Comancheros lawyer Sonja Radovic probed over murder of gangland figure Mitat Rasimi

A Melbourne lawyer to the Comancheros was probed as part of the investigation into the murder of gangland figure Mitat Rasimi.

Comancheros lawyer Sonja Radovic was probed over murder of gangland figure Mitat Rasimi.

A Melbourne lawyer to the Comancheros was probed as part of the investigation into the murder of gangland figure Mitat Rasimi.

The Herald Sun can reveal Sonja Radovic was asked by homicide detectives to come in for questioning over Mr Rasimi’s shooting ambush in Dandenong in March 2019.

But Ms Radovic did not attend a police station to be grilled by investigators and instead hired underworld barrister Zarah Garde-Wilson to help her provide a written statement which denied any involvement in the brutal killing.

Comancheros’ go-to lawyer Sonja Radovic leaves Melbourne Magistrates' Court after a case. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

“I was in no way whatsoever involved in the murder of Mr Rasimi,” the statement from October 2022 read.

In November, Comanchero bikies Richard Ene and Laiseni Kakato were found guilty of murdering Mr Rasimi, 51, over a $200,000 debt from a development deal gone wrong.

The three-month Supreme Court trial heard the debt was owed by another man, who cannot be identified.

When the bikies’ efforts to track down the target failed, they turned their sights on Mr Rasimi.

Ms Radovic became a person of interest after key prosecution witnesses alleged she had provided information to members of the outlaw motorcycle gang while they were plotting the killing.

Ms Radovic denied all allegations of involvement in the murder of Rasimi. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

A gangland supergrass told the court the Dandenong-based lawyer gave a residential address linked to the original target to the bikies about three weeks before the murder.

They also alleged she alerted club members to seeing the target grabbing a coffee at Belitti Restaurant Cafe Bar, near her Radovic Lawyers office, in Dandenong.

The intel led to Comancheros sitting off both the home and the cafe as part of their surveillance mission.

They are allegations Ms Radovic strenuously denies, labelling the suggestion as “absurd” when giving testimony in the trial.

The court heard Ms Radovic was the go-to lawyer for Comanchero bikies in Melbourne, with text message evidence she was in communications with the gang’s hierarchy.

A Supreme Court jury found Richard Ene and two other men guilty of murder. Picture: Supplied

She would also allegedly meet Comanchero members in the laneway at the back of her Lonsdale St office, and once had a group of the gang’s members drinking in her office after they watched a live stream of an interstate funeral.

“No one’s been, from my understanding, drinking at my office,” Ms Radovic testified at the trial. “I don’t have parties at my office.”

She also said she had “absolutely no knowledge of that ever happening” when asked about a drunken incident involving a Comanchero at her office.

Mitat Rasimi, aged in his 50s, was found dead with gunshot wounds after his car hit a pole on Dawn Ave, Dandenong in March 2019.

She was referred in evidence as “a club lawyer” but there were suggestions some members had started to distrust her.

“They used other lawyers, not just me,” she told the court.

Her testimony was initially delayed after the court was told she was in hospital with “a potential heart condition”.

When she attended a week later, she was represented by the state’s top criminal barrister Dermot Dann, KC, who said she “meant no disrespect to the court by not being in a position to be here previously”.

Ms Radovic was represented by top criminal barrister Dermot Dann KC. Picture: David Geraghty / NewsWire

Mr Dann expressed concerns about the line of questioning expected to be fired her way and and whether police intended to suggest any criminality on behalf of Ms Radovic.

But he stood down after the prosecution reassured they would not be implying she had committed any criminal offences.

Ms Radovic represented both Ene and Kakato when they were charged and first faced Melbourne Magistrates Court over the Rasimi murder.

She was admitted as a solicitor in 2016, telling the court she began representing Comancheros when she started her career with Theo Magazis and Associates. She later did a stint at Grigor Lawyers, before opening her own firm in late 2018. Ms Radovic has not been charged with any criminal offences.

Originally published as Comancheros lawyer Sonja Radovic probed over murder of gangland figure Mitat Rasimi