Tikoa Lene sentenced for OneFour, Inner West gang Mr Druitt brawl
A man with strong links to the Blacktown Samoan church community has vowed to change his ways after being sentenced for his role in a wild brawl between members of the OneFour and Inner West gangs.
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A churchgoing young father who took part in a wild brawl at a Mt Druitt pub while armed with a hammer has vowed to cut off his gang ties.
Tikoa Lene, 21, of Colyton, was sentenced at Parramatta District Court on Monday after pleading guilty to affray and participating in a criminal group following a stoush between warring Sydney gangs at Mt Druitt last year.
Dramatic CCTV footage of the fight, which erupted between the Inner West Brotherhood and OneFour street gang at The Village Hotel on July 10, 2019, showed Mr Lene armed with a hammer while a group of up to 20 men brawled in the carpark.
But Mr Lene didn’t use the hammer and his role in the fight was ‘minimal’.
The court heard that Lene was part of the “instigating group”, which met up at the Guildford Hotel that night to plan the onslaught following a gang altercation at Guildford train station earlier that day.
Seeking revenge, the group travelled out to Mt Druitt in a convoy of cars, which included Lene and his cousin Mal Seve, 22, in his mother’s Tarago van.
Mr Seve was sentenced to two years’ jail in June after pleading guilty to the same charges.
Judge Hanley said OneFour members had been innocently watching the football when the group was “raided” by the rival gang, with the fight spilling out into the carpark in front of shocked onlookers.
Knives, golf clubs and pool cues were used in the several minutes of mayhem, which saw Two Inner West brothers stabbed.
OneFour rapper and co-offender Salec Sua, suffered minor injuries after he was hit by a car.
Lene was not charged in relation to these incidents.
Sua was jailed for up to 14 months on Monday after pleading guilty to one charge of affray.
In sentencing, Judge Hanley found Lene’s participation in the fight to be “minimal” and lasted only a matter of seconds before he jumped back in the van and drove from the scene.
Judge Hanley found that Lene, despite being armed with a hammer, did not use it during the clash.
“He regrets the decision he made to go to the hotel that night and the impact it has had on his family,” he said.
“He is unlikely to reoffend. These offences are out of character.”
The court heard Lene was the son of a pastor and had strong links to the Blacktown Samoan Unity Christian Church.
A skilled rugby league player, it was through weekend footy matches at Guildford that Lene became caught up with members of the Inner West gang.
A month after the brawl, Lene was hit with an assault charge over an unrelated offence. He was convicted earlier this year.
Citing a letter written by Lene to the court, Judge Hanley accepted that he had severed his ties to the gang and had planned to get his life back on track.
“I would not want members of my family to see that kind of violence,” he wrote.
Lene was given a Community Corrections Order to be of good behaviour for two years. As part of the order, he is banned from associating with any Inner West gang members.
Judge Hanley slammed the actions of the brawlers and said gang violence would not be tolerated by the community.
“Members of the public were not surprisingly placed in fear of their safety,” he said.
“The community is abhorred by these gangs of young men, who by some immature desire, mark out areas as their own and defend them.
“The consequences of this behaviour can be fatal.”