Pub staff from Crown Inn at Kingston charged

Two staff at a South Australian hotel are on trial for allegedly continuing to serve an already drunk footballer who was later found dead in his hotel room.

Jason Short died in the upstairs bedroom of the Crown Inn at Kingston, in the state's South East, in April 2011, after celebrating a best-on-ground performance for his local footy club.

Crown Inn employees Tom Gardner (far left) and Alison Selleck (right).

Documents filed with the Adelaide Magistrates Court allege Tom Gardner, 30, and Alison Louise Selleck, 21, kept serving Mr Short - despite his obvious intoxication - in breach of liquor laws.

Today, Gardner and Selleck each pleaded not guilty to selling or supplying liquor to a noticeably alcohol-impaired person.

However defence lawyer Mark Griffin, QC, said the trial should not go ahead.

He told the court Mr Short was drinking at the pub after winning the "Tap and Fill Award".

"If the person wins the award and they tap someone on the shoulder at the pub - one of their mates - then they buy them a drink," he said.

Mr Griffin said Mr Short became unwell later in the night and it was decided he would be given a bed at the hotel.

"The next morning it was Mr Tom Gardner who went upstairs to wake Jason Short and found him dead in the spare bedroom - and it appeared as though he was dead for some considerable time," he said.

Mr Griffin said it was assumed Mr Short had died from a combination of alcohol and prescription medication.

He questioned the conduct of the investigating police officer, Senior Constable Nick Gray.

Mr Griffin said Snr Const Gray had interviewed Gardner and Selleck at the pub one month after Mr Short's death.

He said Snr Const Gray failed to adequately caution the defendants before the interviews, which meant the evidence gathered was therefore inadmissable.

"The reason you give a caution is because you tell the person at the outset what you are investigating," he said.

Giving evidence, Snr Const Gray said the he understood the matter would proceed through the criminal courts and therefore he did not need to issue a caution about investigating possible breaches of the Liquor Licensing Act.

Gardner, who also gave evidence, said he felt obliged to answer Snr Const Gray's questions despite never viewing CCTV footage allegedly showing him and Selleck serving Mr Short.

"I never thought I would be the target of prosecution," he said.

"By the end of the interview I was being accused. I felt intimidated.

"I answered the questions how (Snr Const) Gray wanted me to answer them."

Under the Liquor Licensing Act, alcohol must not be sold or supplied on a licensed premises to an intoxicated person or to a person whose "speech, balance, coordination or behaviour is noticeably impaired and it is reasonable to believe that the impairment is the result of the consumption of liquor".

The maximum penalty for a first offence is $20,000.

The trial, before Magistrate John Fahey, continues.

Source: The Courier Mail, 16 September 2013