Prominent West Australian bikie Troy Mercanti has been arrested for allegedly breaching his post-sentence supervision order when he attended the funeral of another outlaw motorcycle gang member in NSW last month.
WA Police gang crime squad detectives arrested Mercanti, 53, at his home in Karrinyup in Perth’s northern suburbs.
He has been refused bail and is due to face Perth Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with two counts of breaching the order.
Police Commissioner Chris Dawson last week confirmed Mercanti had managed to alter his bail conditions to travel to NSW, despite WA’s coronavirus travel restrictions.
The application was approved by WA’s chief magistrate at a June 15 hearing.
Mercanti attended the funeral of the Mongols bikie in the NSW town of Chinderah on June 20 before returning to WA and self-isolating at home.
Mercanti’s post-sentence supervision order bans him from gathering with other bikies. Police were last week seeking to determine whether it applied outside of WA.
The commissioner apologised on behalf of WA Police, saying prosecutors had failed to ask whose funeral Mercanti planned to attend or even where it was.
“They get about a thousand bail applications a week through that court so it is a bit like a sausage factory,” he said last week.
“But the accused person is notoriously well known – it should have been requested by the prosecutor to stand down and get information from our gang crime squad.
“I’ve read the court transcript – there was very little conversation that took place, no interrogation of the facts. I’m just as outraged as everyone.”
Australian - BNN.
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