THE CHEF and former owner of Pino's Italian has been handed a lifetime ban from managing any licensed venue after he was convicted of storing stolen guns inside the Islington restaurant.
Dion Pophristoff's web of lies began to unravel after a "largely fictitious" knifepoint robbery report he made to police in 2022 led officers to comb through CCTV from the Maitland Road establishment.
The NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) handed down its decision in recent weeks, revealing Mr Pophristoff was disqualified from holding a licence, or managing a licensed premises, for life.
It came after the licensing watchdog reviewed a complaint made in August last year by a delegate from the Commissioner of Police.
The complaint alleged that Mr Pophristoff had allowed stolen firearms to be stored on the Pino's Italian premises and had made a largely false police report about being robbed at knifepoint.
According to the ILGA report, Mr Pophristoff was sentenced in Newcastle Local Court in January 2023 on two firearm-related charges and having goods in his custody suspected of being stolen.
The complaint said Mr Pophristoff told police he had driven an employee home in the early hours of July 9, 2022, but got out of his car while a man entered the car and drove off.
He reported the robbery to police but refused to provide a formal statement, and officers investigating the case discovered he had not been honest about the details, the ILGA decision said.
Police raided Pino's Italian in the days afterwards and seized CCTV.
It was during this time that Mr Pophristoff changed his story and admitted to storing firearms and ammunition - which he later learned were stolen - at the property, the complaint alleged.
The ILGA decision said CCTV footage from the restaurant captured Mr Pophristoff receiving firearms on July 6, 2022, and stashing them within the restaurant.
ILGA found Mr Pophristoff's conduct fell "significantly below the standard of behaviour expected of a licensee" and that it raised "serious concerns about his fitness and propriety to hold a liquor licence".
The decision stated that allowing guns to be kept at the restaurant was not only illegal, but had put staff and customers at risk.
In September last year - the month after the ILGA complaint was received - the restaurant closed down after five years of operation, triggering an outpouring of sadness from the community on social media.
Mr Pophristoff blamed the stress of rising costs and staff shortages at the time.
