Government lawyers drop bid to seize Hells Angels base in Ponde, leaving questions about who will foot the bikies’ legal bill
A brazen bid to seize the Hells Angels’ stronghold has been suddenly abandoned – catching a senior judge off-guard and potentially leaving taxpayers to pay the outlaws’ hefty legal costs.
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An audacious, unprecedented bid to forcibly seize a bikie stronghold has been abandoned by the State Government – meaning taxpayers may have to foot the outlaws’ legal bill.
In the Supreme Court on Wednesday, government lawyers said they would no longer seek to claim the Hell’s Angels’ beloved, million-dollar Ponde property as an instrument of crime.
The decision – which caught Justice Malcolm Blue off-guard – came after a series of fraught hearings that saw claims of legal abuse and another judge disqualify himself.
The only remaining dispute in the aborted attempt is the bill – it is estimated the gang’s legal costs, which include hiring a QC, run into tens of thousands of dollars.
Justice Blue said he had not been anticipating the dismissal of the entire law suit and allowed an adjournment of almost two weeks for both parties to prepare arguments about who should pay costs.
In a statement outside court, a spokeswoman for Director of Public Prosecutions Martin Hinton SC said the decision followed a “reassessment” of the case.
“The Director has advised that proceedings were brought to an end after re-assessing the prospects of success and the associated cost,” she said.
In December, The Advertiser revealed the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutors had filed a forfeiture injunction against the property, 107km east of Adelaide.
The 15ha of scrubland has, for more than 40 years, been the gang’s untouchable “home away from home”.
The bid was sparked by the successful prosecution of gang member Joshua Roy Grant for the 2017 murder of Mark Boyce.
The getaway car used after Mr Boyce’s murder was found, partly dismantled and burnt-out, buried 4m under the property.
Because Grant is a director of Disorganised Developments – the company that owns Ponde – prosecutors argued the property was therefore an instrument of crime.
Under the Criminal Assets Confiscation Act (2005), law enforcement groups have six months from the date of conviction to seize an offender’s property.
The Act also allows a court to grant restraining orders over property – however, forfeiture then occurs automatically.
Following the first court hearing, gang members were warned not to attend nor go near Ponde otherwise forfeiture would be triggered automatically.
The case then ran into trouble in July, when Justice David Lovell was asked to – and agreed to – disqualify himself from hearing the matter.
Earlier this month, counsel for company argued the entire case was an abuse of the legal process.
They argued that, by seeking a forfeiture order and a separate restraining order at the same time, prosecutors had abused the operation of the Act.
On Wednesday, Crown solicitor Todd Golding appeared on behalf of the ODPP and the State Government.
“After some discussion between myself and my learned friend I indicated on behalf of my client that I pursue a discontinuance,” he said.
“These proceedings are somewhat unique.”