Nomads bikie gang may have disbanded in Victoria

Internal rivalries, a bashing and an attack with a sledgehammer — the once rising Nomads bikie club is falling apart in Victoria.

There are unconfirmed reports the Nomads disbanded its entire Victorian arm. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The Nomads bikie gang has closed its Ballarat chapter after a period of turbulence within the outfit’s ranks statewide.

There are unconfirmed reports the club — not long ago viewed as an emerging bikie force — had disbanded its entire Victorian arm.

Major upheaval began from within when the gang’s City chapter president was bashed in July last year.

Seven Nomads were subsequently charged over the attack, outside the Westside chapter clubhouse in Laverton North.

Jesse Watt was kicked 19 times, punched 13 times and struck with a small sledgehammer seven times in a ferocious onslaught.

The Nomads were until recently viewed as an emerging bikie force. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

He had been expelled from the club in “bad standing” a week earlier, police later told a court hearing.

It was alleged by police that the Westside and City chapters had fallen out.

Later in the year, a number of interstate members were allegedly attacked on a major run in which members converged on Ballarat.

They were dropped off at a local railway station and told to find their own way home, the Herald Sun has been told.

It is believed some members of the Nomads’ Ballarat chapter have moved to the Bandidos in recent months.

The Bandidos remains strong in the area.

The Nomads have been under heavy scrutiny from anti-organised crime police for some time.

Ballarat president Daniel Jayasekera was arrested before last December’s run when cocaine, scales, deal bags, knuckledusters and knives were found at his Lake Wendouree home.

The 32-year-old father-of-four was charged with drug trafficking and weapons offences.

The club was formed in 1968 in Newcastle, New South Wales.

It has representation in most states of Australia but is strongest in NSW.