Former Queen of Pop 'supplied cannabis'

[Tom]

A FADED pop star and the father of a kidnapped baby faced court together yesterday on drug charges.

Seventies sweetheart Allison Durbin is accused of supplying cannabis to convicted drug dealer Giuseppe "Joe" Barbaro, whose baby daughter Montana was kidnapped in 2004.

 

Ms Durbin, named Australia's Queen of Pop three times in the late '60s and '70s, is charged with trafficking, cultivating and possessing cannabis, as well as theft of electricity.

 

The 54-year-old still had the trademark long hair that thrilled thousands of male fans in her heyday when she appeared in Melbourne Magistrates' Court yesterday.

 

But it was the only touch of glamour left for the one-time darling of the Australian music scene, who even recorded an album with pop's favourite son, John Farnham, before switching to country music in 1976.

 

Ms Durbin, who now goes by her married name of Giles, wore a faded black tracksuit with the word "babe" emblazoned on pants trimmed in hot pink at the hearing.

 

She clutched an oversized pink handbag in her lap and listened intently as the court heard how police bugging Barbaro's phones happened to catch her out.

 

Det-Sgt Dale Flynn, of the major drug investigation division, told the court he suspected Ms Durbin was supplying cannabis to the convicted drug dealer after listening to the call.

 

He said phone taps revealed the pair arranging to meet, after Ms Durbin told Barbaro "that car will probably be ready tomorrow".

 

"That to me is possibly code for a cannabis transaction," Det-Sgt Flynn told Magistrate Felicity Broughton.

 

"I was aware, or suspicious, that Ms Giles was supplying cannabis to Mr Barbaro."

 

He said he watched from an unmarked police car outside Ms Durbin's West Footscray house as she met Barbaro. Barbaro, 49, who was recently transferred to a Victorian prison to serve out a 4½-year drug-related jail sentence received in New South Wales, has been charged with trafficking commercial quantities of ecstasy, amphetamines and cannabis.

 

The charges all stem from Operation Lotte, set up to net Barbaro.

 

Ms Durbin, who had hits with I Have Loved Me a Man, Put Your Hand in the Hand, and Sha La La La Lee, left the court with a younger man, believed to be one of her sons.

 

She smiled for the cameras but declined to talk before being driven away.

 

She once accepted a gold record award from Bert and Patti Newton live on radio from her hospital bed after giving birth to son Cameron.

 

The preliminary hearing of charges against Ms Durbin, Barbaro and five other men arrested during the police operation is expected to continue today.

 

Author:Nikki Protyniak

Date:January 31, 2006

Source:www.news.com.au

Copyright:2005 News Limited

 

[Tom]

Police lack evidence to support Durbin drug deal claim.

 

A former pop star and the father of a kidnapped baby have been accused of meeting at a suburban Melbourne shopping centre to conduct a drug deal.

 

However under questioning in court, police admitted they did not have physical evidence to support that claim.

 

A committal hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates Court has heard that Allison Durbin, a former queen of pop, now known as Allison Giles, has been charged with cultivating and trafficking cannabis and stealing electricity.

 

The court heard police believed Giles was growing cannabis for Joe Barbaro.

 

Barbaro's baby Montana was kidnapped in 2004 but was later found in a derelict house.

 

Police allege the pair met at the Braybrook shopping centre two years ago.

 

The court was told Giles sold Barbaro more than four kilograms of cannabis in a box.

 

Barbaro has been committed to stand trial in the County Court; a committal hearing continues for Giles and a number of other people.

 

Author: Yahoo! Australia & NZ Pty Limited.

Date: Tuesday January 31, 06:19 PM

Source: Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Australia & NZ Pty Limited.

Copyright: Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Australia & NZ Pty Limited.

 

[WantDaChronic]

However under questioning in court, police admitted they did not have physical evidence to support that claim.

 

then her lawyer should have asked the judge for the case to be thrown out and to have doubly jeopardy to the charges that were laid against her...

 

i know if i went to court and the police admitted having no physical evidence to convict me on, i would demand that the case be thrown out and would take it up with the next highest level of court if my appeal was denied

[dsyfer]

Ms Durbin, who now goes by her married name of Giles, wore a faded black tracksuit with the word "babe" emblazoned on pants trimmed in hot pink at the hearing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Classy ::

 

He said phone taps revealed the pair arranging to meet, after Ms Durbin told Barbaro "that car will probably be ready tomorrow".

 

"That to me is possibly code for a cannabis transaction," Det-Sgt Flynn told Magistrate Felicity Broughton.

That sounds fair and logical to me ::

 

Shit, lucky they didn't phone tap a mechanics shop by accident

[Tom]

Ex-pop queen talked of 'healthy baby', say cops

 

 

ALLISON Durbin used the code word "baby" when talking to the father of kidnapped infant Montana Barbaro about drug deals, a court heard yesterday.

 

Australia's former Queen of Pop allegedly told Guiseppe "Joe" Barbaro about a baby girl in a phone call secretly recorded by police.

 

But the Melbourne Magistrates' Court was told the baby they gushed about was no real rosy-cheeked infant.

 

Sen-Det Angela Petsis, of the major drug investigation division, told a preliminary court hearing yesterday the word "baby" was code for cannabis.

 

She said police believed Ms Durbin meant her latest cannabis crop when she told Barbaro the baby was "healthy and very, very beautiful".

 

The court was told the pair met days later at a Braybrook shopping centre, where a former guitarist in Ms Durbin's back-up band delivered a box to Barbaro.

 

"It's my belief that there was 8 1/2 pounds of cannabis in that box," Sen-Det Petsis said.

 

The pair -- who called each other darling, sweetie and sweetheart in the bugged calls -- coined the code word months before Mr Barbaro's newborn daughter was kidnapped.

 

Sen-Det Petsis told the court police taped conversations about drugs between Ms Durbin and Barbaro between September 2003 and March 2004.

 

She said some of the calls were about money Barbaro owed Ms Durbin for the drugs she was growing for him, including one time where he apparently short-changed her $500.

 

Ms Durbin, who goes by her former married name Giles, is charged with trafficking, cultivating and possessing cannabis and theft of electricity.

 

The court heard police seized five plants and dried cannabis from her West Footscray house.

 

Sen-Det Petsis said it was a sophisticated setup.

 

Barbaro was ordered to stand trial in the County Court on a string of drug and other charges.

 

Barbaro, 49, has entered a plea of guilty to charges including trafficking a commercial quantity of ecstasy and methamphetamine but has reserved his plea on other charges.

 

Ms Durbin is expected to learn today whether she will join him and seven other men to stand trial in the County Court.

 

Author: Nikki Protyniak

Date: 01feb06

Source: Herald and Weekly Times

Copyright: © Herald and Weekly Times

 

"It's my belief that there was 8 1/2 pounds of cannabis in that box," Sen-Det Petsis said.

Nice yield for someone that grows five plants, wonder how he came up with that amount if it was in a box? :thumbdown

 

[raverspec]

@ photo. Not lookin so good, huh?

 

And the common thread we find in nearly all of these stories: "and theft of electricity,"

 

 

Pay for your electricity, stoners.

[Brash]

@ photo. Not lookin so good, huh?

...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey, at least she's off the smack ::

[everest]

"It's my belief that there was 8 1/2 pounds of cannabis in that box," Sen-Det Petsis said.

 

big " baby " ...... ::

[dsyfer]

"It's my belief that there was 8 1/2 pounds of cannabis in that box," Sen-Det Petsis said.

 

  big " baby " ......  ::

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Looks like there is a few pounds of crack in those pants too ::

[raverspec]

ROFL @ DSYFER!!!