Covid lockdown protest ‘organiser’ Tony Pecora faces court in bid to leave Australia

A wannabe lawyer and alleged anti-lockdown activist from Middle Park had to backtrack after mistakenly asking a magistrate to jail him.

An alleged anti-lockdown organiser buried a mobile phone in the front garden of a lawyer’s office in St Kilda as police made moves to arrest him, a court has heard.

Tony Pecora, 44, of Middle Park, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, self-represented on Wednesday, where he applied to have his bail conditions varied to allow him to travel overseas.

Pecora, a law student and former Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party political candidate, originally filed paperwork to have his bail “revoked”, only to realise that such an application, if granted, would actually see him sent back to prison on remand.

Pecora told the court he actually wanted some of his bail conditions varied.

Tony Pecora after getting bailed from St. Kilda Police Station. Picture: Jay Town

When told he would be best off getting a lawyer, Pecora produced his Charles Sturt University student ID card, and said he hoped to graduate in a few years.

Pecora has been charged with inciting breaches of Covid directions by encouraging people to in September, and with breaching bail conditions which prevented him from accessing social media.

Police allege he used a Facebook account under a false name “Arkwell Tripelligo” to administer anti-lockdown Facebook groups.

The court heard Pecoro believed Covid was “genetically engineered by the World Bank to kill off weaker humans”.

Tony Pecora repeatedly is charged with inciting people to breach chief health officer directions. Picture: Jay Town

When asked by police how he felt about the prospect of a person he had encouraged to attend a large protest catching the virus, he said “It’s better to die on your feet than live on your knees”.

Pecora told the court he believed Premier Daniel Andrews should be “arrested for treasonous activities”.

Pecora wanted his bail conditions removed so he could travel to Columbia and help care for his mother-in-law.

Police fear he will not return to Australia if allowed to travel overseas.

He began crying when he said he wanted his son, 8, to “grow up in the Australia I grew up in”, and said he would return to fight his case in court, as well as an unspecified “bigger battle”.

Pecora said he was always respectful towards police, and told the detective who investigated him he would “probably, hopefully see you around, maybe at the pub or something”.

“I’m not a criminal,” Pecora said.

His case returns to court on Friday.