Senior Hells Angels and company Disorganized Developments win chance to appeal Ponde decision to the High Court

SA’s Hells Angels were banned from their sprawling country fortress by the state government – but a court decision means they could get it back.

Two senior Hells Angels and their company have been granted permission to appeal in the High Court after their prized country stronghold was declared a prescribed area forbidden to all members of the club.

Disorganized Developments and its two directors Peter Keith Stacey and Stephen John Taylor maintain Ponde, a 15ha complex of buildings, race tracks and scrub in Cowira, 100km east of Adelaide.

Ponde was known for its music festival and as a hangout for members of the Hells Angels who have called it home for decades. Police also found a getaway car allegedly used in the murder of Mark Boyce.

In February this year the Supreme Court upheld the validity of a December 2020 declaration making Ponde a prescribed area, which would land any member of a declared criminal organisation in custody if they set foot on the property.

Last week, Jonathan Wells KC appeared for the company and its directors in the High Court seeking permission to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s judgment.

Police search a property linked to the Hells Angels Bikie club at Ponde, South Australia today. Picture: 7NEWS Adelaide

Detectives at the front of the Hells Angels’ Ponde property in SA’s Murray Mallee region, during a search in 2019 over two murders. Picture: Tom Huntley

In his written submissions, Mr Wells argued the Court of Appeal had made a mistake in the way it interpreted the legislation allowing for the property to be declared a prescribed site.

Among his arguments was the company and its directors had been denied procedural fairness because they had not been consulted before the declaration was made.

High Court Justice Jacqueline Gleeson asked SA Solicitor General Mike Wait SC whether the directors could have been able to convince the government not to make the declaration.

Mr Wait said the focus of the legislation was not on individual justice, but on the broader social policy of restricting the actions of outlaw motorcycle gangs.

An aerial shot of the discovery of the getaway car at Ponde, during a police search for evidence in two murder cases. Picture: Nine News

He argued the case was unique to South Australia and ought not trouble the High Court.

After a brief adjournment, Justices Stephen Gageler, Michelle Gordon and Gleeson allowed permission to appeal, setting up a High Court showdown over the fate of Ponde.

The declaration was round two in a battle to take control of the property from the gang.

Previously, the Director of Public Prosecutions had been forced to withdraw an application to have the site forfeited as an instrument of crime.

That argument, which was eventually withdrawn, would have claimed the storing of the getaway vehicle at Ponde was part of the murder of Mr Boyce.

The state government was ordered to pay costs to Disorganized Developments and its directors after the case was withdrawn.