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A man who died of a heroin overdose in the home of star Nicho Hynes’s mother was still ‘gurgling’ shortly before paramedics were called, a jury has been told.

Luke Murphy, 29, died after allegedly inhaling narcotics while using a hydraulic press to make bricks of heroin in Julie Hynes’s granny flat on the Central Coast.

Hynes, 50, is facing trial in Gosford District Court where she has pleaded not guilty to knowingly taking part in the supply of a prohibited drug.

Michael William Selvage, 59, who was also in the house when Mr Murphy accidentally overdosed, has pleaded not guilty to the same charge.

Hynes’s 26-year-old son Nicho won last year’s Dally M medal and plays halfback for the Cronulla Sharks, having debuted in 2019 for Melbourne Storm. 

Crime scene photographs show NRL memorabilia include a Storm poster and a picture of the Nicho on the walls of his mother’s home. 

The court heard on Thursday that Hynes had called her friend Gregory Flanders at 12.46pm on May 25, 2021 from her home at Blackwall asking for help.

Mr Flanders, who had known Hynes for eight to ten months at the time, was having lunch with his wife at a cafe in nearby Woy Woy when he took the call.

‘I think Julie asked me where I was and that she needed a hand,’ Mr Flanders told the court. 

‘That she needed my muscles.

‘I said then, “Well, me and my wife are at lunch, I can’t do anything at the moment” and then she said, “Oh all right, I’ll sort something else out”.

‘I turned to my wife and said, “That was Julie, she seemed pretty anxious, I don’t know what’s going on there”.’

Mr Flanders said he and his wife finished lunch then drove to Hynes’s home to see if she still needed help.

When they arrived Hynes was in a ‘frantic or nervous or anxious’ state, Mr Flanders told the court.

‘I seen a person on the lounge as I came in the door,’ he said.’He didn’t look too flash.

‘He was slumped back, it looked like he’d been sick on his chest. He was still gurgling sort of thing for air.’

In a statement read to the court Mr Flanders told police he asked Hynes: ‘What happened here?’ and she replied, ‘I don’t know’.

Mr Flanders: ‘Has he had something?’

Hynes: ‘I don’t know what he has had, he was on a bender.’

Mr Flanders, who performed CPR on Mr Murphy, said he told Hynes to call Triple Zero, which she did at 1.19pm. Paramedics arrived at 1.34pm and tried to revive Mr Murphy but he was pronounced dead at 1.55pm.

Selvage’s recorded interview with police was played to the jury of seven women and five men on Thursday afternoon. 

He denied being involved in the supply of heroin and explained why he had gone to Hynes’s home.

‘Julie rang me to come over and have a r**t,’ he told detectives.’That’s why I was there…  to have sex with Julie.’

The pensioner said he did not end up having sex with Hynes that night. ‘I don’t know why,’ he told police. ‘That’s what I thought she wanted.’

Selvage was arrested at his mother’s Umina Beach home two days after Mr Murphy died. 

Hynes, a mother-of-two, had known Mr Murphy for about 20 years, since he was in primary school. 

The court previously heard she had panicked when she found him unconscious in the loungeroom of her two-bedroom dwelling at Blackwall.  

The Crown alleges Mr Murphy had earlier been pressing blocks of heroin in Hynes’s bathroom before inadvertently inhaling the drug through his nostrils and mouth. 

Neither Hynes nor Selvage is accused of any offence in relation to the death of Mr Murphy.

Crown Prosecutor Peter Lowe told the jury that Hynes called Selvage at 2.26am on May 25 asking him to help Mr Murphy press heroin in the bathroom of her home. 

He said phone records would show Mr Murphy had also contacted Selvage requesting he pick up mechanical parts for a hydraulic press he was using to package the heroin.

The Crown case is that Selvage and Hynes were involved in preparing the heroin for sale and a forensic expert has given evidence that fingerprints from both were found on the 250kg press in her bathroom.  

Before being pressed, the heroin was allegedly blended with glucose to half the purity and double its weight.

Mr Lowe said phone records would show Hynes made a series of calls from about 12.30pm, including to her oldest son Wade and Mr Flanders. 

When paramedics arrived Mr Murphy was unconscious on the floor. He was not wearing a shirt and had white powder on his denim shorts. 

Constable Zachary Jones told the court he spoke to Hynes outside her home and she said Mr Murphy had arrived in a ‘dazed’ state between 7am and 7.30am.

Hynes said she bought Mr Murphy a ‘big breakfast’ from a local cafe then went back to bed about 9am or 10am while Mr Murphy was on the couch.

She woke about 12.50pm to find Mr Murphy still on the couch with his eyes part-closed.She called out, ‘Lukey, Lukey’ but got no response.

Mr Murphy had dribble coming from his mouth and sounded as if he was snoring. 

‘I woke up and seen him like that,’ Hynes told Constable Jones.’I just started panicking.’  

The Crown alleges Hynes had been up all night while Mr Murphy packaged the drugs.

Police who attended the scene found the hydraulic press, as well as 180.8 grams of heroin: 173.4g in a purple dustpan in a spare room and 7.4g on the bathroom floor.

Mr Lowe said the Crown case was that Hynes’s residence was being used by Hynes, Selvage and Mr Murphy to cut and package bricks of heroin for sale. 

‘The circumstances speak for themselves,’ he told the jury.  

Other alleged drug paraphernalia including heat-seal bags and gaffer tape for wrapping bricks were also allegedly located at the house. 

Police found Selvage asleep in the main bedroom at 2.44pm, almost an hour after Mr Murphy was pronounced dead. 

Selvage, who allegedly had powder on his pants, told police he initially did not know what Mr Murphy was doing with the press, but later learnt it related to heroin. 

He allegedly said Mr Murphy had 11 ‘keys’ of the drug, each weighing about 360 grams.None of those bricks has ever been found. 

‘I’m talking about bricks about that big,’ Selvage told Constable Spencer in a video played to the jury, holding his hands about 25cm apart. 

The trial before Judge David Wilson continues.