By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
AN ACCUSED drug trafficker was under capsicum-spray armed guard as he unsuccessfully applied for bail in Dandenong Magistrates’ Court.
A teary and red-eyed Shane Cochrane of Bayswater was flanked by three police officers while in the dock as he made an in-person bail application after being arrested at the Sandown Hotel on 26 October.
One of the officers held a can of capsicum spray as she stood next to the seated Cochrane.
Police alleged in court that Cochrane had been found playing pokies with his family inside Sandown Hotel earlier that day.
They had tracked him to a Toyota Soarer coupe he had been driving which was found in the car park earlier that day about 1.44am.
CCTV footage confirmed that Cochrane had parked the car, in which police found about 500 mL of GHB in a plastic bottle in the drivers’ footwell.
Also inside was a black bumbag containing three ziplock bags with about 11 grams of methamphetamine, police alleged.
Police seized the suspected drugs as well as $854 cash in Cochrane’s wallet and scales on the car’s centre console, the court was told.
He allegedly made full admissions to police about possessing the GHB, driving while suspended and driving an unregistered vehicle but denied he was trafficking.
Cochrane also allegedly told police that he had installed number plates from a similar make and model car on the coupe, and had used drugs an hour before driving to Sandown.
He described consuming 32 mL of GHB and 1.3 grams of ice a day, the court was told.
Cochrane was on bail at the time awaiting trial for other drug trafficking and possession charges at Ringwood Magistrates’ Court.
When asked to make his submission on 26 October, Cochrane said he’d “lost everything”.
“The world’s come to an end.”
Cochrane was remanded to appear at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 25 November.
