REBELS bikie enforcer Julian Ivory was jailed for almost nine years yesterday for brutally bashing a prospective member and demanding protection money

REBELS bikie enforcer Julian Ivory was jailed for almost nine years yesterday for brutally bashing a prospective member and demanding protection money from a Raymond Terrace tattooist.
Judge Christopher Robison described the Rebels as an ‘‘almost mafia-style organisation’’ that stood over people and made threats such as ‘‘we can shut you down and blow the shop up’’, Newcastle District Court heard.

Ivory, who pleaded guilty to demanding money with menaces and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, was jailed for eight years and nine months with a non-parole period of five years and three months.

He will be eligible for parole in August 2015.

The tall and athletically-built 22-year-old joined the club’s Newcastle chapter about 2 years ago and rose to the rank of sergeant-at-arms, the court heard.

On May 16 last year, the bashing victim, who was in the ‘‘hang about stage’’ of his membership bid, was summoned to the Rebels’ Wickham clubhouse and ordered to bring a gun that he had been storing at his home.

They told the victim they were going to do a drug rip-off and a carload of club members then travelled to a secluded spot at Stockton then Minmi Cemetery where they armed themselves with a baseball bat and a metal pipe.

The victim was struck at the knees before the gang punched, kicked and repeatedly struck him with the weapons. The victim lost consciousness.

He woke about 3am and crawled to a home where he called for help.

He suffered fractures to his face and various cuts and bruises to his head and body.

Ivory later told a Probation and Parole officer that he believed the victim had been making negative comments about him while court documents stated that the victim may have collected protection money from the tattooist when he was not authorised to do so.

About two weeks before the bashing, Ivory and his associates visited the Raymond Terrace tattooist and told him ‘‘you can’t open a store here’’.

They said ‘‘we run this area, this is our town’’ then settled on a $200-a-week protection payment.

Posted in REBELS bikie enforcer Julian Ivory was jailed for almost nine years yesterday for brutally bashing a prospective member and demanding protection money