A BIKIE with an extensive history of drug and violence-related offending has launched court action to try to overturn a police ban on ...
A BIKIE with an extensive history of drug and violence-related offending has launched court action to try to overturn a police ban on him possessing a firearm.
BIKER NEWS -- Descendants member Matthew Aaron Pepper is only the second person to challenge a Firearms Prohibition Order in the courts since their introduction in 2008.
But Pepper’s challenge may prove to be a futile exercise — with new firearms legislation introduced in parliament last week containing a provision to automatically ban any bikie gang member from owning a firearm.
The new legislation is expected to be debated in the Upper House this month, but this section is not likely to be subject to any amendment.
Once proclaimed, any action to overturn such an order will then entail a lengthy and costly court challenge to the legislation.
Pepper, 32, was served with his order on June 17, detailing the reasons of the registrar of firearms for imposing it.
The order, which has been obtained by The Advertiser, details his extensive criminal history that dates back to 2002, including for breaking and entering, failing to store ammunition properly after three shotgun shells and 35 .38 calibre bullets were found in the console of his car, cannabis cultivation and trafficking amphetamines.
It also details one incident in 2003 at Tea Tree Plaza shopping centre at Modbury, in which Pepper and an associate fought with another man.
“You and your associate returned to a car and obtained a small meat cleaver,’’ the order states.
It states the man was struck on the right knee with the flat of the blade and then as he bent over to run away, was struck again in the middle of the back with the cleaver.
“The victim eventually collapsed and was assisted by onlookers. The victim required surgery at the Royal Adelaide Hospital to repair severed muscles and a chipped spinal cord,’’ it states.
Pepper was charged with wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm, but was subsequently acquitted.
The lawyer who represented Pepper in that trial said his client was acting in self-defence and his actions were vindicated by the court’s acquittal.
The order also details Pepper’s membership with the Descendants bikie gang and lists a litany of incidents involving violence and drug trafficking committed by gang members over the past two decades.
Since their inception, police have issued almost 200 Firearms Prohibition Orders, with a third of the recipients being bike gang members or associates.
The first challenge to an FPO was made in 2011 by former Finks bikie Ian Sutton.
He successfully challenged the order, with one ground being that some of the police intelligence used to obtain it was incorrect.
District Court Judge David Lovell set aside the order and ordered it be sent back to the registrar. The order was not reissued.
Originally published as Bikie launches court bid to own a gun
