Bikers farewell staunch comrade
January 29, 2005
RIDING two and three abreast, hundreds of bikies today
followed the body of their "staunch" comrade, Gypsy Jokers founding member
Les Hoddy, to the Perth cemetery where he was laid to rest.
Hoddy, 56, died of a heart attack eight days ago.
Today, in a funeral procession led by two stretch
limousines, a huge contingent of Gypsy Jokers members were joined by several
hundred bikies from other clubs, including the Coffin Cheaters, God's
Garbage, The Rebels, The Veterans and Club Deroes.
Even before it began, the funeral attracted
controversy, with WA Premier Geoff Gallop and Police Minister Michelle
Roberts criticising a police decision to grant the bikies a permit to ride
without helmets for the five kilometres between the funeral home to Midland
Cemetery, in Perth's east.
The funeral procession was also given a run of green
lights as it crossed numerous intersections and two major highways, with
police preventing traffic from interrupting the cortege.
As they gathered around Hoddy's coffin this afternoon,
bikies in full leathers drank beers or bottled water supplied from a fridge
mounted on the back of a truck, parked within the cemetery.
A graveside eulogy delivered by a close mate urged
mourners to remember a man with a huge heart, who never took a backward
step.
"Les was a staunch man, a proud man, straight up and
down, always leading by example," he said.
"Although Les may not have been a tall man, with the
strength in his heart and the fire in his belly, no man could ever ignore
his ferocity."
Hoddy, who founded the club in 1970, was acquitted
last year of bombing former senior detective Don Hancock's hotel and home
near Kalgoorlie, 600km east of Perth.
He was also one of the first bikies to have his assets
stripped - a Harley Davidson motorcycle, trucks, a home and cash - under
Western Australia's tough confiscation laws.
The Johnny Cash track Man in Black was played twice
after Hoddy's casket was lowered into the ground, with mourners firing up
their bikes soon after to make their way to the wake at the Gypsy Jokers
Clubhouse in the southern suburb of Maddington.
Police kept a low-key presence as the burial took
place, but were present to ensure bikies wore their helmets away from the
burial service, and breath-tested some riders.
Marked and unmarked patrol cars lined the route to the
clubhouse, as did groups of families, who parked their cars at the highway's
edge to wait for the spectacle of the bikes roaring past.
Some people brought picnics, kids climbed trees and
others crowded onto pedestrian overpasses to catch a glimpse.
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