Gold Coast dad Sonny Brandon Jenkins sentenced for consorting with accused Mongols bikie Harley Barbaro
A Gold Coast father-of-two has been sentenced to jail for ‘speaking to his mates’.
Police & Courts
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A GOLD Coast barrister has hit back at police for arresting his client for phoning his “best mates” from jail, including accused Mongols bikie Harley Barbaro.
Sonny Brandon Jenkins was accused of phoning Barbaro and three other men – Matthew Hutchins, Todd Barnes and Joel Barnes – on 94 occasions.
Jenkins pleaded guilty to a charge of habitually consorting with recognised offenders in Southport Magistrates Court on Friday.
He appeared by videolink from Maryborough Correctional Centre.
During his sentence the court was told Jenkins called the men from various jails throughout Queensland between December 10, 2019 and August 14, 2020.
The 28-year-old listed the men under false names and used a web-based engine number that diverted to their mobile phones.
Police were able to link all numbers to each man Jenkins was banned from contacting and have listened to the calls in full.
The court was told surveillance officers photographed Jenkins talking to Todd Barnes at an Arundel property for about 20 minutes on August 14.
He has been in custody since.
Defence Barrister Marty Longhurst, instructed by Campbell MacCallum of Moloney MacCallum Abdelshahied Lawyers, accepted there was some sophistication behind his client’s actions but slammed the logistics behind consorting laws.
He claimed a consorting notice was not “far removed from a move on notice” and called the law an unaccountable police form.
“These are the people he grew up with. These have been his best friends,” Mr Longhurst said.
“He’s in jail doing a long stint, he has no one to speak to in difficult circumstances he’s calling up his best friends and chatting.
“We know it can’t be anything bad, because there’s more people watching my client and his mates than watching the AFL grand final.
“In all those hours of these multiple phone calls police like referring to, not a single other charge comes from it, and we know there would be charges because he’s on parole.
“In essence my client has been sentenced for hours of speaking to his friends.”
Magistrate Pamela Dowse agreed with Mr Longhurst’s submission that the conversations couldn’t have been serious.
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“But technically you really have showed very little respect to the law and the notice you have received,” Ms Dowse said.
“It is serious in your case because it was by means of camouflaging the calls and being a little extreme and devious in the way you went about those calls.”
Outside of court, Mr MacCallum told the Bulletin he had always been a strong advocate against consorting laws.
He said they were unfair and evasive of privacy, given the number of calls that were recorded.
“It’s not normal for police to investigate that thoroughly into people, but they have a particular interest in a particular what they allege to be a motorcycle group.
“By admission by prosecution, the calls had nothing that was criminal, and yet he still obtains a term of imprisonment.”
Jenkins was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail, with immediate parole.
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