Family and associates mourn death of high-ranking bikie Kaelib Waititi-Fitzgerald

The family of a high-ranking bikie boss is mourning the loss of the 33-year-old after he died suddenly less than a year after being released from jail.

A high-ranking bikie boss has died suddenly less than a year after being released from prison on drug and firearm charges.

Family and bikie associates of Kaelib Waititi-Fitzgerald are in mourning following the 33-year-old’s death on Wednesday from “natural causes”.

Waititi-Fitzgerald was reportedly the president of the Mongols bikie gang in Penrith, in Sydney’s west, according to The Daily Telegraph, and was also a former a member of the Nomads bikie gang.

He was sentenced to nearly two years behind bars after being found guilty of possessing a loaded shotgun, ammunition and methylamphetamine.

His arrest came while he was serving a bail period after his six-year sentence in prison for shooting up in a Penrith car park in 2015.

Kaelib Waititi-Fitzgerald died on Wednesday from ‘natural causes’. Picture: Facebook

He later pleaded in Penrith Local Court to be released from jail and placed in rehab, claiming his long-term drug problem had been exacerbated behind bars.

Waititi-Fitzgerald cited the “unfortunate ease of obtaining drugs in custody” and said he wanted to be rehabilitated for the sake of his daughter, who was seven at the time.

The request was knocked back and he was returned to prison.

His brother Steele Fitzgerald on Thursday shared his grief online, writing: “To know him was to love him”.

“It is with deep sadness and the heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of Kaelib. A beloved son, father, brother, brother in law, uncle, nephew, grandson, cousin and friend,” his post read.

He was only released from prison last year. Picture: Facebook

“May the memories we all share with Kaelib give us strength in the days that lie ahead and we remember him for the loving, affectionate soul that he was. A father who wanted to give his daughter the world, an uncle who wanted to show his nephews the world, and a brother and son whose family was his world.”

Just five days before his death, Waititi-Fitzgerald shared a photo to Facebook of himself and his daughter from the Sydney Royal Easter Show in April.

His sister in law Rene Lock said: “You were the biggest pain in my ass but I wouldn’t have had it any other way”, adding his kids were “his all-time favourite people”.

“I feel lost already without your millions of calls today … thank you for loving us the way you did. Love you – always my favourite,” she wrote.

Family members said they would be lost without him. Picture: Facebook

Another family member said they were left “broken” by his death.

“Just so broken … good memories always. That smile could light the skies, always a beautiful boy. Love Aunty,” Stacey Allen posted to Facebook.

Someone else said Waititi-Fitzgerald would be “forever missed”.

“We all loved Uncle sooo much and he will be forever missed. I will miss Kaelib’s big hugs, they were the very best,” they wrote.

Police confirmed Waititi-Fitzgerald died from natural causes and there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.