OFF THE WIRE
BY: Sarah Farnsworth
Source: abc.net.au
Australia - A Supreme Court judge has refused to grant Ali Chaouk bail after police alleged he has links to the outlaw motorcycle gang the Hells Angels.
Police told the Victorian Supreme Court that 30-year-old Chaouk is a "hang-around" with the Hells Angels. Chaouk is awaiting trial for over the alleged baseball bat attack on German tourist Faisol Aakbari outside the bikie clubhouse in Thomastown last September.
The alleged bashing left Mr Aakbari in hospital with head injuries and Chaouk was on parole at the time.
During a bail hearing before Justice Betty King Detective Ben Condon testified Chaouk has links to the Nomad chapter of the Hells Angels.
The court heard on the night of the alleged attack he made several calls to high-ranking members of the gang, including the club president.
Audio of the bashing was captured on Chaouk's mobile phone with what sounds like a "clunk" and then 10 strikes of a bat.
Detective Condon told the court someone can be heard yelling "you are not a... Hells Angel".
But Chaouk's lawyer, Robert Richter QC, argued Chaouk was a "hang-about" and not a "patched" or prospective member.
His lawyers applied for bail on the grounds he will have been in Barwon Prison's Banksia unit, nicknamed "The Slot", under 21-hour lockdown for two years before facing trial.
Police opposed bail arguing Chaouk's association with the Hells Angels and his family's propensity for using guns in an ongoing feud with another family made him an unacceptable risk to the public.
He was also deemed a flight risk by police after taped prison calls revealed Chaouk tried to take the wrap for 36 blank passports found at a family home in Brooklyn during police raids earlier this month.
A revolver, pump-action shotgun and ammunition were also seized in the raids and his brother, Omar Chaouk, has been charged.
In denying bail, Justice Betty King told the court the Chaouks were a close-knit family.
"It is clear at least the male members of the family are prepared to do anything to prevent any member spending time in prison," she said.
While agreeing two years custody before a trial was very long, the judge told the court hanging around the Hells Angels was not the behaviour of the caring father of an 11-month-old, or a man on parole.
She said the "war" with the Haddara family was ongoing and noted "shots have been fired on both sides".
Judge King deemed it insufficient to order Chaouk to surrender his passport as he had access to stolen ones in the past.
"To say 'hand in your passport' when there are potentially others hidden in a cupboard is insulting," she said.
Chaouk will return to court in August.
