Two senior figures in the Bandidos Outlaw Motorcycle Gang will stand trial for an alleged attempt to murder an associate last year.
Kenneth James Whittaker, 45, and Sean Brian Irwin, 29, will face trial for allegedly attempting to murder Ashley Richard White in July last year.
Whittaker and Irwin, who are senior figures in the North Brisbane Bandidos branch, faced a committal hearing in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday. Whittaker was also committed on a charge of dangerous conduct with a weapon.
Police allege the pair attempted to murder White, 37, in July last year, allegedly over an unpaid drug debt.
During Thursday’s hearing, Mr White gave evidence that he saw a firearm when he attended a remote area in Samsonvale.
He said he overheard a conversation that he and another member were “conspiring against” Whittaker and tried to “butt in” on the conversation before he was shot.
Mr White said he thought it was because another member had gone around a man known as Kenny to source drugs.
“I’d been bashed two days before that and we were going up there to talk about that,” he said.
Items seized during a raid by Taskforce Maxima in July last year as part of an investigation into an alleged attempted murder. Credit: Supplied
When he was shot, the bullet grazed White’s chin before striking him in the shoulder.
Whittaker’s barrister Kim Bryson questioned White on his police statements, asking why he had left out details of a second car attending the scene.
“There’s a lot to remember, it was a pretty intense night,” he said.
Whittaker and Irwin’s defence lawyers argued there was no prima facie case for attempted murder based on the reliability and credibility of two witnesses.
“There is no evidence on which the crown could point to, to establish their proposition that the defendant had formed an intention and it was to kill the complainant,” Whittaker’s barrister Kim Bryson said.
Irwin’s defence lawyer, Doug Wilson, said there was nothing a jury could rely upon to find any intention to kill Mr White.
But Magistrate Anthony Gett rejected the no-case submissions, saying a jury could reasonably form the view there could have been an intention in the pair’s actions to kill.
The pair was committed to Brisbane Supreme Court for trial at a later date.
Irwin made an application for bail following the committal but it was refused, with Magistrate Gett saying the nature of the charge was serious and there was a risk of interfering with witnesses.
Whittaker is also facing charges including possessing dangerous drugs, unlawful possession of weapons, assault occasioning bodily harm and robbery.
The two were arrested at separate properties in Samsonvale and Caboolture in December last year.
Several handguns, a sawn-off rifle, ammunition, false identifications, dangerous drugs and a large amount of bikie paraphernalia were seized at the Samsonvale address.
