Ex-Hells Angel Thomas O’Connor was trying to turn his life around when he shot gun at wrong Salisbury North home, court told
An ice addict bikie desperate to leave the Hells Angels was at the centre of a drive-by shooting - but he can’t answer how his girlfriend got shot.
North & North East
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A tradie who fired shots at the wrong house in an intended act of revenge is trying to turn his life around, a court heard.
Former Hells Angels OMCG member, Thomas Mortiz O’Connor, 32, was in the middle of an ice addiction when he fired the shots in an act of retribution.
Thomas Wilshire Patterson, 29, Mr O’Connor’s girlfriend, Natalie Marie Pilkington, 27, who was shot during the alleged incident and Mr Patterson’s girlfriend, Lilli Mae Trenerry, 27, are also accused of being involved in the mistaken shooting.
The Adelaide District Court on Thursday heard O’Connor fired shots from a .38 calibre firearm at a Salisbury North property on November 26, 2020.
David Edwardson QC, for O’Connor, told the court Ms Trenerry allegedly orchestrated the group to take revenge for her brother.
“It was some form of warning, some form of retribution,” he said.
“It turns out they had completely the wrong house … that’s no consolation for the people who were occupying that house. Importantly nobody was hurt.”
Mr Edwardson would not answer questions on how Ms Pilkington ended up being treated for a gunshot wound to her thigh after the shooting.
O’Connor, of Mile End, pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm to injure, annoy or frighten a person.
Ms Trenerry, of Morphett Vale, Mr Patterson, of Brahma Lodge and Ms Pilkington, of Mile End, pleaded not guilty to the same charge at an earlier hearing and will face trial at a later date.
Mr Edwardson said there had been a “massive transformation” in O’Connor, who was an “ice addict”.
“It’s no doubt that the combination of his membership of the Hells Angels, his drug abuse … had the inevitable consequence of serious offences that have been committed,” he said.
O’Connor also pleaded guilty to being present with two or more criminal organisation participants – at a meeting with active Hells Angel Jake Diesing, when O’Connor tried to leave the Hells Angels, the court heard.
Diesing was having dinner at the Somerset Hotel at Para Hills with a friend on December 28, 2020, when O’Connor and Patterson joined him.
“The purpose of that meeting … was to extradite himself (O’Connor) from the Hells Angels,” Mr Edwardson said.
Diesing was sentenced to three months and 15 days to be served on home detention.
However, he appealed against his sentence and a decision has been reserved.
Patterson, who was already serving a sentence of two years and six months for drug offending, had his non-parole period extended by two months.
The court heard O’Connor left the Hells Angels in January 2021.
Mr Edwardson said O’Connor, who had worked in the construction industry, had been abstaining from drugs while in custody.
Mr Edwardson pushed for a home detention sentence for O’Connor, acknowledging it was a “big ask” but he would have the support of his family.
“Extraordinarily they have this son who’s gone rogue but is hopefully coming back into the box,” he said.
However, a prosecutor told the court the offence was too serious for anything besides immediate jail, citing O’Connor’s lengthy criminal history.
Judge Liesl Kudelka will sentence O’Connor in July.
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