Matthew Bentley: Matthew Bruce’s mate jailed for hiding his guns
The associate of a feared bikie enforcer was entrusted in keeping the gang’s arsenal, which included military-grade weapons, while the violent crew committed a wave of terror across Melbourne’s west.
West
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The longtime friend of a Rebels bikie enforcer has been jailed for stashing military weapons for the gang boss.
Matthew Robert Bentley, 38, was sentenced in the County Court on September 14 to a minimum 14 months’ jail after pleading guilty to charges including possessing a trafficable quantity of unregistered firearms.
Bentley allowed bikie Matthew Bruce to use his garage as a safehome for four guns — including two military-grade weapons — while Bruce tried to sell one of them for $25,000.
Police found an assault rifle capable of firing three round bursts with a lethal range of up to 350m inside a guitar case and 406 cartridges for it when they raided Bentley’s Melton South home early on January 29, 2019.
A .303 rifle, was also uncovered, along with a cutdown .22 rifle and a sawn-off shotgun.
Three of the guns had been modified to make them more concealable and the .22 rifle was modified to enable it to fit a silencer.
Judge William Stuart said the weapons were of “considerable lethality”.
“Both the assault weapon and the .303 were military weapons designed to use cartridges that would go through and through human beings,” he said.
Bentley told the court Bruce asked him to store the guns because he was banned from having them by the firearm prohibition law.
Bentley said he owed Bruce, who sold him ice, some cash, and thought he might get cheaper drugs in future.
He also said he was intimidated by Bruce, a claim which Judge Stuart said he didn’t believe after hearing of intercepted telephone calls between Bentley and Bruce in the days before the raid.
The pair had a series of phone calls regarding Bruce wanting to pick up the assault rifle so he could test it in Wombat State Forest before selling it.
The court heard the calls also disproved Bentley’s claim he didn’t know anything about the type of guns, and hadn’t looked in the bags Bentley had put in his garage.
Judge Stuart said the phone conversations, in which Bentley and Bruce talked about the “guitar” — a code for the assault rifle — made it clear Bentley “well knew” about the weapon.
The court heard Bruce’s partner, Cursty Shields, had also told authorities she had seen Bentley holding the assault rifle in Bruce’s garage.
The court heard the forklift driver was on two community corrections orders at the time of his arrest, but had a limited criminal history.
Judge Stuart noted Bruce’s serious shoulder injury and COVID-19 would make jail more onerous for him.
He was sentenced to a maximum 22 months jail’, having already served 142 days, and fined $1000.
Bentley’s sentence comes after Bruce was sentenced to a minimum 15 years’ jail after gathering six high-powered guns, trafficking a large commercial quantity of ice and organising the firebombing of two cars, insurance fraud and a drive-by shooting.
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