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Saturday, March 20, 2010

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THE NEW WEST WEEKEND MAGAZINE

MARCH 20-2


an exclusive ‘best weekend’

inside
& LIES SECR ETS OK THE CRO MY DAD R HAP PY HOU GH LAST LAU HAV E THE ADF IELD ROB
BRO DEZV OUS ROT TO REN KEN D BEST WEE WIN THE URE TURE VULT BE A CUL

CHRIS MAINWARING’S DEATH: CORONER’S REPORT REVEALS . . .

loma WEEKEND EDITION P

FREE MATTHEW PAVLICH HERO POSTER

Ben Cousins saw a plate of cocaine
GARY ADSHEAD EXCLUSIVE
A sensitive report into the drug-related death of football legend and television
personality Chris Mainwaring found that he and Richmond star Ben Cousins went into
a bedroom which contained a plate of cocaine in the hours before he collapsed at
his Cottesloe home. Prepared by State Coroner Alastair Hope, the report also reveals
that Mainwaring’s wife, Rani, told police she washed cocaine down the sink before
leaving the couple’s home with their two children in the lead-up to the tragedy.
The coroner’s official findings and details of the police investigation into the
death, on October 1, 2007, have remained secret until today and follow reports that
a tell-all book on Cousins’ descent into drug abuse is ready to be published. In
the 2008 report, Mr Hope concluded that 41-year-old Mainwaring had a seizure after
overdosing on a “large quantity of cocaine” rather than a cocktail of different
drugs as has been widely reported. “There was no evidence of any cannabis or ecstasy
in the blood of the deceased,” Mr Hope found. “Toxicological analysis showed
a markedly raised cocaine level in the blood of 7mg/litre. There was 50mg of cocaine
in his stomach contents.” The major crime squad investigation provided a 400-page
report into the Mainwaring death, but Mr Hope, who decided it wasn’t “desirable”
or “necessary” to hold a public inquest, leaves a number of questions unanswered
about the two occasions Cousins went to see Mainwaring before his close friend and
mentor died. Rani Mainwaring told detectives she had asked Cousins to check on her
husband’s welfare after she left the house about 1pm because she believed he had
been using cocaine. “Prior to her departure, she located a quantity of cocaine
at the house and, as she was concerned he might take more of the drug, she
Ben Cousins

washed the remainder down the sink,” Mr Hope found. Cousins, the former West Coast
Eagles captain, who was battling drug addiction at the time, went to see Mainwaring
shortly after 3.30pm. He says he stayed for about two hours and returned for dinner
about 7.30pm. The West Australian recently learnt that Cousins was with a mystery
woman during the second visit, who Mr Hope described in his report as a “female
friend”. He said the woman, whom he did not name, and Cousins ordered takeaway
food from a Mosman Park restaurant some time after 7.30pm before going to see Mainwaring.
The takeaway food was picked up a short time later and eaten at the Cottesloe home.
“At one stage the deceased and Mr Cousins went into a bedroom where, according
to Mr Cousins, he saw a quantity of a substance which he believed to be cocaine on
a plate,” Mr Hope found. But there is no insight in his four-page findings into
what Cousins did after he discovered the cocaine in light of Mrs Mainwaring’s earlier
concerns. Nor does the report discuss

whether Mainwaring obtained more cocaine from a supplier after his wife left or if
he already had an alternative supply at the house. “Mr Cousins and his female friend
left the deceased’s home at about 10.15pm. At the time the deceased appeared to
be in good spirits and, according to Mr Cousins, he had no concerns for him at all.”
The issue of the cocaine in the bedroom could be the reason Mainwaring’s father,
Hubert, previously said he wanted to speak to Cousins about the final hours before
his son died. An hour after Cousins left Mainwaring residents complained to police
that their Cottesloe neighbour was “behaving in a bizarre
Continued on page 4

PERTH 16-28 Details, P75
Sunny. Tom: thunderstorm risk, 17-30. Yest: 16.3-24

FARMERS’ DESPAIR
More than 300 farmers attend crisis meeting in Kulin, P15