Former Nomads bikie Zane Christopher Holding sentenced after standing over Lambton man for drug debt

A former gang member has told a sentencing judge he agreed to intimidate a man over an unpaid drug debt, in exchange for paying off a $10,000 exit fee to safely leave the club.

Zane Christopher Holding, now aged 25, was sentenced in Newcastle District Court. (File picture).

A former bikie has claimed he only agreed to take on a role as a gun-toting standover man as a means of paying off his own debt – a $10,000 exit fee placed on him as payment for leaving the outlaw gang to lead a crime-free life.

Zane Christopher Holding was on parole when he knocked on the back door of a suburban Newcastle home late at night and pointed a pistol at his victim while ordering him to pay a drug debt or he and Holding’s fellow intimidator, Tobey Lee Hyde, would be back.

The pistol may have been an inoperable gel blaster but it was used again moments later to intimidate his victim’s mother and brother, who had turned up at the Lambton home on September 7, 2022 as Holding and Hyde were walking down the driveway.

“We know he’s inside, tell him we will be back,” the victim’s relatives were told.

But the pair never got the chance to return, with responding police arriving and arresting them as they walked on to Turton Rd.

Newcastle District Court heard Zane Holding claim he decided to performing the standover man duties in order to pay off an exit debt to a bikie gang. (File picture)

A search of Holding found 4.04 grams of MDMA and 3.15 grams of cannabis, while a search of the victim’s backyard came up with the gel blaster.

Holding, now aged, 25, was sentenced in Newcastle District Court on Thursday to an aggregate term of three years in jail after pleading guilty to two counts of using an offensive weapon with intent to commit intimidation, two counts of possessing a prohibited drug and one count of possessing an authorised firearm.

Zane Holding.

And with Judge Roy Ellis partially backdating the 21-month non-parole period to account for time already served, Holding will be eligible for release as early as August 27.

The court heard Holding, who has previously been a member of the Nomads, said he had only agreed to perform the standover tactic as a means to help pay off the $10,000 exit fee handed to him after he told gang members that he wanted to quit the bikie life for the straight and narrow.

And so it was that Holding and Hyde, then aged 33, arrived at the Lambton home on behalf of an outlaw motorcycle gang to warn a resident that his drug debt was overdue and he needed to pay up.

Judge Ellis said the men did not force their way inside nor physically assault the man, though there was “clearly an inference” that if he failed to pay up then the men would return.

He found Holding had survived a bad childhood and had been self-medicating with illicit drugs.

Holding was on parole for drug offences when he was arrested for the intimidation, with Judge Ellis lecturing him about the need to seek further counselling during his rehabilitation or face a risk of reoffending when he was released.

The court heart Holding had since left the bikie gang and was planning on steering clear of authorities.

Hyde has already been sentenced to a 15-month maximum jail term, with a nine-month non-parole period, for his role.