[420 Girl]

MERCEDES Corby's excuse for not calling her brother to give evidence at her defamation trial was "lame" and the real reason was he would have implicated her, a Sydney jury has been told.

Ms Corby is suing the Seven Network, saying she was falsely portrayed as a drug smuggler and dealer in interviews with her former friend Jodie Power, which were aired on Today Tonight in February last year. Ms Power has told the New South Wales Supreme Court she bought marijuana and speed from Michael Corby, often in the presence of his sister, and at times bought them from Ms Corby. Ms Corby, 33, the sister of convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby, has denied the allegations.

Tom Hughes, QC, for Seven, today asked why her legal team had not called Mr Corby as a witness to dispute the claim.

"Truthful evidence from him would not have helped the plaintiff's case ... the plaintiff's denials of being present ... when he sold marijuana to Jodie Power," Mr Hughes told the jury during his closing address.

In her evidence to the trial, Ms Corby said her brother was currently in Bali caring for their sister Schapelle in her absence, visiting her twice a day. Schapelle Corby is serving 20 years in a Bali prison for smuggling 4.1kg of cannabis into Indonesia inside a bodyboard bag in 2004.

Mr Hughes told the jury the excuses for his absence were "specious" and "utterly lame".

"If he was able to give evidence that he did not sell marijuana to Jodie Power ... sometimes in the presence of the plaintiff, surely he would be needed to answer those admittedly serious allegations," Mr Hughes said.

"He is not here, though."

Mr Hughes said witnesses such as Ms Power, her mother Margaret Campbell, and friend Dana Richie had proven the allegations against Mr Corby to be true. Ms Campbell told the court she was outraged when she was unwittingly used by her daughter and Ms Corby to deliver a package of marijuana from the Gold Coast to Byron Bay.

Ms Richie gave evidence she snorted speed with Ms Corby at a naming day ceremony for Ms Power's son in 2003. A string of letters written by Mercedes Corby, in which she repeatedly outlined her drug use, had discredited her as a witness, Mr Hughes also said. He said the letters Ms Corby wrote to Ms Power while she was working in Japan in 1993 and 1994 "nailed the lie" that Corby was an infrequent drug user.

In one letter she wrote: "Japan has the best mull. I only need two or three puffs of a joint and I am wasted."

Ms Corby downplayed the letters during her evidence, saying she exaggerated her claims to show off to Ms Power.

"(Ms Corby said) her total consumption during the period when she was in Japan was no more than half a joint," Mr Hughes told the jury.

"Can you possibly believe that after these enthusiastic statements about her enjoyment of marijuana and the quality of the product?

"(The letters) leave an indelible stain on the plaintiff's credibility as a witness."

The hearing continues before Justice Carolyn Simpson tomorrow.

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