A "wealthy" entrepreneur who breached his interstate bail conditions to travel to the Northern Territory and allegedly attempted to fraudulently obtain a new passport to flee the country has been denied bail.
Andrew Spira, 24, was charged by NT Police with a range of offences including using and possessing false documents, possessing an unlicensed firearm, drug possession and obtaining property by deception.
The court was told Mr Spira, a relative of ABC Chair Ita Buttrose and the founder of a successful loan broker business, arrived in Darwin five days ago with a personal assistant – breaching his bail conditions in New South Wales.
During his bail application on Wednesday, the court was told Mr Spira had allegedly lodged an application for an Australian passport earlier this week at the Darwin passport office, telling officials his passport had been stolen when in fact it had been surrendered to NSW Police.
The court was also told he used fraudulent credit card details to book flights to the NT and onwards to international destinations.
His lawyer, Jon Tippett KC, said Mr Spira was "at serious risk" of drug withdrawal and needed the kind of mental health help that would not be available to him in custody.
"He's a genuinely sick person … Deranged," Mr Tippett said.
'I'm willing to forfeit everything'
As the matter proceeded, and Chief Judge Elizabeth Morris indicated she would not be allowing bail, Mr Spira interrupted court proceedings to highlight his life-long battle with drugs and his current concern for his family and company team.
"My area of judgement was completely flawed because of drugs unfortunately," he said.
"I'm willing to forfeit everything I have to the court in return for bail.
"I understand the penal system up here is quite harsh like NSW, but is a lot more violent. I fear I am at high risk of death if I don't get medical assistance."
Chief Judge Morris agreed Mr Spira's mental health issues needed to be addressed, but said there was too much risk of him fleeing — due to large financial resources — to allow for bail, even under electronic monitoring.
She said Mr Spira was facing serious charges including allegedly organising "quite complex arrangements to further dishonest ends", which involved using encrypted electronic devices and forging letters from his previous lawyer.
"He's on almost exactly similar offences in NSW, for which he was granted bail, and he has come to the NT," she said.
The matter will return to court on Thursday.
