Domenic Perre sentenced to seven years and six months in prison for multiple counts of trafficking in a commercial quantity of a controlled drug
Domenic Perre has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for acting as guiding hand in a drug racket stretching across the Barossa, northern suburbs and Western Australia.
Police & Courts
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Accused NCA bomber Domenic Perre has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for his role as the guiding hand in a complex drug operation.
The 63-year-old will be eligible for parole in early 2023 for the offending which spanned the northern suburbs, the Barossa and Western Australia.
In the District Court on Tuesday Judge Rauf Soulio said Perre provided guidance and instructions to his co-accused.
Perre remained expressionless as he was sentenced for the offending before a court consisting of family and senior detectives.
He had pleaded guilty to three counts of cultivating a large commercial quantity of a controlled drug, possessing an illegal silencer and breaching a previous good behaviour bond for a separate incident of growing cannabis.
Judge Soulio said the offending came to light when police placed a listening device in a shed used by Perre as a combined bar and workshop.
The listening device picked up Perre discussing and planning the growth of the plants and their sale.
Perre and his co-accused were arrested for the sale of more than 70 pounds of cannabis across two different syndicates.
Perre is the last person to be sentenced for the offending, with other co-accused including his brother Francesco, sister in law Rita and nephew Antonio already finalised before the courts.
Perre’s legal team argued that his poor health and high risk if exposed to COVID-19 were sufficient to enable Judge Soulio to impose a lower than mandated non-parole period.
The judge disagreed, noting that all of Perre’s medical conditions could be treated behind bars if he engaged with prison health services, rather than throwing pills back at medical personnel.
Perre has previously served terms of imprisonment for taking part in the manufacture of a large commercial quantity of methamphetamine, as well as his role in the cultivation of 10,000 cannabis plants in Hidden Valley in the Northern Territory.
The court also heard from members of the community who said that Perre was a well respected figure and a beloved grandfather,
Judge Soulio noted that Perre’s role in the drug operation was more significant than that of a co-offender who was sentenced to six years in prison for his role.
The judge sentenced to Perre to seven years, six months and 12 days in prison with a non-parole period of six years and 10 days.
The sentence will be backdated to his arrest on June 15, 2017.
Perre has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and attempted murder relating to the bombing of the NCA building on Waymouth St on March 2, 1994.
Detective Sergeant Geoffrey Bowen died and lawyer Peter Wallis was severely injured when a parcel bomb exploded in the office.
Perre was originally charged days after the explosion but those allegations were dropped six months later, with prosecutors saying there was “no reasonable chance of conviction”.
He was arrested again in March 2018 and is scheduled to stand trial before judge alone in the coming months.
