OFF THE WIRE AUSTRAILIA
Tony Keim From: The Courier-Mail August 13, 2010
A MEMBER of Australia's largest bikie gang has been ordered to pay $16,500 in compensation after running a rival group off the road and bashing them in a revenge attack more than three years ago.
A Brisbane District Court judge has ordered Rebels outlaw motorcycle club member Peter Rauhina, 38, pay criminal compensation to Steven Hines for injuries sustained when his motorcycle was run off the road near Bribie Island, 65km northeast of Brisbane, on February 25, 2007.
Judge Marshall Irwin, in a judgment published today, said Hines was riding with members of the rival Bandidos outlaw motorcycle club when he was injured.
Judge Irwin said Hines denied being a Bandidos member or "wearing their colours", but admitted "hanging around" their clubhouses and riding with them.
Rauhina was jailed for five years in September last year after pleading guilty to two counts of assault causing bodily harm and one each of perjury, affray and dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm.
Senior Judge Gilbert Trafford-Walker, during a sentencing hearing, was told Rauhina was one of six gang members who ran a group of Bandidos members off the road and attacked them as they returned from a picnic lunch.
Judge Trafford-Walker, who has since retired, was told a police investigation into the incident had been frustrated as a result of the actions of both gangs who maintained a code of silence throughout.
However, prosecutor Glen Cash said Rauhina, who was a member of the Caboolture chapter of the Rebels, admitted his involvement after choosing the welfare of his wife and two young children over that of motorcycle gang.
The Rebels attack on the Bandidos was a "get square" after they allegedly ran one of their club members – named only as "Head" – off the road, leaving him with permanent paralysis in one arm.
Mr Cash said the Rebels lay in wait as the Bandidos completed their lunch, got on their motorcycles and drove from Bribie Island toward Caboolture.
He said the Rebels gang followed the Bandidos along Bribie Island Rd and at Ningi ran them off the road.
The Rebels allegedly attacked members of the Bandidos with baseball bats and axe handles, and a gun was fired at least once during the melee, which was witnessed by some members of the public who locked themselves in their cars.
Hines, who fell underneath his bike, sustained a serious ankle fracture and required surgery to insert pins, the court was told.
Barrister Greg McGuire, for Rauhina, said his client was no longer a member of the Rebels club and was keen to return to New Zealand.
Mr McGuire said Rauhina told police: "When it comes down to it, the club or my family, I choose my family."
Judge Irwin, in granting Hines compensation, ordered Rauhina pay $7500 for the fractured ankle and $9000 for mental or nervous shock.
