|
Pinched from ozbiker.org
Shot fired after biker told mate had been “slashed”
A member of the Coffin Cheaters motorcycle club who fired a
pistol during a brawl at the Red Sea nightclub on January 23 had just received
news his friend and fellow
Coffin Cheater Troy Mercanti had just been “slashed up by some Lebanese”.
.
Western Australia’s Perth Magistrates Court was told recently that 45-year-old
Aleksandar Jovicevic, of east Fremantle, was at the Subiaco club with Cheaters
colleague Issac Taylor when they received the news about Mr Mercanti’s injuries.
Red Sea head bouncer John Geha told the court they were having drinks at the bar
which was popular with the Coffin Cheaters.
A big group, which included members of the Sword Boys street gang, confronted
them, the court was told.
Bouncers tried to steer the Coffin Cheaters and their girlfriends out the back
entrance to avoid a confrontation but the other group surrounded them. There was
pushing, shoving and finger-pointing.
Video footage from the club played to the court showed the bouncers desperately
fighting to keep the warring groups apart in the stairwell..
“They were shouting threats at each other including, “your fucking dead, I’m
going to kill you”, and “you hit me once now let me hit you once”, Mr Geha said.
Mr Jovicevic took a pistol from Mr Taylor and fired it once into the air,
causing panic and chaos among patrons and bringing down plaster from the
ceilings. The incident was caught on the clubs security video.
Off-duty detective Jason Mercer said he chased Mr Jovicevic out of the club as
he ran away and tried to throw the gun into a nearby rubbish bin. Mr Jovicevic
said that he fired the gun to clear the area so he could get his friends and
girlfriends home.
He said he wanted to get home when he heard news that Mr Mercanti,a friend, “had
been slashed up by some Lebanese”.
“On our way out some burly young blokes came in and a fight erupted,” Mr
Jovicevic said. ”Those guys just wanted to do us harm. We would have copped a
flogging.”
Defence lawyer Laurie Levy tried to have the trial discharged during
cross-examination of Mr Jovicevic, claiming Magistrate Barbara Lane had let it
get into issues of character and it had “gone off the tracks”.
Ms Lane disagreed and chose not to discharge the trial with support of the
prosecution.
Mr Jovicevic has pleaded not guilty to one charge of possessing a firearm in
aggravated circumstances and not guilty to one charge of discharging a firearm
to cause fear. Mr Levy argued Mr Jovicevic fired the gun in self defence, but
police prosecutor Sgt Peter Smith disagreed. Ms Lane has reserved her decision.
