Bogdan Cuic and Bandidos associate pleads guilty to manslaughter of Jei “Jack” Lee
AFTER making headlines in 2016 for his extradition from Serbia to Brisbane, a Bandidos bikie and a gang associate have now pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of a man at a Brisbane shopping centre.
Crime & Justice
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JEI “Jack” Lee was killed outside a shopping centre in Brisbane’s south in 2012 after a gun was discharged during a fight over a bag of cocaine.
Six years later, two men claimed responsibility for the death, just moments before they were set to face trial over the man’s murder.
Bandidos bikie Bogdan Cuic and his motorcycle gang associate Marko Cokara yesterday pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to the downgraded charge of the manslaughter of Mr Lee.
The 22-year-old died after being shot in the head at close range on April 12, 2012, at Warrigal Shopping Centre at Eight Mile Plains.
The Courier-Mail understands the men have pleaded guilty on the basis one of them accidentally discharged the gun in a scuffle over the bag of cocaine after they met at the shopping centre to do the deal.
Cuic made headlines in 2016 after he was extradited from Serbia to Brisbane and charged over the murder.
The man left Australia hours after Mr Lee was shot. Years later, detectives found Cuic hiding in a tree in a remote farming area in Serbia.
The wanted bikie was tracked through a mobile phone application used to pay for parking, The Courier-Mail understands.
Cuic’s extradition was one of the first times police had brought a suspect from an Eastern European country to face criminal prosecution.
Detectives allege the botched drug deal was over an amount of cocaine with a street value of about $17,000.
Cokara and Cuic allegedly arrived in a silver BMW coupe and met Mr Lee and another man to do the deal at the shopping centre.
Witnesses told police they heard a gunshot and saw Mr Lee fall to the ground before the silver BMW quickly drove out of the carpark.
The vehicle was found dumped at Riverhills and Mr Lee’s body was found without the cocaine, police say.
Cuic and Cokara will be sentenced on October 29.
They remain on remand.
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