Australasian Biker News
Bikie clubhouse torching 'payback'
June 4, 2008 - 5:33PM
It was the defection that did it.
When a senior member of the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang in traded in
his colours to join rival club the Bandidos in Sydney in 2006, it set
off a chain of events that would see several people injured, a gang
clubhouse destroyed and, ultimately, four bikies behind bars.
The former president of the Bandidos' Brisbane chapter, Blair Raymond
Thomsen, 35, his vice-president Ivan Glavas, 48, sergeant-at-arms
Kenneth James Whittaker, 33, and gang associate John Debilla, 47, were
today sentenced to a combined total of 15 years jail over the March 27,
2007 torching of the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang headquarters at
Albion.
Brisbane's District Court heard the attack, captured on Rebels' CCTV
cameras, was payback for for Bribie Island the bashing of several
Bandidos one month earlier.
On that occasion, prosecutors said Bandidos had been riding their
motorcycles in formation when Rebels members - upset at the Sydney
defection - tried to run them off the road in cars, assaulted them with
baseball bats and stole their prized club colours.
"It was purely and solely for retribution and revenge," Crown prosecutor
Deborah Holliday said at a sentencing hearing this afternoon, where all
four men pleaded guilty to arson charges.
"It was likely to lead to further escalating violence between the two
clubs."
The court heard the group, as well as two other members who cannot be
named, took part in a series of meetings in the lead up to the attack,
insitgated - a judge found - by Thomsen, who nominated which of two
Rebels' clubhouses would be targeted and also arranged a getaway car.
On the evening of March 27, the group took four gerry cans of petrol and
a wick fashioned from rope and kerosene to the Lucy Street premises
after doing several laps of the perimeter.
Whittaker then climbed onto the roof, pulled off several tiles and
poured the fuel into the building before setting it alight, causing a
large explosion.
Defence barristers for the men said they had been careful to ensure no
one was inside at the time.
Phillip Hardcastle, for Whittaker, also denied the extent of the damage
to the building, which he said could still be repaired.
"They were conscious of not hurting anybody," Anthony Glynn SC, for
Thomsen and Glavas, told the court.
Judge Gilbert Trafford-Walker accepted the submission, sentencing
Whittaker and Thomsen to five years jail, suspended after they had
served 20 months.
Glavas, who helped plan but did not help set fire to the building, was
sentened to four years, to be suspended after 16 months, while Debilla -
identified only as the getaway driver - was released on immediate
parole.
All four have spent more than a year in custody on remand. The time -
417 days in total each - will be taken off their sentences.
The two other men, who gave evidence against their former associates to
police, are currently serving wholly suspended five year sentences int
he community. One is in witness protection.