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<big>Chris Houston cleared of drug charges</big>
December 17, 2010 - 4:20PMFormer Newcastle Knights player Chris Houston has been cleared of all drug supply charges.
Magistrate Elaine Truscott found there was insufficient evidence to prove any of the four counts he had been accused of.
The 25-year-old voluntarily terminated his contract with the Knights in March after becoming the second Newcastle player charged with drugs offences.
Advertisement: Story continues belowProp Danny Wicks pleaded guilty last month to three counts of supplying drugs.
He will be sentenced on March 8.
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thats good news. hope he plays soon.
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Yeah, I’d say he’ll probably re-join the Knights for next season.
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I’d buy him…. Couldnt understand why St George let him go a few years ago.
This guy is a Footballer!
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Yeh watto spot on, couldnt remember him but then he came to me, think he had a sternum prob was always adjusting the guard/padding he wore around the chest area. Great runner and ball player….biger version of Fulton
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If he played for a team like saints or parra he would have played origin already. Fantatsic player.
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The public record indicates that Danny Wicks pled guilty to supplying Houston with 100+ ecstasy tablets!!
While Houston has been cleared of his own supply charges (due to insufficient evidence) - his defence was that in phone taps with Wicks he was incredulously referring to prostitutes!! He was never charged with possession of the 100+ pills that he allegedly purchased as per the findings of the Wicks trial!!
Without casting aspersions on his alleged criminality or playing ability - I don’t want him anywhere near the Tigers!!
As for his totally innocent mate “Gids” - I hope he continues to represent Newcastle with such a high degree of personal integrity (he has maintained the Johns tradition with panache)!!
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The public record indicates that Danny Wicks pled guilty to supplying Houston with 100+ ecstasy tablets!!
While Houston has been cleared of his own supply charges (due to insufficient evidence) - his defence was that in phone taps with Wicks he was incredulously referring to prostitutes!! He was never charged with possession of the 100+ pills that he allegedly purchased as per the findings of the Wicks trial!!
Without casting aspersions on his alleged criminality or playing ability - I don’t want him anywhere near the Tigers!!
As for his totally innocent mate “Gids” - I hope he continues to represent Newcastle with such a high degree of personal integrity (he has maintained the Johns tradition with panache)!!
Wholeheartedly agree. ‘Incredulous’ hardly seems sufficient. Smoke/Fire, Mud/Stick. The mere suggestion of Houston being associated with the WT is absurd. Thankfully there’s a solid management system at Concord, who understand the value of a happy, settled and harmonious player group
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Hes been cleared of all charges so i wouldn’t see a problem
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Hes been cleared of all charges so i wouldn’t see a problem
Only due to insufficient evidence to find him guilty of dealing - yet Wicks pled guilty to supplying him with 150 tabs of ecstasy! Whether they were for personal use or sale I don’t care - we don’t need anyone associated with illegal drugs at our club!!!
This is par for the course for the Knights who have fostered a drug culture that turned a blind eye to Johns evident drug problem - that picked up Mitchell Sargent a week after the Cows sacked him for cocaine use - and that in years prior had the likes of rep stars O’Davis, MacDougall & Richards test positive to steroids!!!
We don’t need another Field or Buddha!
See the below extremely sensible comment piece from today’s SMH by Kevin Cranson (Newcastle Herald Sports Editor). Finally someone has written exactly what I have been thinking:
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KNIGHTS chief executive Steve Burraston said recently he had not had one negative comment about the club’s decision to re-sign Chris Houston.In that case, let me be the first, because it needs to be said that the revelations in various court cases over the past year have not painted Houston or the Knights in a good light. The Knights, their fans and sponsors must not have a problem with one of the club’s players shopping around for cocaine and ecstasy, as Houston did.
A phone tap recorded him asking convicted drug dealer and then Knights teammate Danny Wicks: ‘‘Can you get a gram of coke?’’
On a charge that Houston incited Wicks to supply him with drugs, Magistrate Elaine Truscott ruled that as a supplier, Wicks was ‘‘ready, willing and able’’ to deal drugs without coercion from his former teammate.
So the charge of inciting drug supply did not stick, but that Houston was after a gram of cocaine was not in dispute. We must assume the Knights have discussed this with Houston, and are satisfied with his explanation.
Prosecutors also failed to prove that Houston was buying ecstasy when getting a price of ‘‘150 at 14’’. They were of the opinion Houston was negotiating drug deals when he was recorded talking to Wicks and others between August and December last year, and that ‘‘chippies’’ meant ecstasy and that ‘‘150 at 14’’ meant 150 tablets at $14 each.
His defence argued successfully that he could have been talking about anything, including dietary supplements or prostitutes, when he discussed ‘‘lollies’’, ‘‘chippies’’ and ‘‘supps’’.
That Wicks had pleaded guilty in a separate court case to supplying Houston with 150 ecstasy tablets had no bearing on Houston’s committal hearing, but that he did so is a fact.
On the count that Houston worked with Wicks to source 30 tablets on September 13, 2009, just hours after the Knights were knocked out of the NRL semi-finals by the Bulldogs, Truscott ruled that although there were phone conversations and texts between the two, Wicks had worked independently to get the drugs.
Wicks is awaiting sentence on three counts of supplying drugs, including the 30 tablets he bought at Mayfield for $600 after telling a contact he had ‘‘20 blokes waiting’’. Let’s hope the ‘‘20 blokes’’ are grateful.
In dismissing the four drug supply charges against Houston, Truscott ruled, and the Herald accepts, that a reasonable jury could not convict him due to insufficient evidence.
A reasonable person might also conclude on the basis of the available evidence that Houston - and perhaps several teammates other from the ill-fated Wicks - could have been seeking to dabble in some extracurricular activities that do not befit their status as role models and that are damaging to the ‘‘brand’’ of the club.
Nonetheless, the Knights moved swiftly to get Houston back on board.
‘‘Most people know that Chris is a good footballer but also, most importantly, he’s a good person,’’ Burraston told the Newcastle Herald on Saturday. ‘‘He has always been a guy who did a lot of work for us with the community. He’s a popular player, he’s held in high respect, and we’re very pleased to have him back.’’
No doubt all that is true, but it is difficult to argue that Houston’s reputation has not been tarnished by this matter. On one hand, the Knights board can be congratulated for giving him a chance to regain his standing in the community. Yet for it to do so without acknowledging the serious issues raised about the club over the past year is to insult the intelligence of their sponsors and fans.
Houston did not want to talk about the past when he fronted the media yesterday at his first training session since being re-signed.
Guess it’s a case of ‘‘what happens in the courtroom, stays in the courtroom’’.
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I am amazed that none of the Houston supporters have replied!!
Where are you Rorko???
