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The daughter of murdered former CIB chief Don
Hancock has denied telling a witness her father had gone to get
his gun the night Gypsy Jokers bikie Billy Grierson was shot dead
near Mr Hancock's pub, a District Court jury was told yesterday.
Alison Hancock testified that she was working behind the bar at
the Ora Banda Inn on October 1, 2000, when a group of Gypsy
Jokers bikies, who had been drinking heavily, started
"talking dirty". Her father told the four bikies he
would shut the pub if they did not refrain from making crude
remarks and swearing.
Ms Hancock said the bikies seemed to agree to tone down their
language. But soon after, a bikie approached her father and said:
"Don't you threaten us." Mr Hancock took exception and
decided to shut the pub about 7.30pm.
Ms Hancock said she remained behind drinking with others when her
parents left. She heard a gunshot from the direction of a nearby
oval but did not find out that someone had been shot until she
was later told by her mother, Elizabeth.
Ms Hancock said she initially thought her father had been shot
but her mother assured her she had recently seen him at home. A
man called Rusty then said it was a bikie who had been shot.
Ms Hancock was testifying at the trial of four Gypsy Jokers
members - Graeme Slater, Leslie Thomas Hoddy, Richard Lee Samuels
and Robert Darren Stupar - and gang associate Gary Ernest White.
All are accused of bomb and arson attacks on Mr Hancock's Ora
Banda properties in October and November 2000.
Cross-examined by Colin Lovitt QC, for Slater, Ms Hancock denied
telling a customer after the incident with the bikies that her
father had gone to get his gun. "I would never have said
that," she said.
She said was concerned about the bikies' presence but denied a
suggestion her father had been "spoiling for a fight"
with them.
Judge Allan Fenbury adjourned the trial until tomorrow because
one of the lawyers was ill.
Wolf From Atlanta~
Bikies 'crude' to cop's daughter in pub
Mon Jul 5, 2004 7:01pm
63.184.201.179
Bikies 'crude' to cop's daughter in pub
By Simone Pitsis
July 6, 2004
ALISON Hancock does not remember all the crude comments directed
at her by bikies on the night Gypsy Joker Billy Grierson died.
But she does recall the remarks were strong enough to force her
father, former Perth detective Don Hancock, to close the family's
Ora Banda Inn.
Ms Hancock, 39, recounted yesterday how on October 1, 2000, she
had been filling in behind the bar at her parents' Goldfields
pub, 70km northwest of Kalgoorlie, while her three sons and
brother Stephen, the usual manager, were in Perth.
She spent some of the time serving the group of Gypsy Jokers
bikies who had settled in for the afternoon.
Ms Hancock said during the afternoon the bikies had been
"friendly, very friendly", even inviting her to the
oval where they had set up camp, for a drink. But around 6.30pm,
after one bikie had an altercation with a male patron, Ms Hancock
said attention turned to her and one of the bikies called at her
to "cream your pants for us".
Ms Hancock said her father, who was killed in a car-bombing in
suburban Perth in September 2001, got off his stool, approached
the bikie and said: "Look, this is my daughter and I'd
appreciate it if you could refrain from talking like that."
When he threatened to close the bar, the men quietened down and
went back to watching the 2000 Sydney Olympics closing ceremony.
Ms Hancock said her father had then been approached by one of the
bikies. She had been standing in front of Hancock at the bar and
heard the bikie whisper into his ear, "Don't you threaten
us".
Ms Hancock was giving evidence yesterday at the District Court
trial of Gypsy Jokers Graeme Slater, Leslie Thomas Hoddy, Richard
Lee Samuels, Robert Darren Stupar and associate Gary Ernest
White, who are all charged with bombing Hancock's home in Ora
Banda, the inn and the nearby gold battery a month after
Grierson's death.
It is alleged the bombings were in revenge for the sniper
shooting of Grierson, a Gypsy Joker member, which occurred at the
bikies' makeshift camp near the Ora Banda Inn hours after Hancock
had closed the bar on October 1, 2000.
In evidence yesterday, Ms Hancock admitted her father at times
lost his temper but denied seeing him behaving aggressively the
night Grierson was killed.
"Was he spoiling for an argument?" asked Slater's
lawyer, Colin Lovitt QC.
"No, absolutely not," she replied.
Ms Hancock also denied hearing her mother, Elizabeth Hancock,
talk about her concern for her father after he left the pub, and
denied ever telling staff members her father had gone to get his
gun.
The trial continues today.