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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.
She was taken into custody on Thursday afternoon and will sentenced in May.
Hynes was jailed for two years and eight months with a non-parole term of 16 months in May 2007 and a year with a minimum term of six months in November 2004, both times for drug supply.
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.
No such bricks have ever been found.
Detective Sergeant Sean McLoughlin of the Drug and Firearms Squad told the court that heroin was often sold in 350 gram ‘half plates’, which in May 2021 would each be worth $60,000 to $70,000.
Hynes told police she had panicked when she found Mr Murphy unconscious in the lounge room of her two-bedroom home on the afternoon of May 25.
Crown Prosecutor Peter Lowe said phone records showed Hynes made a series of calls from about 12.30pm, including to her oldest son Wade and friend Gregory Flanders who came to her home.
A diagram tendered to court shows the position of Luke Murphy’s body in Julie Hynes’s lounge room and when
When Mr Flanders arrived Mr Murphy was slumped on a couch with his head tilted forward, the court heard.
Hynes allegedly told Mr Flanders: ‘I don’t know what he’s had, he was on a bender.’
The court heard that Hynes, a mother-of-two, had known Mr Murphy for about 20 years, since he was in primary school.
Hynes had called Triple Zero at 1.1ppm after finding Mr Murphy unresponsive on a couch and he was pronounced dead at 1.55pm after paramedics gave up performing CPR.
The Crown alleged Mr Murphy had inadvertently absorbed heroin through his skin or inhaled heroin through his nostrils and mouth.
Neither Hynes nor Selvage was accused of any offence in relation to the death of Mr Murphy.
Julie Hynes had lived in this granny flat behind Commonwealth Avenue at Blackwall for years. Entry was through the side gate pictured above
When Selvage was being arrested he told Senior Constable Spencer he had heard Mr Murphy ‘gurgling’ on the couch about 9am but was passed out when he died.
Constable Zachary Jones told the court he spoke to Hynes outside her home and she said Mr Murphy had arrived in a ‘dazed’ state between 7am and 7.30am.
Body-worn camera footage was played to the jury in which Hynes said, ‘I think he said, “I’ve been on a bender”.’
Hynes said she bought Mr Murphy a ‘big breakfast’ from a local cafe then went back to bed about 9am or 10am while Murphy was on the couch.
She woke about 12.50pm to find Mr Murphy still on the couch with his eyes part-closed. She called out, ‘Lukey, Lukey’ but got no response.
Mr Murphy had dribble coming from his mouth and sounded as if he was snoring.
‘I woke up and seen him like that,’ Hynes told Constable Jones. ‘I just started panicking.’
This crime scene photo tendered in court shows NRL memorabilia and photos of Julie Hynes’s NRL star son next to part of a hydraulic press allegedly used to package heroin
Constable Jones said Hynes looked ‘tired and distressed’ during their discussion. While they spoke, a passing paramedic stopped and told her: ‘Sorry for your loss’.
Mr Lowe alleged Hynes had been up all night while Mr Murphy packaged the drugs.
‘The circumstances speak for themselves,’ he told the jury.
Other alleged drug paraphernalia including heat-seal bags and gaffer tape for wrapping bricks were also allegedly located at the house.
Police found Selvage asleep in the main bedroom at 2.44pm, almost an hour after Mr Murphy was pronounced dead. He was unwell and later taken to hospital.
Selvage, who admitted smoking ice on the morning, told police he had never used heroin but smoked pot and would use speed ‘if it was still around.’
Police allegedly found 173.4 grams of heroin in a purple dustpan in a spare room, shown here in a crime scene photo. An extra 7.4g of the drug was allegedly located on the bathroom floor
When Detective Sergeant Andrew Jeffrey told Selvage a crime scene had been established he allegedly replied, ‘A crime scene? Why? Is Luke all right?’
Detective Sergeant Jeffrey: ‘It appears as though Luke has passed away in the lounge room.’
Selvage told Senior Constable 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.’
His barrister, Jacob Tate disputed Selvage had known the purpose of the mechanical parts for the press he had supplied to Mr Murphy.
The dead man’s grey Holden Captiva was found at Ettalong Beach. It was unlocked and the keys were in the ignition.
Julie Hynes, who pleaded not guilty to one charge of knowingly taking part in the supply of a prohibited drug, is pictured with her son Nicho at last year’s Dally M Awards ceremony
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