Brother Would Not Help Corby Case, Court Told
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday May 27, 2008
MERCEDES CORBY and her legal team had not called her brother, Michael Corby jnr, to answer allegations that he sold marijuana "for a considerable period" to Jodie Power, the Supreme Court heard yesterday.
Ms Corby is suing Channel Seven over allegations aired by her former friend Ms Power on Today Tonight that she used and sold drugs. Tom Hughes, QC, representing Channel Seven, told the jury in his final address, that "a strong inference" could be drawn that Mr Corby had not been called because his truthful evidence "would not have helped the plaintiff's case". Ms Power said Mr Corby was her marijuana supplier and Ms Corby was present during some transactions. Mr Corby, if innocent, would surely have wanted to answer such serious allegations, Mr Hughes said. But the court was told Mr Corby could not attend court because he was in Bali attending to the needs of his jailed sister, Schapelle - an excuse which Mr Hughes described as "lame". Mr Hughes said Ms Corby had sought to minimise her involvement with drugs, saying it comprised "a few puffs" of marijuana during her teens. But letters to Ms Power as a 19-year-old from Toyama, Japan, suggested much heavier marijuana use. Ms Corby had sought to put a "spin" on the letters when she had said they contained "exaggeration". But the reality appeared to be that she consumed much more marijuana than just her claim of "half a joint". In 1998, a photo taken in Bali suggested she was smoking marijuana, rather than just posing as she said. Ms Corby admitted to smoking the drug in 2000, when she was 25. In 2002, she had taken a portion of an ecstasy tablet before going into a nightclub. In media interviews after the Today Tonight programs in February last year, she had admitted to minor use of marijuana as a young person but had not mentioned the ecstasy. Mr Hughes said Ms Corby had lied when she told Channel Nine's Sunday program that none of her family had drug convictions. In fact, her half-brother, Clinton Rose, had a 2003 conviction for possession of marijuana. Credible witnesses had come forward to back Ms Power's claims that Ms Corby had been dealing in drugs. They included Jodie Power's mother, Margaret Campbell, who said she had once been an unwitting courier of marijuana between Ms Corby and Ms Power. They also included Dana Ritchie, who said she had seen Ms Corby snorting speed at Byron Bay, and Claire Tedan, who had identified Ms Corby as the person she believed had supplied Ms Power with marijuana. Two other witnesses, Melissa Clarke and Nicole Kelso, had said Ms Corby had an aversion to drugs. But Ms Corby had stayed until the early hours at a "hen party" in 2002, when on Ms Kelso's evidence, seven of 12 people were taking cocaine or marijuana. The trial resumes today.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald
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