Paul Picone accused of threatening to ‘bury’ ex-bikie’s wife and having her car stolen
A Gold Coast millionaire threatened to “bury” the wife of an ex-bikie, it is alleged in court documents. It was just one of a number of threats he’s now accused of.
Crime and Court
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A Gold Coast millionaire threatened to “bury” the wife of an ex-bikie, set fire to her front lawn and had her car stolen after she accused him of rape, it is alleged in court documents.
A Peace and Good Behaviour Application lodged in the Southport Magistrates Court last month alleges Paul Picone told Helensvale cleaner Carly Smith to “withdraw your statement s*** or we will bury your family”.
Mrs Smith, who previously worked as a cleaner at a property owned by Mr Picone, claims the Gold Coast businessman raped her on August 1 last year. Mr Picone has strongly denied the accusation and was not charged after a police investigation.
Later that day, Mr Picone was stabbed in the chest at a Mudgeeraba sports field. Mrs Smith’s husband, former Black Uhlans bikie gang member Steven Edward Smith, has been committed to stand trial for grievous bodily harm and wounding.
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In the Peace and Good Behaviour Application, it is alleged Mr Picone’s brother, Craig Picone, asked a friend of Mrs Smith in December last year to “sort out the Smith family”.
“Approximately a week later I saw Craig Picone on the street and approached him to ask what he sought to achieve by the threat,” Mrs Smith alleges in the court documents. “He appeared very nervous and said ‘I didn’t mean it like that’.”
It is alleged a text message sent to Mrs Smith on June 7, 2019 threatened her family if the rape complainant was not withdrawn. “Specifically the text message said ‘withdraw your statement s*** or we will bury your family, fp’.”
A week later on June 15, it is alleged a fire was lit on the front lawn of Mrs Smith’s home. “Residual material was from a restaurant I know the defendant to frequent”, it is claimed in the court documents.
It is further alleged that Mrs Smith’s Holden Commodore was stolen from her work on August 31 and found the next day burnt out in Nerang.
Mrs Smith returned home on September 17 to find her two front doors open despite having secured them, it is alleged.
The case appeared in court yesterday during which Mrs Smith’s lawyer Todd Green, of CIF Lawyers, asked the matter be adjourned for 14 days so they could gather more information.
Magistrate Kerry Magee adjourned the matter to October 28.
Peace and Good Behaviour Applications are usually used between neighbours who have been unable to solve ongoing issues.
In the Southport Magistrates Court in August, Mr Picone said he told police officers four days after he was stabbed about his relationship with Mrs Smith.
However, that detail did not make his official police statement, made in September. “I chose to leave that out because of embarrassment,” Mr Picone told the court.
Mr Picone, the son of management rights millionaire Frank Picone, told the court he had seen Mrs Smith earlier that day but thought any sexual contact they had was consensual.
Mrs Smith has said the sexual relationship was not consensual.
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She told the Southport Magistrates Court in August that she was cleaning a room when Mr Picone came in and forced her to perform a sexual act.
Mrs Smith said she returned home and her husband saw a Snapchat message from Mr Picone.
“I told Steven I didn’t want to do it,” she said.
Mrs Smith described Smith as “blank” as she told him about the alleged attack. “He was devastated, he couldn’t comprehend,” she said.
Mr Picone is yet to response to the allegations in the Peace and Good Behaviour Application.
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