Bikie Troy Mercanti hit with five-year pub and club ban
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Nicole Cox, police reporter
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From: PerthNow
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August 26, 2010 10:16AM
PROHIBITION: Notorious bikie Troy Mercanti banned from entering pubs or clubs for five years. Source: PerthNow
NOTORIOUS bikie Troy Mercanti has been banned from pubs and clubs for five years after a ruling by the WA Liquor Commission - despite being in jail.
In its decision,
published on Tuesday, the commission cited
Mercanti's 31 recorded criminal and traffic
offences between 1986 and 2008, including four
convictions for assault and five disorderly
convictions as basis for the order.
The commission's report, headed by chairman Jim
Freemantle, states that: ``Mr Mercanti's
behaviour demonstrates violent and unprovoked
attacks on vulnerable people, a complete
disregard for the law, the safety of other
people and a lack of remorse''.
``A prohibition order is not about punishing the
respondent, it is about protecting the public,''
it said.
``Violence in and about licensed premises is of
increasing concern tot he community.
``In reviewing the evidence submitted on behalf
of the Commissioner of Police, the commission
can only conclude that it is not a matter of
coincidence that a significant level of violence
seems to frequently occur in Mr Mercanti's
presence.''
Mercanti is serving a 28-month sentence in
Casuarina Prison after being found guilty of
assault causing grievous bodily harm to
26-year-old Gregory Fistonich, by throwing a
punch that broke the victim's jaw at the Geisha
Bar in Northbridge in May 2007.
The commission's decision is effective from
August 24, despite Mercanti being in jail. If
forced to serve his full sentence he would not
be released until April 2, 2011.
In a statement, Police Commissioner Karl
O'Callaghan welcomed the decision.
``Troy Mercanti has a serious criminal record
and a propensity for violence and is exactly the
type of person who should be banned from
licensed premises,'' Mr O'Callaghan said.
``Pub and club patrons need to be protected from
such people and that is precisely why
prohibition orders were introduced.
``WA Police will continue to lodge Prohibition
Order applications against anyone who engages in
violent behaviour in, or around, licensed
premises, no matter who they are.''
Mercanti, a former sergeant-at-arms with the
Coffin Cheaters, defected from the club last
year and is now a member of the Finks an
interstate outlaw motorcycle club trying to
establish a foothold in WA.
Under the Liquor Control Act, the Police
Commissioner can apply to the Director of Liquor
Licensing or the Liquor Commission to prohibit a
person from entering or being employed at a
licensed venue because of their criminal
convictions or suspected involvement in serious
and organised crime.
Anyone who fails to comply with a prohibition
order can be fined $10,000.
In sentencing Mercanti in December 2008 for the
Geisha Bar attack, District Court Judge Mary Ann
Yeats described his criminal record as
``unusual'' because of the number of acquittals
and discontinued cases for violent assaults.
Six months earlier, Mercanti was fined $2000
after pleading guilty to assaulting fisherman
Dean Robert Daley, 36, at the Coolbellup Hotel
in June 2007 after he punched him in the face
and another man Warren Douglas Goedhart smashed
a bar stool over his head. Goedhart was jailed
for a year.
But in October 2007, Mercanti walked from court
when two assault charges against him were
dropped after a melee between three Coffin
Cheaters and security staff at Fremantle's
Harbourside nightclub, in which a bouncer was
stabbed. Mercanti was awarded $10,900 in costs.
He was also acquitted in May 2006 of shooting a
rival Scorpion Boys gang member in retaliation
after he was stabbed at Metro City nightclub in
Northbridge.
