Comanchero Zachary Robb, who punched a man in the toilets at Canberra’s Hellenic Club, wins appeal
A bikie has appealed a condition of his assault conviction after he punched a man, knocking him unconscious, at a Canberra club.
Canberra Star
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A Canberra bikie who lives at home with his mum will now be able to hang out with fellow Comanchero gang members after a winning an appeal.
Zachary Robb, 24, was in June sentenced to five months jail, fully suspended, after pleading guilty to his role in a February 2018 assault on a man in the toilets of Canberra’s Hellenic Club.
Robb, a fully patched Comanchero member, along with the then-Sergeant At Arms, Sofeso Tu’uta Katoa, attacked the man after the two — along with a woman — went into the men’s toilets and went into a cubicle together.
Robb’s victim told the woman she was not allowed in the men’s toilets, prompting her to say: “F**k you, I can go where I like”, the court heard.
The victim then responded: “I don’t give a shit who you are lady, you are not allowed in these toilets”, before threatening to call security.
Katoa, who has since been deported to New Zealand, and Robb each punched the man in the face, knocking him unconscious.
Magistrate James Lawton in June this year imposed a non-association order on Robb as part of his sentence, effectively banning him from having anything to do with a list of more than 30 fellow outlaw bikies, 12 of whom he worked with in construction.
During Robb’s sentencing hearing, Mr Lawton turfed two of Robb’s “good mates” from court, the president and the road captain of the local Comanchero chapter, who had shown up in support of their mate.
Robb’s lawyer, Luke Vozella, argued being a bikie did not “of itself, establish bad character and poor prospects of rehabilitation”.
On appeal, ACT Supreme Court Justice John Burns said “it was not disputed in the proceeding before the magistrate that the appellant was a member of the Comanchero OMCG” but tore up the non-association order saying it was not “reasonable and necessary”.
Justice Burns said neither Robb nor Katoa were wearing club colours when they attacked their victim, and that the “spontaneous and situational” offence had only a “tenuous” connection to their membership in the gang.