Love of family and propping up flailing businesses was behind former multi-millionaire racehorse owner Damion Flower's decision to import 228 kilograms of pure cocaine into Australia over three years, a court has been told.
Flower - best-known for his stake in one of Australia's most in-demand stallions, Snitzel, and buying an inaugural slot in The Everest, Australia's richest horse race - is facing sentencing in the Sydney District Court after pleading guilty to drug importation and money laundering offences.
The former Qantas baggage handler used his connections at Sydney Airport to get bags of cocaine, weighing 19kg, through side doors after they were flown in on commercial flights from South Africa.
His barrister sought to distinguish the 49-year-old's criminality from drug trafficking using underworld means by pointing to Flower's goals of supporting his racing businesses and providing for his family.
"His motive was for prosocial outcomes," April Francis told the court on Friday.
While Flower and his man on the inside - To'Oto'O Mafiti - used code to communicate, Ms Francis argued little criminal acumen was involved.
Mafiti, 53, used his personal phone while Flower's unexplained wealth was easily identified when depositing his ill-gotten gains into his business accounts.
"The use of burner phone (by Flower) doesn't speak to criminal acumen and losing the phone doesn't either," she said.
"Flower's contribution to the syndicate ... was quite frankly a simple one. That there exists an ability to breach border security without sophistication was something of a ridiculous temptation and each was corrupted by it."
At the time of his arrest in May 2019, Flower was a darling of racing, having risen from blue-collar roots to prominence with Group One-winning horse Snitzel and then establishing a prominent stable and a multi-million dollar training facility in Sydney's northwest.
As Australia's champion stallion, Snitzel commanded about $40 million a year in service fees about the time Flower was caught.
Ms Francis described her client's demise as "complete" and his remorse palpable, arguing for a non-parole period of fewer than 10 years.
But the Crown pointed out Flower's one drug trafficking offence encompassed 12 separate importations between February 2017 and May 2019.
While not as complex as those requiring secreted drugs in various objects, the "highly efficient, streamlined, brazen" smuggling operation relied on the special knowledge, skills and access possessed by the men and few others, Judge Sarah Huggett was told.
Flower's claims that his racing businesses had been struggling, he was owed money or that he was gambling heavily, were unsupported by evidence, the Crown said.
On the other hand, Mafiti's lawyer said there was a lack of evidence that his client did anything with his profits.
About $1.5 million in cash was found in Mafiti's home in Sydney's outer southwest while more than $4 million was uncovered in a storage unit rented in his name, the court was told.
Mafiti, who also pleaded guilty before trial to drug importation and money laundering offences, had written a letter of apology, taken on challenging jobs in custody and had a background of a "brutally abusive youth and adolescence", Phillip English submitted.
The pair are due to be sentenced on February 11.
