OFF THE WIRE
Greg Stolz
Source: couriermail.com.au
Australia - ~Lone Wolf bikie jailed for 16 years for cutting off man's ears over disputed drug debt~
A GOLD Coast bikie who cut off a man's ears over a disputed drug debt has been jailed for 16 years.
But amid emotion-charged scenes in Southport District Court today, former Lone Wolf bikie gang member Aaron Scheers vowed to appeal as he was led away to the cells.
Scheers' tearful mother cried out at the judge as he left the courtroom and his father said the truth had not come out.
``If the truth was told, we'd all be dead," he told reporters.
Other family members yelled accusations at officers from police anti-bikie squad Taskforce Hydra who charged Scheers.
Scheers, 26, pleaded guilty to 10 charges including kidnapping, grievious bodily harm, extortion and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
In November 2007, after an all night alcohol and drug-fuelled party at the Lone Wolf clubhouse at Currumbin, self-confessed criminal David Holmes was kidnapped from his home, tied up and taken to a national park where he was bashed and had his ears sliced off.
Holmes was later threatened and bribed not to testify against Scheers but another bikie gang associate rolled over to police.
Judge Clive Wall, QC, said Holmes had been left for dead in a callous, brutal and corwardly attack.
He said the ear-cutting, especially, was 'an extremely brutal and cruel' crime of a type rarely seen in Australia.
Holmes' disfigurement 'will be a permanent reminder of what you did to him', the judge told Scheers.
Judge Wall sentenced Scheers to 13 years for the ear-cutting - the top of the range recommended by prosecutors.
He added three years to the sentence for the offence of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Earlier this month, Scheers was jailed for eight months for contempt for refusing to answer Crime and Misconduct Commission questions relating to witness tampering.
Scheers, who has already spent more than two years behind bars awaiting sentence, was declared a serious violent offender - meaning he will have to serve at least 80 per cent of his sentence.
``We'll appeal it, don't worry about it," he shouted to family members as he was led away.
