Bikie acquittal another bloody nose for CCC
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From: AAP
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December 04, 2012
AN Iranian acquaintance of a senior Coffin Cheater has been cleared of misleading Western Australia's corruption watchdog after he was accused of giving false evidence about a vicious bikie brawl.
In another
bloody nose for the Corruption and Crime Commission,
Mohammed Alamdar from Mosman Park was acquitted of a charge
of giving false or misleading evidence during two CCC
inquisitions in 2010 and 2011.
Mr Alamdar was ordered to give evidence about the showdown
between the Coffin Cheaters and the Finks at the Kwinana
Motorplex racing venue in late 2010.peThe brawl left Finks
members Stephen Wallace with three fingers missing, David
Marrapodi with a gunshot wound and Troy Smith with serious
head injuries.
At a trial at Perth Magistrates Court, video interviews of
Alamdar at the CCC were shown, where he claimed his memory
was impaired after being dropped on his head as a child.
He consistently said he could not remember details of his
association with the Coffin Cheaters.
Later, he appeared to admit that was not true, saying he had
been scared for himself and his family in giving evidence.
With Farsi being Mr Alamdar's first language, the defence
said he sometimes struggled to communicate, citing various
instances during the CCC hearings where he had sought
clarification of a question or said he was unsure of the
answer.
His lawyer Laurie Levy argued the Iranian may have
misinterpreted what he was being asked, and may have
initially only suspected a brawl had occurred, suspicions
that were confirmed when he watched the news the next day.
And after a two-day hearing, magistrate Peter Malone agreed,
saying the prosecution had not proved at any point Mr
Alamdar had witnessed the actual fight - so in turn had not
proved he lied to the CCC about what he knew.
Mr Malone also said Mr Alamdar's understanding of English
was not "objectively good''.
"Extreme caution is necessary before one could rely on a
literal understanding of what the accused may have stated,''
Mr Malone said.
"There are multiple questions within questions and it gives
rise to doubts as to what the accused is saying in
answering.''
Mr Alamdar was also awarded costs totalling more than
$14,000.
After the verdict, he criticised the tactics of CCC
investigators who raided his house in the days following the
brawl.
"It was awful. If they want to raid the house they should
let us know, because we have kids (there). It was not very
nice,'' Mr Alamdar said.
Today's acquittal comes a day after former West Australian
premier Brian Burke was found not guilty of illegally
obtaining official secrets, arising from a CCC
investigation.