It was a quiet farewell for Martin ‘Dubbo’ Churchill, the suburban solicitor who made national headlines over his allegedly criminal relationship with Supermax inmate Bassam Hamzy.
Churchill’s death notice had said he was ‘a friend to many and will be sadly missed by all who knew him’, but on Wednesday just two dozen mourners attended his Sydney funeral.
Family and friends were greeted individually by staff from Joseph Medcalf funeral directors at Matraville in the city’s east and directed to the Garden Chapel for a service that was over in 40 minutes.
The 67-year-old died destitute in a nearby nursing home on December 29, four-and-a-half years after he was charged with helping Hamzy run an alleged drug ring from his jail cell.
Churchill had been diagnosed with blood cancer while in prison awaiting trial and was living off Centrelink payments before his death.
Mourners hug at the funeral of Martin Churchill, the suburban solicitor who was accused of having a criminal relationship with Supermax inmate Bassam Hamzy
Solicitor Martin Churchill (above), who was accused of helping Supermax inmate Bassam Hamzy allegedly run a drug ring from his prison cell, died destitute in a Sydney nursing home
He is understood to have made a series of poor financial investments in Russia, leaving him penniless and delaying arrangements for his simple funeral.
An order of service featured no hymns, prayers, tributes or acknowledgements, and the only words inside were written by the lawyer himself.
The front cover referenced Churchill’s nickname Dubbo, the city in the NSW central west where as a young man he went to high school and played rugby league.
Inside, Churchill described moving to Sydney in 1976 and quickly finding new friends in the Hotel Astra on Campbell Parade at Bondi Beach.
The order of service contained a photograph of Churchill with fellow players in the the Astra Knights, the pub’s mostly-Kiwi league team.
The club’s motto was the Maori phrase kia kaha, meaning ‘be strong, keep going, get stuck in’.
Family and friends were greeted individually by staff from Joseph Medcalf funeral directors and directed to the Garden Chapel for a service that lasted 40 minutes
Churchill’s death notice said he was ‘a friend to many and will be sadly missed by all who knew him’ but just two dozen mourners attended his funeral at Matraville in Sydney’s east
‘The Astra was a gift to me,’ Churchill was quoted saying in the booklet. ‘We all came to Sydney at about the same time for the same basic reasons. It was all about starting a new life.’
Churchill’s career working in the legal system began the same year, first with the federal and NSW attorney-general’s departments, before he established his own firm, Churchill Lawyers.
Churchill played rugby league for the Astra Knights whose Maori motto means ‘be strong’
He built a steady practice and began representing Bassam Hamzy through an existing client with a relative in Goulburn’s Supermax, the country’s most secure prison.
In July 2019, Churchill was arrested at his Glebe home and accused of abusing his lawyer-client relationship with Hamzy in coded three-way phone conversations.
Police alleged Churchill and Hamzy used phrases such as ‘legal fees’ to mean an ounce of meth and ‘paying the barrister’ to mean handing over drugs to a dealer.
Churchill was charged with taking part in the commercial supply of a prohibited drug and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.
He was further charged with hindering the apprehension of a person who had committed a serious offence and stalk/intimidate with the intent of causing fear of physical harm.
Churchill was arrested in July 2019 and accused of abusing his lawyer-client relationship with Bassam Hamzy (above) in coded three-way phone calls to ‘s most secure jail
The drug charges related to 452.8g of meth allegedly supplied between October 2017 and February 2018.
When Churchill first faced Newtown Local Court he represented himself and did not apply for bail. Magistrate Glenn Bartley advised him to hire a lawyer.
Hamzy was charged with commercial supply of a prohibited drug, hindering the apprehension of a person who had committed a serious offence and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
He has maintained his prison phone conversations with Churchill were legal discussions in which he referred to legitimate business and personal interests.
Churchill and Hamzy both pleaded not guilty and were set to face a jury together in August 2021 but their trial was delayed by factors including Covid-19.
Their trial was put back again in January 2022 when lawyers acting for Churchill said 20 pages of his hand-written instructions were illegible.
An order of service featured no hymns, prayers or acknowledgements, and the only words inside were written by the lawyer himself. Mourners are pictured at the funeral
Mourners are pictured seeking shade under a palm tree next to Joseph Medcalf funeral home near Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park at Matraville in Sydney’s east
The hearing was ready to go ahead in the District Court in May 2022 despite Churchill having been in hospital suffering a series of illnesses.
Churchill was granted a permanent stay of proceedings in August that year after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma, in which cancerous plasma cells build up in bone marrow.
Three of the charges were the subject of stay orders, while the stalking charge was dropped.
Having spent three years on remand Churchill was released from prison and spent his final days as a patient in an aged care facility in Sydney’s south-eastern suburbs.
Churchill told friends in October the chemotherapy that had kept him alive for the past 18 months had stopped working.
He had been on an experimental course of medication since his original cancer treatment stopped working several months ago and was taking heavy painkillers.
Churchill, who was diagnosed in 2022 with multiple myeloma told friends in October the chemotherapy that had kept him alive for the past 18 months had stopped working
Churchill was a keen follower of sports, a fan of popular music from the 1960s and 1970s, and a student of military history and international politics
Described by associates as ‘smart and eccentric’, Churchill maintained his innocence to the end, occasionally railing against the NSW Police Force and NSW Director of Public Prosecutions.
A one-time professional associate said Churchill had lost money on failed property investments in Russia, a country whose language he spoke and he had visited.
He was a keen follower of sports, a fan of popular music from the 1960s and 1970s, and a student of military history and international politics.
Churchill had once represented Sydney drug importer and big wave surfer Shayne Hatfield who was found dead in his cell at Parklea prison on January 12.
Hatfield was released from jail in December 2022 after serving 18 years over a $30million cocaine smuggling operation using baggage handlers at Sydney Airport.
Described by associates as ‘smart and eccentric’, Churchill maintained his innocence to the end, railing against the NSW Police Force and NSW Director of Public Prosecutions
Police believe the 59-year-old, who had been refused bail late last year after being charged with assaulting his girlfriend, took his own life.
Almost all of Churchill’s words in his order of service were devoted to the friendships he formed, particularly with Maoris and other New Zealanders, through the Astra.
‘It wasn’t just the people and the place,’ he was quoted saying. ‘It was the camaraderie.
‘We were a family of people getting together to build a life in a new world.
‘That was the common thing. We had come to the Astra to make things happen and to enjoy life. We met good people with similar ideas and dreams.’
The Astra, which in its last decade had a reputation as a rough pub and an easy place to score drugs, closed its doors in 1983.
It reopened as the Bondi Beach Astra Retirement Village the following year.
Bassam Hamzy is set to face trial in the District Court in April.
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