Troy Mercanti was using a mobile phone with military-grade encryption the day before he flew to the NSW to attend a Mongols bikie funeral, a court has heard.
The notorious bikie, who had been in isolation at his home since arriving home on June 29 following the June 20 funeral, was arrested by Gang Squad detectives in protective forensic suits and face masks today before being granted bail in court hours later.
Mercanti allegedly breached his post-sentence supervision order which bans him from associating with bikies. But the law is unclear as to whether the terms of the order apply outside WA.
The intimate details of the Sentencing Administration Act are so intricate that the WA Government’s best lawyers — the State Solicitors Office — have taken over the case.
The 53-year-old was given bail but police successfully argued that he should be banned from using so-called cipher phones, which “could facilitate undetected communication”, as part of his conditions of release.
Perth Magistrates Court heard the phone was discovered when Mercanti was pulled over by police on June 17. Mercanti refused to answer questions about the phone when quizzed by officers.
Police allege that Mercanti breached his supervision order when he attended the funeral of a bikie nicknamed Santa. He breached the order the day before in Tweed Heads, police say. He was placed on the order after a seven-year jail term over the brutal and repeated bashing of his then partner Tammy Kingdon. Drinking alcohol or visiting licenced venues are also banned among 10 strict conditions.
Police were left red-faced last week when it emerged that Mercanti successfully changed his bail conditions, with no objection from police, so he could fly east. That embarrassment was compounded when it became clear that police had subsequently given Mercanti a COVID travel exemption so he could board the plane.
Magistrate Matthew Walton said it was “a marginal decision” to grant bail, noting that the bikie’s notoriety and publicity about his trip to NSW “cannot and should not interfere with my decision-making”.
Magistrate Walton said he was drawing “a line in the sand” by clearing articulating the terms of Mercanti’s bail. As well as not using cipher phones, those terms included a ban on “speaking to, communicating with by any means, being in close physical proximity with (and) being in a motor vehicle with” bikie club members or nominees. Mercanti will reappear in court on August 18.
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Source: The West Australian by Ben Harvey