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A wannabe gang member remains banned from being around bikies following his recent release from jail, despite a partially successful appeal against non-association orders. Canberra Comanchero nominee Jaymie Leam Turner, 31, left the Alexander Maconochie Centre in November after being locked up for four months on charges of affray and threatening to kill. He pleaded guilty to those offences over incidents that occurred a short time after the outlaw motorcycle gang’s local leader, Pitasoni Ulavalu, was fatally stabbed at Civic nightspot Kokomo’s last July. Turner was not present when Mr Ulavalu was killed, but he was called to the scene by a patched member and joined a group of Comancheros described by police as “highly agitated”. Upon his arrival, he repeatedly tried to breach a police cordon, screaming violent threats at officers as they attempted to calm him down. He swung an arm at one officer and pushed him in the chest, before turning on an unknown member of the public who had called out to him. Turner ran at this person and punched them in the face while yelling, “Shut the f— up, c—.” Police arrested the 31-year-old as a result and took him to the ACT Watch House, where he exploded at a sergeant and labelled him a “f—en dog” for refusing to grant police bail. Turner launched into a tirade, shouting: “I’m going to find your kids and your partner and I’m going to f— them all up. I’m gonna wait outside the station and watch where you live, and I will f—en shoot you. F— you. You have no idea what’s going to happen to you, c—, no idea. F— you, f— you, you think I give a f—.” Magistrate Glenn Theakston last year sentenced Turner over the incidents to eight months in jail, with the balance suspended after four months. Mr Theakston also banned Turner from associating with any outlaw motorcycle gang members, or other people on a list of 29 names, for nine months after his release. He made identical non-association orders in respect of both the affray and threatening to kill charges, saying they were designed to prevent Turner committing further offences and help him “manage things” that might make him more likely to reoffend. Turner recently challenged the orders in the ACT Supreme Court, where his lawyer Peter Bevan argued they were “not reasonable or necessary”. Mr Bevan also claimed a non-association order should not have been made on the affray charge because it was not “a relevant offence”, and that there was no demonstrable connection between the threat to kill conviction and the non-association order attached to it. But prosecutor Nathan Deakes said the orders were open to Mr Theakston because Turner’s presence at the scene outside Kokomo’s had been “demanded by a fully-fledged member of the Comancheros”. Mr Deakes argued that if Turner had not been affiliated with the gang, he would not have been there and the offences in question would not have occurred. Justice John Burns, who heard the appeal, said in a judgment on Thursday that Turner’s threat to kill the police sergeant had “no sufficient connection to the non-association order”. But the judge found such an order was appropriate in respect of the affray charge. “The magistrate was entitled to find on the evidence … that [Turner] had attended the scene of that offence because he was directed or requested to do so by a member of the Comancheros,” Justice Burns said. “His conduct at the scene, abusing and fighting with other members of the public, does not support the suggestion that his attendance was because of personal concern for a friend.” Justice Burns therefore allowed Turner’s appeal in relation to the order attached to the threat to kill conviction, but dismissed it in respect of the affray. Because both non-association orders were made in the same terms, Turner remains subject to the same restrictions imposed by Mr Theakston. For faster access to the latest Canberra news, download The Canberra Times app for iOS and Android.
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A wannabe gang member remains banned from being around bikies following his recent release from jail, despite a partially successful appeal against non-association orders.
Turner was not present when Mr Ulavalu was killed, but he was called to the scene by a patched member and joined a group of Comancheros described by police as “highly agitated”.
Jaymie Leam Turner, left, with deceased Canberra Comanchero commander Pitasoni Ulavalu. Picture: Facebook
Upon his arrival, he repeatedly tried to breach a police cordon, screaming violent threats at officers as they attempted to calm him down.
He swung an arm at one officer and pushed him in the chest, before turning on an unknown member of the public who had called out to him.
Turner ran at this person and punched them in the face while yelling, “Shut the f— up, c—.”
Police arrested the 31-year-old as a result and took him to the ACT Watch House, where he exploded at a sergeant and labelled him a “f—en dog” for refusing to grant police bail.
Turner launched into a tirade, shouting: “I’m going to find your kids and your partner and I’m going to f— them all up. I’m gonna wait outside the station and watch where you live, and I will f—en shoot you. F— you. You have no idea what’s going to happen to you, c—, no idea. F— you, f— you, you think I give a f—.”
Jaymie Leam Turner leaves the ACT Magistrates Court on a previous occasion. Picture: Blake Foden
Magistrate Glenn Theakston last year sentenced Turner over the incidents to eight months in jail, with the balance suspended after four months.
Mr Theakston also banned Turner from associating with any outlaw motorcycle gang members, or other people on a list of 29 names, for nine months after his release.
He made identical non-association orders in respect of both the affray and threatening to kill charges, saying they were designed to prevent Turner committing further offences and help him “manage things” that might make him more likely to reoffend.
Turner recently challenged the orders in the ACT Supreme Court, where his lawyer Peter Bevan argued they were “not reasonable or necessary”.
Mr Bevan also claimed a non-association order should not have been made on the affray charge because it was not “a relevant offence”, and that there was no demonstrable connection between the threat to kill conviction and the non-association order attached to it.
But prosecutor Nathan Deakes said the orders were open to Mr Theakston because Turner’s presence at the scene outside Kokomo’s had been “demanded by a fully-fledged member of the Comancheros”.
Mr Deakes argued that if Turner had not been affiliated with the gang, he would not have been there and the offences in question would not have occurred.
Justice John Burns, who heard the appeal, said in a judgment on Thursday that Turner’s threat to kill the police sergeant had “no sufficient connection to the non-association order”.
But the judge found such an order was appropriate in respect of the affray charge.
“The magistrate was entitled to find on the evidence … that [Turner] had attended the scene of that offence because he was directed or requested to do so by a member of the Comancheros,” Justice Burns said.
“His conduct at the scene, abusing and fighting with other members of the public, does not support the suggestion that his attendance was because of personal concern for a friend.”
Justice Burns therefore allowed Turner’s appeal in relation to the order attached to the threat to kill conviction, but dismissed it in respect of the affray.
Because both non-association orders were made in the same terms, Turner remains subject to the same restrictions imposed by Mr Theakston.
