|
 Wayne
Carey
On March 13, 2002, the
captain of the North Melbourne football team, Wayne Carey,
resigned from the club after an altercation with team-mates.
It later became
apparent that Carey had been screwing his best-mate and vice-captain's wife, Kelli
Stevens,
for the best part of
five months.
A group of Carey's refused to play with him in the upcoming season
and he was forced to resign.
Carey retreated home to Wagga Wagga and the
left on a US holiday with his brother and a mate.
His wife Sally remained in
Australia. After
leaving the North Melbourne Football Club Carey was sought after by several
teams even though the supporters of those teams appeared reluctant to welcome
such a man into their clubs. Carey
was linked to Collinwood and was apparently set to meet with the club's
president, TV personality Eddie McGuire, one Saturday morning for a meeting. Carey
didn't show up however and it has been rumoured that McGuire tracked him down at
a Port Melbourne hotel.
On the same day
Carey's manager, Ricky Nixon, who had become disgruntled with the football star,
spoke on radio and said that his charge had been on a bender and drinking at a
pub where you would expect to find gangsters.
Stories abounded
that McGuire found Carey at the notorious Hibernian Hotel in Port Melbourne
where he was with several underworld figures including Jason
Moran.
Eddie expressed his
displeasure at Carey's tardiness and the prospect of Carey finding a new home at
Collingwood was put to rest.
He eventually moved
interstate to play for two disappointing seasons with Adelaide.
The affair with
Kelli Stevens wasn't the first time Carey's character had come into question.
On January
24, 1996, he pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault of a woman.
He was placed on a 12-month
good behaviour bond and released without being convicted.
Magistrate Jack Tobin
said that Carey had done a "bucketful" of work for the community.
The assault occurred
when Carey and a group of friends were walking down King Street after a night
out.
They approached the woman, who was with a female friend.
Carey grabbed her
breast and said, "Why don't you get a bigger set of tits?".
Carey's two
footballer friends argued: "That sort of thing happens a hundred times a
night in a night club. I'm not saying I condone it but ... I've seen how blokes
act with women."
"It's like we
can't go out any more", complained one footballer, obviously concerned that
he may have to refrain from violating other people's rights.
It was later
revealed that the North Melbourne Football Club had, in 1995, paid a young woman
$15,000 to keep quiet about being sexually harassed by Carey and another player
at a party.
The woman was so scared of Carey's advances, she locked herself in a
room.
On February 15, 2000, Carey gave
character evidence for high profile Melbourne gangster, Jason
Moran during his County Court trial.
He lent his support to the
associate of slain underworld boss Alphonse
Gangitano giving character evidence on behalf of Moran
who had joined
Gangitano in a wild attack on a King St nightclub four years before.
But Carey told a County Court judge he had never met the
infamous Gangitano
and did not ''have a clue'' what happened at the Sports Bar on
December 19, 1995.
And he insisted his
friend, Jason
Matthew Moran, had matured ''a hell of a lot'' during the past few
years and had waved goodbye to his drinking days.
''I know too well
what the effects of alcohol can do,'' Carey told the court.
Moran, 32, of Moonee
Ponds, had pleaded not guilty to his part in the wild brawl at the
Sports Bar about 5.30am on December 19, 1995.
However, a County Court jury found the married father of two
guilty of one count of affray.
Another man, Mark John McNamara, 35, of
Ascot Vale, pleaded guilty to one affray charge.
Alphonse
Gangitano was shot dead in his Templestowe home on January 16, 1998, weeks
before he was due to face a preliminary hearing into the charges.
Carey said he had never met
Gangitano and had never spoken to Moran
about the Sports Bar.
He said he knew Moran
had been in jail, but did not know what the trouble had been.
''Have you ever spoken to him about cannabis or amphetamines?'' Mr
Robinson asked.
''Never in my life,'' Carey said.
''Does he use strong language,
fuck or cunt? Mr Robinson asked, to
which Carey said: ''Not in my presence.''
Carey said he met Moran through a mutual friend six or seven years
before and lived about 400m
from his house.
They had been to one another's homes and always had a chat if they ran
into each other in the street or supermarket.
Carey said Moran
had matured in the past four or five years and appeared to have given
up drinking.
Leaning forward and gripping the side of the witness box,
Carey said no one made him attend court to give evidence.
''I was
asked whether I was certain I wanted to do this and I said I was
certain I wanted to do this, because that's what I believe in,'' he
said.
''Those are the changes that I have seen . . . I'm up here telling the
truth of what I've seen.''
Carey admitted he did not socialise with Moran
regularly.
The court heard a listening device had been activated when
Moran returned from King St on December
19, 1995.
He was overheard saying he
had to ''shower to wash the blood off'' and ''to cut a long story
short, I started it''.
On January 24,
2002 it was reported that Carey
had been quizzed by officials at his new football club - the Adelaide Crows - over an incident at a
prominent Adelaide hotel.
The star
footballer and several mates had been accused of fighting with a group of
drinkers in the front bar of the Stamford Grand Hotel.
A witness told the Herald Sun
Carey had been drinking in the crowded bar just hours after finishing a training
camp in country South Australia.
A row broke out between Carey's
group and other drinkers at 9pm on January 5.
"There were a group of people
having a dig at him," the witness said. "He was having a few beers,
there then there was a bit of pushing and shoving.
"It was getting a bit heated. I
didn't see any other players there."
The Crows admitted
Carey had been at the hotel on January 5, but said the star recruit had not been
involved in any fight.
Crows spokesman Phil Harper said
Carey had been questioned a few weeks ago about the incident after there had
been media inquiries.
"Officials of the club have
spoken to him. They have had a satisfactory explanation," he said.
"Someone rang up and said this happened. We've spoken to him, he said it
didn't and that's enough for us.
"As far as we're concerned,
case closed. I don't want to talk about it any more.
"There's been some allegations
made towards him and we've spoken to him and he said they're untrue, we've
spoken to other people who say they're untrue.
"We're satisfied with Wayne's
explanation."
Mr Harper said Carey had not been
involved in any incidents at the Grand Hotel, despite reports of a spa party and
an allegation the club had paid $1000 for a room damaged by Carey.
Mr Harper
would not reveal the specific allegations Carey had been asked about.
"That's business between our
club and Wayne," he said.
Mr Harper also revealed the club had
queried Carey about his wife Sally's recent article in New Idea, where
she spoke of Carey's affair with Kelli Stevens.
He said the club was told about
the story just before it was published.
"I was surprised it was
running," he said. "We just asked what the go was and he said it was
her call.
"She wanted to do it."
Mr Harper said the club was
disturbed about the level of reports about Carey and said the footballer was a
victim of the tall poppy syndrome.
On
January 29, 2007, Carey was subdued with capsicum spray after police attended his Port
Melbourne apartment.
Carey had called police to have two women
removed from his home.
According to 3AW commentator and Age
crime writer John Silvester, Carey had
a police officer under each arm and approached a third before being sprayed.
A small amount of white powder was found
in Carey's apartment.
It also emerged that Carey had been twice
arrested in the US, once in October 2007 for allegedly glassing his
girlfriend.
Carey had earlier hosted a party there with former Carlton player Wayne' The Dominator'
Johnston, his
wife actress Kate Kendall and a convicted criminal among the guests.
The Herald Sun also learned that a supergrass
had told police that one his cocaine customers was a close football mate
of Carey.
The supergrass, who helped bring down
drug boss Tony Mokbel, made allegations
about several celebrities.
The former AFL player identified by the
supergrass has visited Carey's Port Melbourne apartment.
The supergrass was arrested in Europe in December
during a police swoop that smashed a worldwide cocaine syndicate.
The Australian Government is in the
process of extraditing him to Victoria to face charges.
On February 9, 2008, it
was reported that Wayne
Johnston had cut ties with the Richmond Football Club who had employed him
as a runner as he had been allegedly linked to a drug investigation.
It was alleged that damaging images of Johnston
were uncovered after detectives raided a suspected South Melbourne drug dealer
late in 2007.
Officers seized a computer which, when checked,
revealed images of Johnston.
The Herald Sun believes the images show Johnston,
50, and lines of a white powder
Johnston's lawyer, George
Defteros, told the Herald Sun his client knew nothing of the alleged images.
"He is not aware of any alleged photographs.
Nor has he been spoken to by any police," Mr Defteros said.
"If there are any allegations to be made
against him then they should be put in the proper manner."
It is believed Johnston and the Tigers agreed to
cut ties this week.
Mr Defteros denied the former Carlton champion
and four-time premiership player had been sacked.
"He has left the Richmond Football Club on
good terms, on his own accord, for business and personal reasons," he said.
Police refused to confirm Johnston's image had
been found, only saying that a computer was seized and a man arrested when drug
taskforce officers searched a South Melbourne address.
The suspected dealer is believed to be well-known
to police.
A small amount of white powder was seized during
the swoop on the York St house.
Charges have not been laid against the target of
the South Melbourne raid.
|
