Comanchero bikie Robert Ale freed on bail
A CRYBABY Comanchero facing a raft of serious charges has been freed on bail after his lawyer argued he was on the verge of a jail cell breakdown.
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A CRYBABY Comanchero has been bailed after his lawyer argued he was on the verge of a breakdown.
Robert Ale, 35, has been on remand since March, when he and 18 others were charged by Victoria’s anti-bikie Echo taskforce following raids around Melbourne.
He is accused of being a key player in a bikie criminal syndicate that trafficked drugs and planned arson attacks on Kittens strip club.
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During a bail hearing in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, Con Heliotis, QC, for Mr Ale, said his client was not coping with his first taste of life on remand.
Mr Heliotis said that when another lawyer visited Mr Ale at the prison, “he broke down and cried like a baby”.
“If left in there, he’ll break down,” Mr Heliotis said.
Because of the prison classification of those said to be members of a gang, Mr Ale had been isolated from other inmates and the prison went into lockdown if he had to be moved, Mr Heliotis said.
Mr Heliotis also argued there would be significant delays in bringing all 19 accused to trial.
On March 14, some 300 police officers, including the Echo taskforce and the Australian Federal Police’s national anti-gangs squad, raided 27 properties across Melbourne.
They said they seized cars, a motorcycle, a gun, jewellery, cash, phones, computers, and drugs including cocaine, GHB, cannabis, ecstasy and steroids.
Mr Ale is charged with more than 30 offences, including making threats to kill, conspiring with others to commit arson, drug trafficking, and possession of an unregistered handgun.
Mr Heliotis told magistrate Ann Collins that Mr Ale “didn’t start off this way”.
“He’d maintained a crime-free life up until recently,” the barrister said.
The court heard Mr Ale had run a health supplements business and was introduced to the Comancheros’ world when marketing his products at Murray’s Nitro Gym in Hallam in 2014.
He had become a friend of Comanchero boss Mick Murray, and joined the gang in July last year.
“His membership with the Comancheros was not about committing crimes, it was really about the brotherhood,” Mr Heliotis said.
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A counsellor, Amanda Brown, told the magistrate that Mr Ale “presents as incredibly genuine”.
“He regularly said to me this is not the person he generally is. He’s having nightmares. He wakes up in sweats. He’s spent the last five years trying to hide his feelings through drugs,” she said.
“He’s desperate not to feel this pain any more.”
Police opposed bail, arguing the risk he’d commit offences was unacceptable and he was a danger to the public.
Ms Collins said the risk would be reduced by his staying in a drug rehabilitation centre. She ordered that he spend three months in Arrow Health, in Doveton, before he could return to live with his family.
“The main issue for me is your mental health,” she said. “Given that, and the delay, is the only reason I’ve given you bail.”
The court heard the cost of lodging him at the 22-bed rehabilitation centre would be paid by his family: $12,000 for the first month, then $10,000 and $8000 for the next two.
Sitting in the dock, dressed in a grey suit and clean-shaven, Mr Ale looked over at his family and winked when the decision was announced.
But he was not released immediately. He had to spend another three nights behind bars as his family rallied to raise the $400,000 surety necessary to win his release.
Mr Ale is due to face court again on July 24.