Thanks to Wolf for sending
me these
Bail for
bikie-battle accused
By Daniel Pace
03apr06
A HELL'S Angel accused of shooting an innocent
bystander during a bloody gun and knife battle
between rival bikie gangs has been released on
bail.
Terry Ian
Polley, 44, of Gawler in South Australia,
appeared in Southport Magistrates Court today
after an Adelaide court on Friday ordered his
extradition to Queensland.
Mr Polley
has yet to enter pleas on a range of charges
including affray, unlawful wounding, discharging
a weapon in a public place and committing acts
intended to maim.
Police
prosecutor Warren Murdock alleged Mr Polley
fired three shots from a handgun
"indiscriminately into the crowd" during a brawl
between the Finks bikie group and the Hell's
Angels at a kick-boxing tournament at Royal
Pines Resort on the Gold Coast on March 18.
Sergeant
Murdock alleged one of those shots hit innocent
bystander Vincenzo Loreto in the foot as the
19-year-old from NSW hid under a table.
Police have yet to recover any weapons used in
what was called a "war-like act".
Four bikies were either shot or stabbed during
the brawl, including former Finks member
Christopher Wayne Hudson.
He was allegedly shot by Shane Scott Bowden as a
payback for defecting to the Hell's Angels.
Arrest warrants have been issued for Mr Bowden,
33, and Nicholas John Forbes, 36, both of the
Gold Coast, who are wanted for attempted murder.
Magistrate Dermott Kehoe granted bail to Mr
Polley, who went to police on his return from a
recent fishing trip, and ordered he provide a
$50,000 surety.
Finks bikie Tyson James Ward, 28, of Reynella in
South Australia, also faced the Southport
Magistrates Court today, charged with entering a
premises with intent to commit an indictable
offence.
He was released on bail and ordered to reappear
at a committal hearing on August 10, five days
before Polley is again due to appear before the
court.
Bikies in court over kickboxing
event violence
More motorcycle club members have appeared in
court over a shooting at a Gold Coast kickboxing
tournament in south-east Queensland last month.
Three
people were shot and two were stabbed at the
Royal Pines resort.
About 20
police officers patrolled the main foyer of the
Southport Magistrates Court today.
Bags were
searched and metal detectors were used to scan
individuals.
Terry Ian
Polley from South Australia is charged with six
offences including unlawfully entering a
premises and going armed to cause fear.
Three men
were shot and two were stabbed at the Royal
Pines resort after a violent brawl broke out
between members of rival motorcycle gangs two
weeks ago.
The police
prosecutor told the court Polley was a member of
the Hell's Angels motorcycle club.
He said
the 44-year-old fired three shots into the crowd
and wounded a bystander in the foot.
The
magistrate said he accepted Polley was acting in
self defence and granted him $50,000 bail on
condition that he not apply for a passport.
Twenty-eight-year-old Tyson James Ward from the
Finks Outlaw motorcycle club appeared in a
separate court today over the same incident.
Both men
will face committal hearings in August.
Bikie in
fort case at brawl
02apr06
THE man SA police are fighting in the Supreme Court
over fortifications to his house has been identified
as one of the bikies involved in the wild brawl on
the Gold Coast a fortnight ago.
The Sunday
Mail has learnt Eugene Osenkowski, 60, was one of
seven Hells Angels members who travelled from
Adelaide to the Royal Pines Resort where the violent
incident occurred.
The seven
Hells Angels were identified after a review of video
footage of the incident by detectives in SAPOL's
Operation Avatar anti-bikie unit and the State
Intelligence Branch.
The review
resulted in two Adelaide bikies being charged on
Friday in connection with the incident after Surfers
Paradise CIB detectives flew in on Thursday.
Hells Angel
Terry Ian Polley, 45, of Lewiston, appeared in
Adelaide Magistrates Court on Friday charged with
acting with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
He was remanded in police custody to appear in
Southport Magistrates Court tomorrow.
Police will
allege Polley fired up to six shots from a handgun –
one hitting a bystander in the foot – during the
incident.
Tyson James
Ward, 28, of Valley View, also appeared in Adelaide
Magistrates Court on Friday charged with being
involved in an affray.
The Finks
associate was given bail to also appear in Southport
Magistrates Court tomorrow.
Surfers
Paradise CIB detectives are still assessing whether
other Adelaide bikies identified in the footage of
the March 18 brawl will face charges.
Det-Insp John
Hartwell, of Surfers Paradise CIB, said police were
concentrating on arresting the "main players" before
examining if other gang members present would be
charged.
"We are
conducting more inquiries with the assistance of
Avatar and will see what we can accomplish while we
are down there," he said.
"Our focus has
been the main offenders, those with the firearms and
who may have inflicted knife wounds."
Osenkowski, a
member of the Hells Angels north crew, is the first
person to face a court challenge under new bike
fortress laws introduced by the Rann Government.
An appeal
against the fortification order made by Chief
Magistrate Kelvyn Prescott in Adelaide Magistrates
Court will be heard in the Supreme Court next month.
In Adelaide
Magistrates Court in February Michael Abbott, QC,
who is acting for Osenkowski, said his client's Mt
Pleasant house was not a bikie fortress.
"This is my
client's house," he told the court. "This is not a
clubroom or rooms frequented by numbers of people,
this is a domestic property."
In the same
hearing Solicitor-General Chris Kourakis QC said the
house was protected by a "steel cage".
Court
documents show other measures included razor wire in
the roof cavity, external steel doors, locks
securing an internal manhole cover and excessive
sensor lights and floodlighting.
Osenkowski is
also facing charges involving firearms offences,
possessing prescription drugs and possessing body
armour without approval.
He declined to
comment when contacted through his lawyer Harry
Patsouris on Friday.
Last month's
Gold Coast incident erupted when Finks members –
including eight from Adelaide – stormed into the
venue and confronted the Hells Angels members.
The brawl
resulted in five people – one a bystander – being
shot and stabbed. An Australia-wide police alert has
been issued for Finks bikie Shane Scott Bowden, 33,
formerly of Adelaide, who is facing a charge of
attempted murder.
Police allege
Bowden shot Hells Angel Christopher Wayne Hudson,
27, in the face and back.
Three other
bikies, including Adelaide Finks member Benjamin
Allen Young, 24, who was stabbed twice in the brawl,
have also been charged with being involved in an
affray as a result of the brawl.
SAPOL is still
concerned the Gold Coast incident may result in
further violence in Adelaide.
Interstate arrest over bikie
brawl
From: AAP
March 31, 2006
A MAN has been arrested in Adelaide over a knife and
gunfight between rival bikie gangs on Queensland's Gold
Coast.
The 28-year-old,
an alleged associate of the Finks motorcycle gang, would
be extradited to Queensland on a charge of affray,
police said.
He was taken into custody overnight at Valley View, in
Adelaide's north-eastern suburbs.
Five people were
either stabbed or shot during a kick-boxing tournament
at the Royal Pines Resort at Ashmore on the Gold Coast
on March 18.
Last week two men
injured during the brawl between the Hell's Angels and
the Finks were granted bail.
Ross Glen Thomas,
32, of Alice Springs, and Benjamin Allan Young, 24, of
Adelaide, were told they were free to leave Southport
Magistrates Court after facing charges of affray.
Mr Thomas was shot in the arm and Mr Young was stabbed
twice in the brawl.
However, Magistrate Ron Kilner refused bail for
Christopher Wayne Hudson, 27, of the Gold Coast, because
the alleged Hell's Angels member was wanted for
questioning by NSW police for assault and 40
fraud-related offences.
Mr Hudson was shot in the chin and back, allegedly by a
senior Finks member wanted by police for attempted
murder.
Only two police officers were on duty at the event when
the fight broke out in front of an 1800-strong crowd.
An internal investigation has been launched into why
police failed to act upon intelligence that a clash
could erupt between the rival bikers
Bikies to be
extradited over Gold Coast brawl
An Adelaide magistrate
has ordered the extradition of members of two motorcycle
gangs over a brawl at a Gold Coast kick-boxing tournament
this month.
Three men were shot
during the brawl, allegedly between members of the Finks and
Hells Angels gangs.
A magistrate has
ordered the extradition to Queensland of 45-year-old Terry
Ian Polley.
He is alleged to have
fired a shot into the crowd during the brawl, hitting a
bystander.
The magistrate has
refused a bail application and ordered that Polley travel
with Queensland police to appear in Southport Magistrates
Court on Monday.
Earlier Tyson Ward,
28, was granted conditional bail to appear in the Southport
court on Monday morning.
Police plea for public
help in brawl investigation
Wednesday, 29 March 2006. 14:16 (AEDT)
Gold Coast detectives
say their investigation into a recent brawl at a kickboxing
tournament is still intense.
Three men have been
charged over the fight involving members of the Finks and
Hells Angels motorcycle clubs.
Detectives have
released the names of two other men they want to question
over the incident, and have issued a photo of a third man
who they say shot a man during the fight.
Detective Inspector
John Hartwell says police are appealing for anyone with
information about the man's identity to come forward.
"We're asking that if
they are concerned about talking to the police directly they
contact Crimestoppers in their state and provide the
information through Crimestoppers and they can do that
anonymously without any fear of retribution," he said.
"But at this stage we
are appealing for public assistance because to date our
investigations haven't been able to put a name to the face."
Shootout signals gang war
Paula Doneman and Greg Stolz
25mar06
SCOTT Bowden is a diehard
bikie, the type who will do anything for his club – the Finks
outlaw motorcycle gang.
He even has the club's
insignia tattooed across his back.
Such is his dedication, he
is now wanted by police for the shooting of Chris Hudson, a
former member and friend who in the Finks' eyes betrayed the
gang by defecting to their rivals.
The shootout and stabbings
which erupted in front of 1600 patrons at a kickboxing
tournament at the Gold Coast's Royal Pines Resort last Saturday
night was believed to be sparked by Hudson's defection to the
Hell's Angels.
There has been a
long-running feud between the two gangs which has spilled
interstate, with police and bikie sources predicting there will
be payback for the Gold Coast shootout in South Australia, where
both gangs have chapters.
Police sources told The
Courier-Mail that a member of the Hell's Angels was suspected of
a drive-by shooting on the Gold Coast home of a Finks member
late last year.
The Finks could not be
reached for comment, and a national spokesman for the Hell's
Angels declined to comment.
But bikies who spoke to
The Courier-Mail said the rival gangs had gone into lockdown.
"No one is allowed to wear
their (gang) colours, everyone has to keep a low profile for
now, but there will be payback down the line," a bikie said.
While the reasons behind
the shooting may appear trivial to the community who live
outside the "1 per center" outlaw bikie culture – gang members
who publicly declare they defy the law and societal norms – it
shows how seriously gangs regard their turf and loyalty to the
club.
There is a near-fanatical
allegiance between gang members akin to the blood bonds found in
traditional organised crime groups such as the mafia.
It is a culture that law
enforcement finds difficult to penetrate, with some Queensland
police saying they would be better equipped combating the
illegal activities of gangs if the government would give them
phone-tapping powers.
In the past 12 months,
there have been nine police investigations targeting bikies in
southeast Queensland in which a cache of weapons, drugs and
money have been seized.
Last weekend's public
shootout is a departure from the gangs' efforts to keep their
disputes out of the spotlight, as it tarnishes their
well-manufactured image of being good guys who donate blood and
teddy bears to charities.
Police say it also is a
sign that tensions are at boiling point.
"The gangs always operate
under the radar with their feuds, so when it plays out in public
like this, you know they are on the verge of a war," a police
officer said.
Police yesterday raided 16
homes belonging to Finks and Hell's Angels members on the Gold
Coast and in Logan.
No arrests were made, and
police did not find any guns or drugs, but Surfers Paradise
detective inspector John Hartwell said "items of interest" were
recovered.
As well as searching for
guns and clothing relating to last weekend's bloody clash,
senior police said the raids were aimed at "keeping the heat" on
the bikies in an attempt to prevent a full-scale war from
erupting between the Finks and Hell's Angels.
After the raids, police
issued an arrest warrant for a second Finks member, Nicholas
John Forbes, 36, for the attempted murder of Hell's Angel
Hudson.
Insp Hartwell admitted the
threat of reprisals was "a concern", but said police were hoping
to keep a lid on hostilities.
"Our investigations will
be ongoing, and we'll be doing everything in our power to
prevent any escalation of this violence," said Insp Hartwell.
Police Minister Judy
Spence has launched an investigation into whether senior Gold
Coast police properly responded to intelligence warnings of
trouble between the Finks and Hells Angels three days before the
shootout.
The brawl is the latest in
a long line of violent clashes between bikie gangs in Queensland
jockeying for the lion's share of territory and criminal
enterprise – particularly on the Gold Coast.
There have been rumblings
between the six resident bikie gangs on the coast for months,
culminating in drive-by shootings, attempted murder and
extortion.
In June last year there
was an arson attack and a savage revenge bashing on a senior
member of the Nomads, which followed their establishing a
clubhouse 2km from their rivals, the Rebels.
Police raiding the Rebels
clubhouse in Zillmere, north Brisbane, last year found a list
from the gang's weekly "church" meetings which contained
information about a drive-by shooting on a rival club and how
six shots had been fired into a door and car.
There also is instability
within the gangs themselves. Senior members of the Finks have
been unhappy with five members of the club's "Terror Team", who
are allegedly responsible for taking care of "club business".
Queensland's Liqour
Licensing Division has just completed an investigation into
allegations of links between the Gold Coast nightclubs and
members of the Finks. They have referred the results to
Queensland police.
Suspects at large after bikie brawl
By Sonja Koremana
24mar06
TWO suspects are on the run in the wake of a knife and
gun fight between rival bikie gangs on Queensland's Gold
Coast last weekend.
Five people were either stabbed or shot during a
kick-boxing tournament at the Royal Pines Resort at
Ashmore on Saturday night.
The chief suspect, Shane Bowden, has not been located
and a warrant has been issued for Nicholas John Forbes,
a police spokeswoman said.
Both men are from the Gold Coast.
About 30 detectives have been investigating the incident
and 16 search warrants have been issued on the Gold
Coast and in nearby Logan.
The spokeswoman said a number of significant items had
been found.
On Tuesday, two men injured during the brawl between the
Hell's Angels and the Finks were granted bail.
Ross Glen Thomas, 32, of Alice Springs, and Benjamin
Allan Young, 24, of Adelaide, were told they were free
to leave Southport Magistrates Court after facing
charges of affray.
Thomas was shot in the arm and Young was stabbed twice
in the brawl at Royal Pines Resort.
Mr Young and Mr Thomas remained in custody Tuesday after
they were unable to get fellow gang members to deliver a
$10,000 surety each for their release.
Mr Thomas and Mr Young will face committal hearings on
August 10.
Magistrate Ron Kilner refused bail for Christopher Wayne
Hudson, 27, of the Gold Coast, because the alleged
Hell's Angels member was wanted for questioning by New
South Wales police for assault and 40 fraud-related
offences.
Mr Hudson was shot in the chin and back during the brawl
on Saturday, allegedly by senior Finks member My Bowden,
who is wanted by police for attempted murder.
Mr Hudson was allegedly shot as payback for defecting
from the Finks to the Hell's Angels but his solicitor,
Hamish Carlyle, told the court today his client denied
belonging to either bikie gang.
Mr Hudson, who lives with his parents on the Gold Coast,
will reappear in court on August 15.
A fourth injured bikie, who has spent the past three
days in hospital, appeared in court yesterday on the
same charge.
Only two police officers were on duty at the event when
the fight broke out in front of an 1,800-strong crowd.
An internal investigation has been launched into why
police failed to act upon intelligence that a war could
erupt between the bikers.
State Police Minister Judy Spence said this week senior
police would conduct a review into the decision-making
process leading up to the brawl.
Bikies still in jail after bail bungle
By Daniel Pace
21mar06
TWO men injured during a bloody brawl between rival bikie gangs on
Queensland's Gold Coast have been granted bail but will still spend
the night in jail, unable to raise surety.
Ross Glen Thomas, 32, of Alice Springs, and Benjamin Allan Young,
24, of Adelaide, were told today they were free to leave Southport
Magistrates' Court after facing charges of affray.
Mr Thomas was shot in the arm and Mr Young was stabbed twice, during
a wild brawl at a kickboxing tournament at the Royal Pines Resort on
Saturday night between Hells Angels and Finks members.
Mr Young and Mr Thomas will both spend the night in custody after
fellow gang members were unable to deliver $10,000 bail to the court
for each man for their release.
Magistrate Ron Kilner refused bail for Christopher Wayne Hudson, 27,
of the Gold Coast, because the alleged Hell's Angels member was
wanted for questioning by New South Wales police for assault and 40
fraud-related offences.
Mr Hudson was shot in the chin and back during the fight allegedly
by senior Finks member Shane Scott Bowden, who is wanted by police
for attempted murder.
Mr Hudson was allegedly shot as a payback for defecting from the
Finks to the Hell's Angels but his solicitor Hamish Carlyle told the
court today his client denied belonging to either bikie gang.
Five men – four bikies and one innocent bystander – were either shot
or stabbed during the terrifying conflict.
Security was tight at the court today, with the names and addresses
recorded of every person who entered the courtroom where the bikies
faced affray charges.
A fourth injured bikie, who has spent the past three days in
hospital, will appear in court on Thursday on the same charge.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Warren Murdock said at least seven shots
were fired at the kickboxing tournament, where "children as young as
six" were forced to flee in terror.
He argued it was a premeditated attack from the bikies and "they had
no fear of being apprehended whatsoever" at an internationally
televised event with two uniformed policemen and 10 security guards
on duty.
"Some people like to be on television – I certainly won't be
influenced by that," Mr Kilner said.
Sgt Murdock also noted bikies had travelled from the Northern
Territory and South Australia to become involved in the brawl which
erupted at Royal Pines.
He opposed bail for all three defendants, arguing they needed to
remain in custody for their own protection amid fears of all-out
gang warfare on the tourist strip.
Solicitor Jason Jacobson said pastry chef Mr Thomas – whose arm was
shattered by a bullet – did not carry a weapon into the event and
did not instigate the violence.
"He stood up, was pushed over and had his arms twisted over his back
before he was shot," Mr Jacobson said.
Mr Thomas and Mr Young will face committal hearings on August 10.
Mr Hudson, who lives with his parents on the Gold Coast, will
reappear in court on August 15.
A magistrate has granted bail to two members
of the Finks Motorcycle Club who were charged after a violent brawl
at a kickboxing tournament on Queensland's Gold Coast last Saturday
night.
Ross Thomas, 32, from Alice Springs, and
Benjamin Young, 25, from Adelaide, were both charged with affray
after the incident in which members of the Finks and Hells Angels
clubs were shot and stabbed.
A third man, Christopher Hudson, 27, from the
Gold Coast, also appeared in Southport Magistrates Court on a charge
of affray. His bail application was refused.
All three men are due to face a committal
hearing in August.
