District Court Judge declares mistrial in Holden stolen engines trial

A “DISPLEASED” judge has declared a mistrial in the case against two men accused of scamming hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of spare parts from the Holden plant in Elizabeth.

A “DISPLEASED” judge has declared a mistrial in the case against two men accused of scamming hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of spare parts from the Holden plant in Elizabeth.

Stunt driver Robin Gerard Bolger, 43, had pleaded not guilty to 74 counts of money laundering and theft while his co-accused Jason James Gangell, 40, has also pleaded not guilty to 178 counts of the same charges between September 2010 and September 2011.

District Court Judge Steven Millsteed declared a mistrial — more than three years after the men were first charged.

During the trial prosecutors had told the jury Bolger and Gangell, who worked at Holden at the time, had met through the stunt driving community and had conspired to steal dozens of high performance engines and transmissions.

The court heard Gangell stored the engines and then sold them to Bolger, who distributed the parts across Australia through his company Stuntrider.

The jury was told Bolger was a motorcycle stunt rider and drift driver who had appeared at major sports events, including Clipsal 500.

The jury had heard evidence for almost two weeks before Judge Millsteed declared the mistrial due to a complication with the evidence presented by prosecutors.

“I am greatly displeased — much time and effort has been spent on this trial and what displeases me greatly is the that great inconvenience has been caused to each of you,” he told the jury.

Judge Millsteed set a new trial date for November.