Finks face jail on car theft

FINKS bikie gang enforcer Richard Michail stole a $500,000 canary-yellow Lamborghini and parked it outside the nearby Finks' Port Melbourne clubhouse where he was arrested soon after.

Heavily tattooed Michail, 38, of Southbank, appeared in the County Court yesterday with his accomplice Matthew Ward, 32, of Happy Valley, South Australia, after they had been found not guilty at trial of armed robbery but guilty of robbery involving the theft of the Lamborghini.

They face a maximum 15 years' jail.

The pair were wearing black Finks T-shirts when they stole the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera from Lorbek Prestige Cars at Port Melbourne on May 25 last year and drove it less than two kilometres to the Finks' clubhouse, where they parked and went in for coffee before police arrived.

Judge Mark Dean said he did not accept Michail and Ward had left the Lamborghini outside the clubhouse out of ''sheer stupidity''.

He said they either knew police were on their way and did not care or believed staff at the car dealership were so scared that they would not call police about the theft. ''This was not a random event,'' he said. ''The showroom was full of expensive cars. They chose the most expensive.''

Defence lawyer David Edwardson, QC, said the Lamborghini was returned undamaged to dealership managing director Srecko Lorbek soon after being stolen and the injuries he received were minor, so this was not the most serious robbery of its kind.