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Police disappointed by bikie verdict
Fri Aug 27, 2004 4:17am
209.86.128.59
Police disappointed by bikie verdict
By Holly Nott
August 27, 2004
THE investigation into the murder of a retired Perth detective
was a success, despite the acquittal of five men charged with
waging a bombing campaign against him, West Australian Police
Assistant Commissioner David Caporn said today.
Mr Caporn said he was disappointed Gypsy Joker bikie gang members
Graeme Slater, Leslie Hoddy, Richard Samuels, Robert Stupar and
their associate Gary White were found not guilty of plotting and
then planting bombs that damaged the Ora Banda home and
businesses of Don Hancock, the former head of Perth's Criminal
Investigation Bureau.
"Obviously it is not an outcome that we wanted," Mr
Caporn said today.
But he said the investigation had brought many very important
results.
"At the end of the day, these were always going to be
difficult charges to prove because in Ora Banda, which was an
abandoned town, there was no one present at the time the offences
occurred.
"What we had was one person saying they were involved and
this is what we did, and we had other people saying no, they
weren't involved."
But Mr Caporn, who headed Operation Zircon, formed to investigate
the car bombing that killed Mr Hancock and his friend Lou Lewis
in 2001, said police were pleased Slater, 38, had been convicted
of a related charge of attempted arson.
"There has been a conviction on one of the charges against
Graeme Slater so the whole process of putting it before the court
to let the court decide as to what occurred certainly has
resulted in a conviction on one charge," he said.
"The fact that the jury found that the others were not
proven, well that is something that we must respect and we move
forward on the basis that they've been found not guilty."
Mr Caporn said Operation Zircon had secured convictions of
murder, drug trafficking and deprivation of liberty, all stemming
back to Gypsy Joker-turned-rollover witness Sid Reid's evidence.
The trial that ended today was based almost entirely on the
evidence of Reid, who, after admitting his part in the killings
of Mr Hancock and Mr Lewis, agreed to break the bikie code of
silence to testify against his mates, in return for a reduced
sentence.
"I suppose the picture I am painting here is that we have
got many, many very important results out of this investigation,
but on the other hand we also lost some of the charges in respect
to the jury finding people not guilty," Mr Caporn said.
"Overall, I think we have won far more charges than we've
lost and whilst we're disappointed, we do accept the decision of
the jury and we move on."