Harley Lamotte pleads guilty to firearm charges following a raid on his Cardiff home

First came a wild brawl at a Newcastle pub before police raided several homes across the Hunter to uncover guns and drugs. One of those belonging to a Bandidos bikie. Read the details.

A group were charged by Raptor Squad officers investigating a pub brawl in Lake Macquarie in February 2023. They raided several homes across the Hunter in March. Picture: NSW Police

Almost a month after a wild pub brawl in Newcastle, police raids uncovered drugs and guns at several homes across the Hunter including that of a Bandidos bikie.

Harley Paul Hendrick Lamotte, 30, admitted to his involvement in a violent brawl at a fundraiser at the Minmi Hotel on February 18 last year before police raided his Lake Macquarie home the following month.

Raptor North officers called in to investigate the brawl swarmed four homes at Cardiff, Edgeworth, Gillieston Heights and Newcastle West on March 14.

A Macquarie Rd address at Cardiff was that of Lamotte’s and his then girlfriend where police facts detailed they discovered and seized a bag containing 70 grams of cannabis in the kitchen hidden in an exhaust fan and a black duffel bag containing eight vials of steroids under a stairwell.

One of the firearms seized in the raids. Picture: NSW Police

Officers also uncovered a Bandidos membership card and vest with the word ‘prospect’ on it, an imitation machine gun, two revolvers and 142 rounds ammunition.

While Lamotte was not at home at the time of the search, police facts said he had been stopped earlier by police at Cardiff where they searched his vehicle and located a small amount of meth and clear resealable bags.

Lamotte was taken to Toronto Police Station and forensically tested by buccal swab, while firearms were also tested and his DNA found on the trigger of the imitation machine gun.

Police facts detailed that officers also examined his iphone and found photographs of him with a pistol tucked into his pants and of Lamotte wearing Bandidos clothing.

In Newcastle Local Court last week he pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of an unauthorised pistol and one charge of possession of an unauthorised firearm, while charges of drug possession and possession of ammunition would be used as back-up charges.

He’ll head to Newcastle District court next month for a sentence date to be set over those charges.

Earlier this month Lamotte and two fellow bikies also pleaded guilty to affray over the violent Minmi pub brawl, while charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm were dropped against them.

Lamotte also pleaded guilty to participation in a criminal group and was found guilty of knowingly displaying by public act a Nazi symbol without excuse.

The pub brawl broke out when one of the men involved was asked to leave and grabbed a female employee’s arm and threw a glass at the wall.

While the group left, they returned to the hotel later that evening where another brawl broke out in the pub’s car park where a man was assaulted.

He’ll be sentenced for the brawl in April.