Mob’s leader wanted as witness in Aust.

Press, 28 December 1989, Page 2

Mob’s leader wanted as witness in Aust.

NZPA syuney The Western Australian police want the leader of the state’s fledgling Mongrel Mob chapter, Mr Selwyn Wharepapa, to return to Perth from New Zealand in the new year. The Australian Minister of Immigration, Mr Ray, had signalled a crackdown on the entry of New Zealand gang members following an outbreak of violence between Perth bikies and the Mongrel Mob in November.

Detective Inspector Max Kiernan said yesterday Mr Wharepapa would be required as a court witness at hearings against those accused of his shooting and the bombing of his motor-cycle workshop.

Because the Perth courts already had a heavy backlog, Mr Kiernan said he could not say when the gang-related cases would go to court “Hopefully it will be in the next three to four months,” he said.

Mr Wharepapa, aged 37, is staying with his family on

Waiheke Island while lie recovers from a bullet wound to the groin.

He has vowed to return to Perth in two or three months. Mr Kiernan said the truce negotiated between the Mongrel Mob and the Perth gangs on November 29 had held together so far.

The Coffin Cheaters, Gypsy Jokers and God’s Garbage had objected to the Mongrel Mob establishing itself and wearing their “patches” or gang insignia in Perth. After calls from the Western Australian government to deport the New Zealand gang members and reported fears of an influx of Mongrel Mob members bent on revenge, Mr Ray said the New Zealand police had supplied the names of 1000 gang members.

Immigration officials would use the list to ensure gang members did not arrive in Australia for the “wrong purposes.” But Mr Ray ruled out deportations apart from serious-crime

offenders, and noted that New Zealanders appeared to be the victims, rather than the perpetrators, of violence in the Perth gang confrontations. Mr Wharepapa’s engineering shop in Perth was bombed three days before he was shot. He has denied being a troublemaker and said the Perth problems began when he and six others decided to take the Mongrel Mob name for a work cooperative they had formed. The bikies sent out warnings, and a meeting was arranged with the Coffin Cheaters, he said.

When the bikies demanded their patches the Mob members told them: “You’d have to kill us first”

The bombing and shooting followed.

Mr Wharepapa acknowledged that the Perth Maori community was angered by the incidents. He will also explain his actions to Auckland mob members.

Mr Wharepapa said he had recovered 50 per cent from his gunshot wound.