OFF THE WIRE
An angry and appalled NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell has launched a scathing attack on the judiciary after a Hells Angels bikie who allegedly torched a police paddy wagon was freed on bail.
Scott Allen Orrock, 47, was granted bail by Magistrate Julie Huber in Sydney's Central Local Court on Thursday, with the premier responding by accusing the judiciary of "living in a parallel universe".
Orrock is accused of setting fire to the police wagon outside his Newtown tattoo parlour, Skin Deep, after it was parked there by officers concerned about ongoing reprisal attacks between rival bikie gxxgs the Hells Angels and the Nomads.
Ms Huber noted the bikie's previous convictions did not involve assaults or actions taken against police, and that Orrock had asked that the police vehicle be moved as it was posing a threat to the safety of his wife and two children.
"Under the circumstances, I am satisfied that bail should be granted," Ms Huber told the court.
The torching of the paddy wagon, together with a continued spate of gxxg related drive-by shootings, prompted Mr O'Farrell to last week announce new legislation banning outlaw gxxgs from owning tattoo parlours.
Speaking to reporters in the wake of the court hearing, Mr O'Farrell said the decision to grant the bikie bail sent "completely and utterly the wrong message".
He said police had referred the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), who would "urgently" look at an appeal.
"I'm appalled and angry by this decision," Mr O'Farrell.
"It is about time members of the judiciary stopped living in a parallel universe and understood that Sydney's in the midst of a serious bikie gxxg war and when police are doing everything they can to arrest these thugs they deserve support," Mr O'Farrell said.
"Judges and magistrates need to start supporting police. Judges and magistrates need to leave the bubbles they appear to live in, and look what is happening in Sydney.
"When police are actually making progress in arresting outlaw motorcycle gxxg members, people who are engaging in either shootings or firebombings, they ought to back them by taking these matters seriously."
From Friday bikies will be banned from wearing their colours in 58 Kings Cross venues, under another anti-gang measure announced by Mr O'Farrell last Friday.
However, his plan to ban bikies from owning tattoo parlours is likely to face challenges, one lawyer has told the Ten Network.
United Motorcycle Council lawyer Wayne Bassky said there will be "challenges to the law at some point", and "everybody is prepared to fight this".
"I'm just astonished that because a couple have been shot at, then every owner around NSW is now about to be penalised," he told Network Ten.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8457625
