LAWYER FACES BOOTS 'N' ALL DRUG TRIAL

Prominent Melbourne lawyer Andrew Fraser was committed to stand trial
yesterday over the importation of cocaine after a court was told he used
secret phone codes to arrange drug deals and procured cocaine for a
friend.The 49-year-old criminal lawyer, whose former clients include Alan
Bond, will remain free on bail and continue to practice until his County
Court trial later this year.

At the committal hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday,
self-confessed cocaine addict and disgraced forensic psychologist Tim
Watson-Munro told how he and Fraser used football metaphors to talk about
drugs on the telephone.

Under cross-examination from Fraser's lawyer, Geoff Chettle QC, Mr
Watson-Munro agreed that terms such as "I've got the boots and I'm ready to
play footy" meant he had cocaine and was ready to use it, or he had the
money to go and buy cocaine.

Mr Watson-Munro, who is on a 12-month good-behaviour bond for cocaine use,
said he had asked Fraser as a friend to get him the drug, but it had never
been for profit and he had never returned the favour. "Not that I recall, I
have no recollection of giving cocaine to anyone," said Mr Watson-Munro.

Mr Chettle told the hearing that last week Mr Watson-Munro sought out
Fraser to tell him he now believed his statement to police implicating the
lawyer was not true.

He said Mr Watson-Munro had been going cold turkey from his $2000-a-week
cocaine habit when he gave police the statement and was on numerous drugs
for anxiety, which had made his memory "hazy".

Magistrate Rodney Crisp was forced to adjourn the hearing and ask Mr
Watson-Munro to highlight with a pen any parts of his police statement with
which he now disagreed.

"It's impossible to preside over a committal where . . . the answers are so
non-committal," Mr Crisp said. But when Mr Watson-Munro took the stand
again, he claimed his original statement was true.

He later agreed with the defence that he knew by making the statement to
police it would help him when he faced his own drug charges in court.

Fraser reserved his plea to the charges of being knowingly concerned with
the importation of cocaine and using and possessing the drug.