Ex-Richmond star avoids jail by a ‘knife edge’ as meth relapse laid bare in court

Former AFL player Marlion Pickett has avoided jail by “a knife edge” after admitting he helped two friends launder about $300,000 of stolen money in a time of “emotional stress” and a relapse into drug use at the end of the 2022 season.

The 33-year-old former Richmond player was arrested in June 2023 and charged originally with 12 offences in relation to a spate of commercial burglaries, some of which involved the ransacking of safes at currency exchange businesses.

But by May this year, Pickett, who was granted bail and allowed to continue playing for the Tigers before his retirement, had negotiated what a judge described on Wednesday as “the deal of the century” where all but two of the charges were dropped.

He pleaded guilty to those and during his sentencing on Wednesday, Perth District Court heard Pickett had deteriorated mentally after the 2022 AFL season when he returned to WA with his wife Jessica and their four children for the off-season to see friends and family.

“You were moving from house to house, staying with friends and family … your father was in poor health … it was affecting you very deeply,” Judge Laurence Levy said.

“You were suffering with depression and anxiety ... thoughts flooded back to you about your time in incarceration in 2012.”

Pickett was also apparently plagued with thoughts about family members who had died to suicide and whether he could have done more to help.

Family friend Paul Freddy Pina Mardones and Pickett’s sister’s former partner Kurtley Thorne reached out at that time, the court was told, which was the catalyst for his relapse into meth use.

It was Pina Mardones and Thorne who allegedly carried out the commercial burglaries, the court was told, with Pickett’s involvement described as “wilful blindness” as he “decided to go along with assisting them with their enterprises”.

He used his Victorian driver’s license and his credit card to secure the pair a Wicked hire campervan that they then used to drive first to Adelaide and then to Melbourne, where they exchanged foreign currencies for Australian dollars.

About $300,000 was exchanged in total.

Pickett was paid almost $22,000 for his involvement, which was deposited into his account in two separate transactions.

His two charges of received, possessed, concealed, disposed of or dealt with any money or other property that is the proceeds of an offence both carry with them a maximum penalty of 20 years, but Pickett avoided jail with the help of high-profile references including former Richmond Tigers chief executive Brendon Gale.

Among the referees who submitted letters of support to the court on behalf of Pickett was 2022 West Australian of the Year Paul Litherland, a former WA Police officer who met Pickett when he was 15 and was a senior coach at South Fremantle Football Club, where Pickett began his football career.

The letters spoke of the pressure Pickett was under to financially support family members and his “journey of significant disadvantage”.

The court was told Pickett gave away almost all of his $300,000 annual AFL earnings in what was described as “loyalty and cultural obligations”.

Pickett was handed a two-year sentence, suspended for 12 months.

“You were on a knife edge as whether you went into jail,” Levy said.

“I don’t need to tell you what jail is all about ... [but] you demonstrated a commitment to rehabilitation.

“You are in that respect somebody that should be in a position to inspire others who might come from a similar background to you to achieve what you did.

“You still have a lot more to offer.”

Pickett was told that if he committed any other offences during his suspended period he would “almost inevitably” be sent to prison.

Outside court, the former footballer said he was hoping to set a better example in the future.

“[I want to be] a person that people can look up to and do the best for them,” he said.

The court was told Pina Mardones has not yet entered pleas to 10 charges, including aggravated burglary with intent, attempted to launder property or money from proceeds of an offence, stealing a motor vehicle, possession of stolen or unlawfully obtained property, but that he had indicated pleas of guilty.

Thorne was sentenced to 14 years and nine months in jail after he pleaded guilty to stealing a locked safe containing more than $18,000 worth of property from a business in Bindoon and stole from an IGA in the same town.

Thorne also admitted he was one of two people who stole about $320,000 from a locked safe at a Girrawheen money transfer company.

He also pleaded guilty to a long list of separate child sex abuse charges, including indecently recording a child under 13 years and the sexual penetration of a child of the same age in Bunbury and Carey Park between March and April this year. Pickett and Mardones have no connection to those charges.

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