Bereaved father seeks police apology in name of son
THE father of a bikie killed while intervening in a domestic violence incident has demanded an apology after police used his son’s name as part of a bid to shut down an Outlaws Motorcyle Club clubhouse.
John Trigg, who has served as a former Assistant Federal Auditor General and Northern Territory Chief Auditor, asked for the apology after the man responsible for his son’s death appeared again in court last week.
Sean Leslie Trigg, 48, an Outlaws Motorcycle Club member, of St Marys, was killed in June last year after he ran into a Bridgewater house to help a female friend who was being assaulted by Matthew James Linton. Sean was declared dead in the kitchen of 10 Wallace St after being stabbed 18 times.
Linton, 35, was last month found guilty by a jury of manslaughter after pleading not guilty to the murder and will be sentenced this week.
John Trigg is now asking for an apology from Tasmania Police Commissioner Darren Hine, after police used Sean’s death as part justification to fight a liquor licence application the club was seeking from the Licencing Commissioner.
Police objected to the renewal of a special liquor permit for the Outlaws Motorcycle Group’s Bridgewater premises and referred to Sean’s death as one of the justifications not to grant the liquor licence.
In the objection – obtained by the Mercury – Tasmania Police Inspector John Ward used the incident as one way to justify the club’s links to organised crime in order to have the licence rejected.
It was one of two incidents used as justification from a Tasmanian perspective.
Another five news articles from mainland agencies were used from a national perspective.
“Outlaw OMCG member Sean Leslie Trigg was murdered in June 2014,” Mr Ward said in the objection, which was filed before the manslaughter verdict.
“A person has been remanded in custody to appear in the Supreme Court on 1 September 2014, charged with murder and common assault for allegedly punching a woman in the face.
“The victim was a member of the Outlaws OMCG .... further the incident took place within sight of the Bridgewater chapter.”
The licence was ultimately rejected.
Mr Trigg said if his son was not a bikie, he would have been lauded for the bravery he showed which ultimately led to his death.
“If a Sandy Bay lawyer who happened to be a member of the Athenaeum Club had similarly intervened in a domestic violence incident and some of the people involved had been to the Athenaeum Club that day, I very much doubt that would be presented to the Licensing Commissioner as evidence to get rid of the liquor licence for that club,” he said.
“In fact I would think he would have been given a posthumous bravery award.
“The facts are the same – only the club memberships differ.”
Mr Trigg also has a letter from Police Minister Rene Hidding – whom he has known since his days as president of the Hamilton Branch of the Liberal Party 20 years ago – which states: “it seems clear to me that your son was a good, loving son, brother, father and grandfather who acted in an accountable fashion as a citizen – and paid a terrible price for doing so.
“I can only hope that I and the other males in my family would act in a similarly accountable fashion faced with the same circumstance.”
Mr Trigg requested an opportunity to discuss the matter with Mr Hine.
However, after a series of letters was handed to Tasmania Police staff – with some police correspondence back to him apparently lost in transit – he received a letter from Assistant Police Commissioner Donna Adams defending the submission to the Liquor Board.
“While not all people visiting premises by OMCGs or associated with members of OMCGs are engaged in criminal activity, Tasmania Police holds that the public interest is not served by a liquor permit being issued to the Bridgewater Chapter of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club,” Ms Adams wrote.
The Assistant Commissioner added that she understood the submission had caused Mr Trigg and his family distress but that was not the police’s intention.
“I am confident the submission to the Commissioner for Licencing was appropriate under the circumstances,” she said.
These sentiments were echoed by Assistant Commissioner Richard Cowling.
“Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs are one of the most high-profile manifestations of organised crime,” he said.
“Against this context, relevant facts were provided to the Commissioner for Licensing as part of Tasmania Police’s objection to the Bridgewater Chapter of the Outlaw Motorcycle Club’s application for a liquor license.
“We consider the submission appropriate under the circumstances.”
Mr Hidding also agreed with Ms Adams’s sentiments in a letter to John Trigg and his wife Anne.
He said that, despite the circumstances, the submission was warranted.
“It may assist you to understand that it is the strong public position of the Commissioner of Police that no motorcycle club should hold or be granted a liquor license – and he has considerable support in the public sector given some of the appalling evidence available and the criminal histories of key individuals,” he said.