorse owner Damien Flower has been jailed for at least 17 years for smuggling massive amounts of pure cocaine into Australia.
Judge Sarah Huggett said on Friday that the former airport baggage handler played a “significant managerial and organizational role” in importing 228 kg of the drug.
At the time of his arrest in May 2019, Flower was a darling of racing, having risen to prominence from his blue-collar roots with Group One-winning horse Snitzel.
Flowers owned horses with high-profile Sydneysiders including businessman John Singleton (right), broadcaster Alan Jones and rugby league great Phil Gold (left), neither of whom knew anything about his other business. Picture of flower next to businessman Katie Page
Damien Flower, the owner of the famous racehorse Snitzel, has been sentenced to at least 17 years in prison for smuggling cocaine to South Africa.
He established a major stable and multi-million dollar training facility northwest of Sydney.
As Australia’s champion stallion, Snitzel commanded about $40 million a year in service fees from about the time Flower was captured.
Flower, 49, and Qantas baggage handler and ramp operator To’Oto’O Mafiti, 53, pleaded guilty to importing commercial quantities of a border controlled drug between June 2016 and May 2019.
Flower also admitted that more than $100,000 found in his Moorbank home is believed to be the transaction of crime proceeds.
Flower’s partner, To’Oto’O Mafiti, was a former employee of Qantas and was therefore able to sneak the illegal drug through airport security
When Flower was arrested from his home in Sydney’s Moorbanks in May 2019, police found more than $1 million in cash
Mafiti pleaded guilty to the same crime, but after police found more than $6 million in his home and storage, the amount was over $1 million.
On 12 occasions over three years, a bag containing 19 kg of pure cocaine was checked on a Qantas flight from South Africa.
The men used secret phones to send a coded message about the bag’s arrival at Sydney airport.
Mafiti will collect them and take them out the side door, being able to bypass security through his employee’s position.
Sentencing him in NSW District Court on Friday, Judge Huggett said the crime was an “extremely serious example” of drug importation that occurred over many years.
He landed Flower in prison for 28 years with a non-parole period of 17 years.
Thoroughbred owner Damien Flower is pictured with wife Camilla
On 12 occasions over three years, a bag containing 19 kg of pure cocaine was checked on a Qantas flight from South Africa
Mafiti was sentenced to 23 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 14 years.
Flower’s lawyer had argued that his love for the family and his desire to run a thriving business were behind his involvement in smuggling.
The judge noted his professional acumen, finding that he understood well enough the serious illegality of what he was doing that was worth a ‘substantial reward’.
He played an important managerial and organizational role and was more involved in imports than in Mafiti.
Flower’s lawyer submitted that his love for the family and his desire to run thriving businesses was behind his involvement in smuggling.
Evidence shows that Mafiti did not spend the money or use it to accumulate assets, Judge Huggett said.
The plan was ‘far from amateur’, although more sophisticated plots could be considered.
The prosecutor submitted that ‘the system worked because of the knowledge and apology’s privileges of being a Qantas baggage handler’.
The judge noted the horrific harm caused by the narcotics.
‘When illegal drugs enter the community, the whole community suffers.’
She found that both men were grieving and that both had taken steps towards their rehabilitation.