File photo / Claire De Barr
A lawyer defending a Tauranga man accused of laundering drug money told a jury the Crown's allegations against his client were "absolute bollocks".
The comment by David Bates, who is defending former policeman and real estate agent Nigel David Walker, came during the closing addresses of a multimillion-dollar P trial involving four accused in the High Court at Rotorua yesterday.
Paul Mabey, QC, representing P-cook Wallace Scott Bramley, one of two Tauranga men accused of manufacturing $2.3 million of the drug, also told jurors they must acquit his client because the prosecution's claims had entered the "realms of speculation".
Bramley, 38, and co-accused Royce Allan Duncan, 49, of Omanawa, deny one count each of manufacturing 2.35kg of P between March 2-3, 2010. The pair have also denied a count of conspiring to supply the drug.
Both men earlier pleaded guilty to a raft of other P manufacturing charges, including manufacturing almost $1 million of P on March 7, 2010.
On Tuesday, Bramley described his cooking method and rate of production, and said on the basis of the equipment and chemicals he had access to, it was impossible to have produced the amount of P the Crown contended he did on March 2-3.
The jury earlier heard evidence that on March 4, 2010, Bramley was in Auckland where $115,000 was found in his SkyCity Casino Hotel room safe, and he admitted he intended using the money to buy some more Contac NT to do another cook up.
During his closing yesterday, Crown prosecutor Greg Hollister-Jones said crucial pieces of evidence that proved the case against Bramley and Duncan were their text exchanges, the ESR scientist's evidence and Bramley's ability to produce the drug in large amounts.
Bramley's explanations for the suspect text messages were not credible, Mr Hollister-Jones said.
Walker, 47, is defending a count of conspiring with Duncan to money launder some of Duncan's drug-dealing proceeds. That charge relates to Walker's dealings with Duncan over the purchase of an Aerodrome Rd industrial unit in September 2010.
Mr Hollister-Jones said it was obvious Walker's relationship with Duncan went beyond real estate business, particularly his willingness to run around for Duncan. This included banking for him, booking a berth at Tauranga Bridge Marina for Duncan's boat and arranging insurance, plus giving evidence at Duncan's bail hearing after his arrest.
Mr Mabey, for Bramley, argued the Crown's evidence was a theory in the "realms of speculation" and the ESR scientist's evidence during cross-examination supported his client's case in a "very powerful way".
Bramley has admitted he was the partner and P-cook in his and Mr Duncan's drug dealing business, but denies he had ever cooked up more than $1 million of the drug.
Walker's lawyer Mr Bates told the jury that the Crown's allegations against his client were "absolute bollocks" and the Crown had simply "cobbled together" pieces of the evidence to try to prove its theory. Mr Bates said there was no evidence Mr Walker knew anything about Duncan's P-dealing business.
Stacey Helen Clark, aka Russell, 36, is also on trial and has denied supplying scales to Duncan knowing they would be used to manufacture P and possessing nearly 3kg of cannabis for supply.
Clark's lawyer, Tony Rickard-Simms, also said the Crown had failed to prove that his client knew about Duncan's P business, supplied him scales or had knowledge of the cannabis found in her garage.
Duncan's lawyer, John Bergseng, urged the jury to acquit his client on the same basis as they were being asked to acquit Bramley.
Justice Peter Woodhouse was to sum up today and the jury was then to consider its verdict.