Victim of Gold Coast’s most infamous bikie shootings says she’s found peace with attacker
THE woman accidentally gunned down in the middle of a bikie stand-off at a Gold Coast shopping centre says she has completely forgiven the man who shot her.
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THE woman accidentally gunned down in the middle of a bikie stand-off at a Gold Coast shopping centre says she has completely forgiven the man who shot her.
Kathy Devitt still has the scars and a fragment of the bullet lodged in her side from the shots fired by Mongols bikie Mark James Graham at Robina Town Centre five years ago.
Ms Devitt, 53 at the time of the incident, was hit as Graham opened fire on Bandido rival Jacques Teamo.
Speaking publically for the first time since Graham was sentenced nearly three years ago, Ms Devitt said an apologetic letter written by the bikie has been a cornerstone to her recovery.
“He wrote me a letter and that was between him and I ... (I) think because at the time they don’t think of the consequences when they’re in those kind of situations,” the TAFE teacher said.
“I believe that he really was sincere in what he said to me. I think psychologically because I know in the end that I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time that the gun wasn’t pointed at my head or anything like that, and because I actually did make a recovery ... I had a goal to focus on ... it doesn’t deter me.”
Ms Devitt said she thought the attack took a heavier psychological toll on her children who were burdened with the worry upon hearing of the shooting on that rainy Saturday afternoon in April 2012.
And regardless of the shooter’s murderous intentions, Ms Devitt said she felt most sorry for Graham’s family.
“I think the biggest impact was on my children when they got that phone call.
“I really felt sorry because he has a little girl ... I really felt sorry for the child ... the choices that he made.”
Ms Devitt, the Gold Coast Hockey secretary and Australian masters representative, said continuing to play hockey at an elite level was another big part of her recovery.
Her desire to represent her country in England in late 2012 was a driving force behind her recovery, she said.
“The damage it did to the muscles in my glutes and that, it took me a while but I did get on that plane to England and I did play.
“I’m still representing Australia in masters hockey – I just came back from New Zealand in May for the trans-Tasman Cup.
$10 note and two shots in gangster fight
BIKIE Mark James Graham was sentenced to 12 years and three months jail for shooting Kathy Devitt during a stand-off with a gang rival at the packed Robina Town Centre.
During his sentencing in November 2014, a head-shaven Graham – a Fink MC member before patching over to the Mongols – had the words “carnage”, “revenge” and the bikie tag “1%” tattooed on his face.
On the day of the shooting, Graham, celebrating his daughter’s birthday, is captured pacing through the busy shopping centre.
Something catches his attention and he goes back to look into a shop. He walks off, then stops, reaches into his trouser pocket, handles an object and then appears to put it back.
Graham walks back to the shop, goes inside, out of view of the camera, before emerging again at 1.45pm.
He is followed out of the store by ex-Bandido Jacques Teamo. Teamo appears to yell out to Graham.
CCTV showed the two men facing off before being interrupted by a Good Samaritan who handed Graham a $10 note that he inadvertently dropped, probably while he pulled a gun from his bum bag.
Graham then opened fire, sending Mr Teamo and shoppers running for cover.
The first shot hit Mr Teamo in the arm. The second hit Ms Devitt in the hip. Graham was arrested by police in Melbourne two days later.
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