Donya Anna Assi: bikies bashed up man whose threats ‘petrified’ woman, court hears

A court has heard that a woman was caught between ‘a rock and a hard place’ after a man threatened to shoot her and burn down the gym she worked at. Read how it led to a bikie bash up outside of her workplace.

A woman involved in the assault on a man outside of a Helensvale gym she worked at was fearful after he threatened to shoot her and burn down the gym, a court has heard.

Donya Anna Assi, 54, pleaded guilty to common assault at her sentencing in the Southport District Court on Friday.

Seven men including the owner of the Iron Asylum gym and three Mongols bikies assaulted Dale Moore, a Rebels or ex-Rebels gang member in a carpark near the gym on February 28, 2022.

Donya Assi outside Southport Courthouse on May 8, 2022. Picture: Lea Emery

Harley Joe Barbaro, 32, Matthew Stephen Hutchins, 32, Tama David Lewis, 40, Sonny Brandon Jenkins, 32, Luke Dillon Tobin, 31, Trent Nathan Young, 31, and Samuel Joseph Richard Pearce, 33, each pleaded guilty to common assault and were sentenced at Southport District Court on January 30, 2025.

The court heard Assi had been assisting Mr Moore financially prior to the offence by paying his rent, phone bill and had a car loan for him in her name, but their friendship deteriorated when Mr Moore was unable to make payments on the loan.

Mr Moore threatened to shoot Assi and burn down the gym she worked at, the court heard. No charges have been laid against Mr Moore.

Assi’s defence barrister Tass Antos told the court that his client became “petrified” in respect of the situation and was stuck between “a rock and a hard place”.

The court heard that Assi did go to police but declined to make a criminal complaint.

She instead went to Mr Pearce, the Iron Asylum gym owner, for help and he contacted others, the court heard.

Text messages read out in court revealed that Pearce had told Assi he felt they could “get a solution out of this without violence”.

Text messages between Barabaro and Assi from February 26 were also read in court, where Assi said she was “so embarrassed about [her] situation” and thanked Barbaro.

The brawl outside Helensvale's Iron Asylum gym on February 28, 2022. Picture: Supplied

On the day of the attack, Assi turned off the gym’s CCTV monitor from inside the gym but other security cameras captured the ordeal.

Assi was inside the gym when the assault happened and afterwards cleaned blood from the carpark, the court heard.

At her sentencing, Mr Antos told the court that at the time of the offence, Assi, who works now as a building manager and in security, had no prior criminal history and was in a remarkably different position than that of her co-accused.

He said his client wasn’t involved in the recruitment of the men, was not in a Snapchat group the other co-accused were in and wasn’t in close proximity to the assault.

Mr Antos said that the three-year long court process had meant that Assi and her partner, who are engaged, have put their wedding plans on hold.

He also asked that a conviction not be recorded as it might have a negative effect on her security licence.

Judge Jodie Wooldridge KC said Assi had strong prospects of rehabilitation

She sentenced Assi to 220 hours of community service that she must complete in 12 months. No conviction was recorded.