A BALLARAT man awaiting a court hearing for commercial drug-trafficking offences will contest charges that he threatened to kill a man during a residential tenancy dispute.
Matthew Cicero, 33, is alleged to have threatened a man who came to collect his rent payment in July following a disagreement over alterations to a skylight.
He is also charged with threatening to seriously injure the police officer who interviewed him over the original threat.
In a brief appearance in Ballarat Magistrates Court yesterday, Cicero was ordered to return for a preliminary hearing on February 10.
He will contest 22 charges, including making a threat to kill, making a threat to inflict serious injury, nine counts of handling stolen goods and nine counts of dealing with property suspected to be the
proceeds of crime.
The stolen property charges arise from a search warrant police executed on his home in 2006, in which numerous power tools believed to be stolen were found.
Cicero was granted bail on a $15,000 surety in March, 2008, over his alleged involvement in a drug-trafficking ring busted by police Operation Remex earlier that year.
He is awaiting a hearing in the County Court on 15 charges, including trafficking a drug of dependence in large commercial quantities, trafficking and possessing amphetamines and ecstasy.
A hearing date has not been set.
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