Gold Coast Titans players Beau Falloon, Greg Bird, Ashley Harrison and Kalifa Faifai Loa will face the Southport Magistrates Court today over cocaine possession charges. Beau Falloon has so far been informed he will not face trial due to insufficient evidence, with the remaining players yet to learn their fate.
The court heard the players used code words to communicate with former Roosters player and alleged drug pusher John Touma, with Magistrate Christopher Callaghan acknowledging "It really gets down to whether or not, in my view, these third party conversations would be admissible against the defendant."
The magistrate was told Falloon had used phrases such as "it's all starts" and "fire up", which perhaps fell a little short of compelling evidence. An intercepted text message from Titans player Jamie Dowling was less subtle however, as he told Touma he and Falloon would go halves in "a ball." The prosecution alleged he wasn't talking about a football, and was likely referencing an eighth of cocaine.
Also in the evidence against Falloon were four ATM withdrawals on the day he spoke to Touma, in which he drew a total of $950 from his account, and a text message sent from his phone to Touma, in which he suggested they "catch up for a beer."
It wasn't enough for the Magistrate, who dismissed the charges against the Titans forward.
Representing Falloon, lawyer Saul Holt QC said the conversations were perfectly normal. "The evidence, at best for the prosecution, is deeply problematic."
