Former Bachelor contestant to remain under curfew while facing drug charges

A former Bachelor contestant who allegedly supplied drugs to an undercover cop will spend the new year under curfew after a magistrate refused to alter her bail. Marjorie Griffiths, 28, appeared before Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday as she faces a string of drug-related offences, including supplying a commercial quantity of drugs. Police allege the former Bachelor star was a major player in a criminal network that supplied large quantities of drugs and laundered the illicit earnings through an international syndicate. Just months after her stint on season 10 of The Bachelor last year, police allege Ms Griffiths sold 1kg of cocaine to an undercover police officer and 1kg of MDMA to an unknown person. Lawyer Serae Kopra told deputy chief magistrate Theo Tsavdaridis that her client had been under “onerous” bail conditions for the past 12 months after being granted bail by the Supreme Court. Those conditions, set by the state's highest court, stipulated Ms Griffiths must report regularly to police, wear an electronic monitoring device and be under nightly curfew from 9pm-5am. Ms Kopra said her client had not breached her bail conditions and having faced delays in the case because of video footage provided by police, applied for the curfew condition to be deleted. “The overnight curfew does not go to any bail concern in circumstances where you have an ankle bracket which monitors her movement 24/7 as well as daily reporting,” Ms Kopra said. Ms Kopra said she had waited three months for police to serve video evidence that “essentially depict what the Crown says is her knowingly supplying drugs to the undercover operator”. In opposing the variation, the police prosecutor said there was no evidence that the nightly curfew affected Ms Griffiths’ employment and noted that the charges were serious. Mr Tsavdaridis refused the application, noting the high bar that the defence needed to meet in order to alter bail conditions set by the NSW Supreme Court. “Looking at the various factors in this application, sequence 5 in of itself a serious charge, in respect to which proceedings will be dealt with on indictment in the District Court in due course, is one in which the court would be circumspect in varying any bail granted by the Supreme Court,” he told the court. “To suggest the curfew condition does not go to any of the bail concerns does not adequately summarise the landscape – that is a matter in respect of which Her Honour would have cone to the view the bail concerns, that is committing a serious offence and endangering the community, would have brought within bounds by way of a curfew condition.” Ms Griffiths was woken by heavily armed specialist NSW Police officers and arrested during a dawn raid on her home in Umina Beach, on the NSW Central Coast, on October 10, 2023. She faces four charges, including supplying a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug, not giving police access to her phone, and recklessly dealing the proceeds of a crime. The 28-year-old appeared on Season 10 of the Bachelor when paired with Thomas Malucelli, a 35-year-old restaurant manager, but left the show after 12 weeks. She has not entered any pleas and will return to court later this month.