Cairns City Mongols ‘supporter’ cops fine for wearing banned T-shirt
A Mongols outlaw motorcycle gang ‘supporter’ has been found guilty of wearing a prohibited T-shirt in public around Cairns night spots.
A supporter of the Mongols Outlaw Motorcycle Gang has been fined after being found guilty of wearing a prohibited item - a Raiders MC ‘supporters’ T-shirt - on a night out in Cairns.
Mine worker John Daniel Dillon, 36, pleaded not guilty earlier this year in Cairns Magistrates Court to two charges of wearing a prohibited item in public in October 2023.
The court was told he was wearing the shirt while drinking beers at the Palm Cove Tavern then playing the pokies at the casino.
Magistrate Michael Dalton presided over a one-day hearing where witnesses called to talk about the logo similarities and relationship between the Mongols and the Raiders, and legal arguments were made about interpretation of the law, balanced against human rights related to freedom of expression.
Mr Dalton handed down his guilty finding this week.
“The central issue is if the Raiders MC T-shirt worn by the defendant on the 26 and 27 of October 2023 indicates an association with the Mongols MC,” Mr Dalton said
“It was submitted (by the defence) that the mere wearing of the T-shirt would not be sufficient … (and) a member of the public would not associate the T-shirt with the Mongols,” Mr Dalton said.
“It was submitted it ‘was a step too far’,” he said,
Mr Dalton said he was “originally attracted to the submission”.
On reading various pieces of legislation together, however, he said the intentions of laws banning the wearing of “colours” in public was to keep the public safe and “reduce the chance of conflict between rival gang members.”
“While I accept that a member of the public may not understand the connection, members of other OMCG would,” he said.
“I had no trouble drawing my own conclusion there was an irresistible relationship between the Raiders MC colours and the Mongols MC colours - the Raiders logo is a clear homage to the Mongols logo.”
During the hearing, the court was told Raiders MC assisted the Mongols with catering, ride support, and that Dillon had been photographed at Mongols events.
After the guilty finding was handed down, Dillon also pleaded guilty to possessing less than 1g of meth, which police found in his walk-in robe during a search around the same time.
Defence barrister Martin Longhurst said Dillon had put any “rapscallion” ways behind him, and submitted that a conviction should not be recorded for the drug offence.
He said he worked in the mines and was regularly drug-tested and the weight of a drug conviction would be a heavy one to carry.
“My client has gone several years without offending. He is working hard. He is in the workforce. His thoughts are on maintaining his job in the mine,” Mr Longhurst said.
Magistrate Dalton said deterrence was important, and fined him $800 for wearing a prohibited item and $200 for possessing the drug.
“I saw some evidence in the trial that the defendant does, in fact, associate with the Mongols and I could readily infer that is the reason he was wearing the T-shirt, and not some innocent reason,” Mr Dalton said.
“(The offence) is not at the higher end of the scale but nor is it at the very low end of the scale”
Convictions were recorded on the two wearing prohibited item charges, but conviction for the drug possession charge was not recorded.
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Originally published as Cairns City Mongols ‘supporter’ cops fine for wearing banned T-shirt
