Coffin Cheaters bikie charged with extortion, assault
A Coffin Cheaters bikie has been charged after allegedly stabbing one man, beating another with a pool cue and threatening to shoot another in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
Police & Courts
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A Coffin Cheaters bikie has been charged with extortion and other high-level offences in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
Gurmukh Singh, 36, who police said was a patched member of the outlaw motorcycle gang, has been remanded in custody over a five-day day alleged crime spree across Laverton and Altona.
Police claim he stabbed a man in the guts, beat another with a pool cue before asking if he’d rather be shanked in the abs or the hand, and extorted $22k from another victim with threats of injury between September 27 and October 2.
Two men remain in hospital after being injured in one of the incidents, an alleged affray in Altona North.
Mr Singh, from Truganina, was arrested as part of an Echo taskforce investigation and faces 13 charges including extortion, false imprisonment, assault, assault with a weapon and threats to injure.
In the first incident, charge sheets allege that Mr Singh threatened to injure Gurbaz Singh unless he handed over $22k, at a business in Laverton North on September 27.
That same day, he is accused of punching another man, Lovepreet Singh, in the jaw, and threatening to shoot him.
Four days later, in Altona on October 1, charge sheets claim Mr Singh unlawfully imprisoned Mohit Katal and detained him against his will, assaulted him with a pool cue and threatened him by “giving a choice where he wanted to be stabbed ... abdomen or hand”.
In the same suburb on October 2, he allegedly attacked another man, Harmandeep Singh, by stabbing him in the guts with a knife.
It’s understood this man was a staff member at an Altona business linked to the one in Laverton North.
That alleged attack followed a minor traffic incident involving a company vehicle, according to police.
The force says that later that day, a number of people were allegedly involved in an affray at the Altona business.
Mr Singh appeared in court on Thursday afternoon where he donned a bandage just days after having surgery on a broken arm.
The Melbourne Magistrates’ Court heard he was arrested after he was discharged from Footscray Hospital on Wednesday.
His lawyer, Avi Furstenberg, said the 36-year-old required urgent pain medication and antibiotics to ensure his injury did not worsen in custody.
Mr Singh will need to consult with a physio and doctor for his broken left arm in the coming weeks.
No bail request was made on Thursday but Mr Furstenberg foreshadowed there would be an application in the next fortnight.
Magistrate Peter Reardon heard the charges arose from three separate alleged incidents in recent weeks.
The matter was adjourned to January 8.
The investigation into the incidents, being carried out by Echo and Hobsons Bay CIU, remains ongoing, a police statement said.
Investigators have asked witnesses or anyone else with information to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit www.crimestoppers.com.au
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