Qld: Bikie refused bail pending appeal

AAP General News (Australia)
02-16-2001
Qld: Bikie refused bail pending appeal

BRISBANE, Feb 16 AAP - A bikie has been refused bail by the Queensland Court of Appeal
because of fears he could interfere with witnesses who gave evidence that convicted him
of murder.

A Cairns Supreme Court jury last year found David Barry Houghton and Michael Roussetty
guilty of the murder of fellow Bandido gang member Jason Tyler.

Last August the Queensland Court of Appeal overturned their murder convictions and
ordered new trials on the basis of new evidence.

Houghton then went to the High Court for special leave to appeal against the order
for a new trial instead of an outright acquittal.

Because the High Court application would not be heard until June, Houghton last November
applied to the Supreme Court for bail.

However Justice Stanley Jones considered there remained an unacceptable risk that he
would interfere with two Bandido witnesses whose evidence had convicted him, the then
club president Peter Klarfeld and Robert Sainsbury.

In a judgment handed down today three Court of Appeal justices upheld Justice Jones'
refusal of bail.

"There was also information suggesting that club members elsewhere in Australia were
taking a continued interest in the trial of those charged with Tyler's murder and exhibited
threats against those who had 'snitched'," Justices Bruce McPherson, James Thomas and
Ken Mackenzie said in a joint judgment.

Tyler's body was found in bushland on the Rex Range near Cairns, in far north Queensland,
in November, 1998.

Tyler was beaten and shot dead after being lured to the Bandidos motorcycle club house
in Cairns late on August 19, 1995.

The prosecution case relied upon alleged confessions made by Houghton to Klarfeld,
who had been guaranteed immunity from prosecution in return for his evidence.

Klarfeld and Sainsbury testified they weren't at the club at the time of the killing.

The Queensland Court of Appeal last August granted the new trial because a new witness,
Tracey Hancock, had not testified at the trial.

Ms Hancock told the Court of Appeal Houghton was not at the club house on the night
of the killing, but that Sainsbury, after helping to lure Tyler to the club house, remained
there whilst the killing took place.

She said Klarfeld told Sainsbury to go home after the killing and threatened "he would
get the same" if he ever spoke of it.

AAP smk/jfs/rg/br

KEYWORD: HOUGHTON

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