This is the moment a terrifying brawl is captured on CCTV footage, showing members of an outlaw motorcycle gang throwing chairs and glass bottles at a rival group in a Wollongong hotel.
CCTV footage played in Wollongong court on Tuesday showed a verbal stoush escalate into a dangerous, group brawl at Novotel North Beach in Sydney’s south in December last year.
The frightening footage, which lasts for seven minutes, shows a group of about 10 men kicking each other, throwing punches, and using chairs as weapons at the club.
The frightening footage, which lasts for seven minutes, showed a group of about 10 men kicking each other, throwing punches, and using chairs as weapons at the club
Illawarra men Elias Elchaar, 44, Mathew Gilmore, 29, Burah Esen, 22, Tony Jovanovski, 39, and Orce Niceski, 44, were all arrested in February following a police investigation.
The five men all pleaded guilty to a charge of affray on Tuesday, the Illawarra Mercury reported.
They were given sentences which ranged from a $500 fine to 300 hours of community service.
Gang squad police failed in their legal bid to ban the five men, who claimed they were childhood friends, from associating with each other.
CCTV footage played in Wollongong court on Tuesday showed a verbal stoush escalate into a dangerous, group brawl (left) at Novotel North Beach (right) in the city’s north
The brawl happened at Pepe’s on the Beach (pictured left and right) in the city’s north
Under non-association laws, gang members are not allowed to have any contact with each other.
Police previously alleged Elias Elchaar was a member of the Lone Wolf South Coast chapter and the four other men were ‘gang associates’, according to the publication.
Magistrate Mark Douglass rejected the police bid.
He said he was not convinced a non-association order needed to be put in place saying: ‘There’s simply no basis to conclude that the offending behaviour arose out of any improper association’.
Police previously alleged Elias Elchaar was a member of the Lone Wolf gang and the four other men were ‘gang associates’
‘It was unplanned and spontaneous – but for the provocation which was initiated by the other group, I’m satisfied this affray would not have occurred,’ he said.
Defence lawyer Danny Eid told reporters outside Wollongong court his clients had remorse for their part in the brawl.
‘Unfortunately they overstepped the mark by a little but they pleaded guilty to the matter that was before the court,’ he said.