Mother of NRL star Nicho Hynes is found guilty of supplying heroin after a ... trends now
The mother of NRL star Nicho Hynes has been found guilty of supplying drugs after a family friend died of an overdose at her home on the NSW Central Coast.
Julie Hynes, 50, faced trial in Gosford District Court where she pleaded not guilty to one count of knowingly taking part in the supply of a prohibited drug.
Her former long-time friend Michael William Selvage, a 50-year-old pensioner and occasional builder's labourer, pleaded not guilty to the same charge.
He was found not guilty, moments after Hynes was found guilty on Thursday afternoon.
Hynes and Selvage where present in her two-bedroom granny flat at Blackwall when 29-year-old Luke Murphy accidentally suffered a fatal heroin overdose.
Mr Murphy had allegedly been using a hydraulic press set up in the bathroom to produce bricks of heroin but Hynes and Selvage denied any knowledge of what he was doing at the time.
Julie Hynes, 50, and Michael William Selvage, were both at her home on the NSW Central Coast when 29-year-old Luke Murphy accidentally inhaled heroin and died
Hynes's 26-year-old son Nicho (above) is the reigning Dally M medal winner and plays halfback for the Cronulla Sharks, having debuted in 2019 for Melbourne Storm
Hynes's 26-year-old son Nicho won last year's Dally M Medal as the game's best player. The Cronulla halfback debuted in the NRL in 2019 for Melbourne Storm.
Crime scene photographs tendered during the trial showed football memorabilia include a Storm poster and a picture of the Nicho on the walls of his mother's home.
Julie Hynes has a lengthy criminal history and spent years of Nicho's childhood in jail. She accompanied him to the Dally M Awards while she was on bail.
The Crown alleged Hynes and Selvage had been helping Mr Murphy package heroin on May 25, 2021. Their fingerprints were allegedly found on the press, along with those of Mr Murphy.
Before being pressed, the heroin was allegedly blended with glucose to halve the purity and double its weight and value.
The court heard Julie Hynes had panicked when she found Mr Murphy (above) unconscious in the lounge room of her two-bedroom house at Blackwall on the afternoon of May 25, 2021
Crime scene photo shows a 250kg hydraulic press allegedly used to package heroin in Hynes's bathroom at Blackwall
Police who attended the scene found the hydraulic press, as well as 180.8 grams of heroin: 173.4g in a purple dustpan in a spare room and 7.4g on the bathroom floor.
Neither Hynes nor Selvage was called to evidence but he gave a two-hour interview to detectives and she spoke to police when they attended Mr Murphy's overdose.
Selvage told police he had been asked by Mr Murphy to pick up mechanical parts from a friend on his way to Hynes's home and was sent back again when they didn't work.
It was not contested that a phone registered to Hynes was used to call Selvage at 2.26am on May 25.
He said Hynes rang wanting a 'a r**t' while the Crown said he was summoned to help pressing the drugs at Hynes's home.
Selvage told Senior Constable Brett Spencer he had no involvement in pressing or packaging the drug and had only gone to Hynes's house to help her.
'I help people,' he said. 'It' doesn't matter what time it is.'
Michael William Selvage, 59, who was also in the house when Mr Murphy overdosed, pleaded not guilty to knowingly taking part in the supply of a prohibited drug
Salvage said he initially did not know what Mr Murphy was doing with the press, which exerted 50 tons of pressure, but later learnt it related to heroin.
Hynes offered no explanation for the 180cm tall, 250kg press - painted bright red - standing next to the toilet.
The jury heard Savage tell Detective Senior Constable Spencer that Mr Murphy had 11 'bricks' of the drug, each weighing about 360 grams.
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