Benjamin Main: Senior Finks bikie had appeal upheld over pub bashing

A high-ranking bikie was trying to cut ties with the Finks before he bashed two pub patrons in a cocaine-fuelled outburst. See how his appeal went.

A high-ranking member of the Newcastle City Finks has been released from jail just one week after his incarceration for violently bashing two pub patrons in an alcohol and cocaine-fuelled outburst last year.

Cessnock Local Court Magistrate Andrew Miller sentenced Benjamin Main, 28, to 16 months behind bars on March 18, with a non-parole period of eight months, following the incident at the Royal Federal Hotel Branxton on December 19.

Immediately indicating he would appeal the severity of his sentence, Main only had to wait eight days to have the penalty downgraded in Newcastle District Court.

Judge Roy Ellis upheld the appeal and replaced the jail term with a 12-month intensive corrections order.

Benjamin Main outside the Supreme Court of NSW in 2018.

A two-year community corrections order he was given in the lower court remained.

Main was also ordered to complete 200 hours of community service, abstain from drugs for the duration of the order, and not to associate with any known or suspected member, nominee or prospect of an outlaw motorcycle gang.

EARLIER

March 18 – by Emily Burley

A senior member of the Newcastle City Finks who “probably regrets” his criminal association was doing his best to distance himself from the outlaw gang, helped along by a Supreme Court order prohibiting him from consorting with the group.

But Benjamin Main’s lawyer said the 28-year-old “fell off the rails” and back into the arms of his Finks comrades, after the order expired in July last year.

What hadn’t expired was a community corrections order he’d been sentenced to for participating in the group and their crimes in the past.

That order was breached when Main violently bashed two pub patrons in an alcohol and cocaine-fuelled outburst before Christmas.

Cessnock Local Court heard Main, his co-accused Tate Ward, two other Finks members and three women were drinking at the Royal Federal Hotel Branxton for about four hours on December 19 last year, when two other patrons made comments about Main’s deceased sister.

Although CCTV captured a “heated discussion”, Main and his alleged co-accused waited until security staff were distracted by an unrelated scuffle to exact revenge.

Benjamin Main. Picture: Facebook.

One victim, who saw the group approaching, made a failed attempt to hide behind other patrons.

The court heard he was forced to the ground by Main and an unidentified companion in a Finks T-shirt, before being punched and kicked.

A second victim was allegedly punched by Ward, who then repeatedly smashed the man’s head into a wooden bench.

The fight was broken up by security, with the Finks and the victims leaving the venue before police arrived.

The victims never filed a complaint with police.

Main on Thursday fronted court for sentencing, having previously pleaded guilty to affray, breaching the community corrections order and a drug possession charge two weeks before the assault.

His lawyer, Roland Day, told the court Main had been trying to change his life and distance himself from the Finks before the incident.

“His choices are something he probably regrets,” Mr Day told the court.

“It led him to that situation … he probably thought he had a sense of loyalty.

Benjamin Main at Cessnock Court House in March 2021. Picture: Emily Burley.

“His non-association expired in July so there were no restrictions at that time.

“But he shouldn’t have gone back to those associates again.

“He was on the rails and fell off the rails for a while when these offences took place.”

Mr Day told the court the affray was a “non-planned, spontaneous decision” and no weapons were involved.

But he admitted Main, a cocaine addict with an anger problem, had been using the drug in the hours beforehand.

Mr Day said Main’s emotional issues had evolved into PTSD, after giving CPR to fellow Finks member and mate Bodie Dwyer, who ultimately died from the injuries he sustained in a motorcycle crash in January.

He said Main was dating a nurse whose positive influence was encouraging him to change his life, and requested another community-based sentence and an order barring him from consorting with the Finks be put in place.

Mr Day said his client was concerned about “what might happen to him” if he was sent back to prison, based on past experiences.

But Magistrate Andrew Miller said community orders “clearly did not work” in the past.

“He has fallen back into company again with members of the criminal organisation,” Mr Miller said.

“A message needs to be sent to the community about persons who partake in this kind of violent activity in public.”

Mr Miller sentenced Main to 16 months behind bars with a non-parole period of eight months, plus a new community corrections order of two years.

Main was taken into custody, but only two hours later returned to the court, to appeal the severity of the jail term.

An application for bail pending the appeal was denied, with Main to remain behind bars until the matter moves to the District Court.

Ward has pleaded not guilty to his alleged part in the affray and will next appear in Muswellbrook Local Court on April 1.