OFF THE WIRE
THE family of a teenager stripped naked at gunpoint and assaulted by Coffs Harbour members of the Rebels Motorcycle gxxg has expressed concern at 'the leniency of their sentencing.'
The mother of the victim, who was 16-years-old at the time, expressed her disappointment at the sentencing of the bikies outside a Sydney Court.
"The young fellow is extremely fearful and expressed concerns for his own safety," family members told media outside Sydney's Downing District Court.
"He doesn't believe the sentences protect him."
The head of the Coffs Harbour Rebels chapter Tony Steven Garven, 44, was sentenced to four years jail for his part in the kidnapping and assault, while co-accused Robert George Schilter, 52, was handed a two-year suspended sentence.
Judge Greg Woods found Garven guilty of waging a war of 'vigilante justice' in trying to settle a dispute over a minor motor vehicle accident on the Pacific Highway in Coffs Harbour on December 22, 2008.
The court heard the front door of the teen's unit at Park Beach was kicked in and the bikies beat him and dragged him into a car driven by Schilter.
Garven repeatedly punched the boy in the face as he was taken to bushland along Mnt Browne Rd at Karangi.
The court heard Garven then pointed a sawn-off shotgun in the teen's face and threatened to kill him.
In telling police of his ordeal the youth said he was ordered to strip naked.
He said the men ordered him to run and he feared he would be executed.
The court heard the youth hid in bushland for around two hours and later sought help at a nearby farmhouse after the men had left the scene.
Appeals may be pending against the sentences handed down last week.
http://www.coffscoastadvocate.com.au/story/2012/04/30/family-disappointed-bikie-jail-terms/
