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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Toby Vue

Bikie's work reason for allegedly wearing knife necklace 'not convincing': lawyer

Comanchero Axel Sidaros and the knife he allegedly possessed. Pictures supplied

A Comanchero bikie sentenced to jail for shooting up the Canberra home of a former chapter leader is back in court accused of wearing a necklace that concealed a sheathed 10cm knife he said was to "sharpen pencils for work".

However, a prosecutor said it was "not a convincing reason" to carry a knife around one's neck.

Axel Sidaros appeared via audio-visual link in the ACT Magistrates Court on Friday facing charges of possessing a knife without a reasonable excuse, exceeding speed limit, and not being authorised to possess a prohibited firearm.

Sidaros has not pleaded to the first two charges. His lawyer said there was an indication of a not guilty plea to the third charge.

A document of alleged facts by the prosecution states that about 9pm on January 25, police were conducting speed checks on Drakeford Drive in Greenway when they detected a Toyota HiLux being driven at 107km/h in an 80km/h zone.

Sidaros, 28, is alleged to have been the driver. When police stopped him, he said: "I had this crisis with my girlfriend, can ring my dad if you are gonna arrest me?"

During a call from his father, Sidaros said "I just got pulled over by the police ... so umm I'm probably in a bit of shit".

Later that night, police searched the defendant and found a sheathed knife allegedly hanging from a necklace around his neck.

When questioned, Sidaros said "I'm a carpenter and I use it to sharpen pencils for work".

The court heard the knife was 10cm and fixed blade.

The alleged firearms offence last November involved an AR-style gel blaster rifle being found in a common area of the house where Sidaros lived.

For that charge, he was arrested then granted bail by the Magistrates Court.

On Friday, the court was tendered the ACT Supreme Court sentencing of Sidaros for a number of charges for his role in a fiery attack on one-time Canberra Comanchero commander Peter Zdravkovic.

His jail term was nearly 10 years maximum, but upon appeal, he was resentenced to seven years' jail with a non-parole period of three years and 11 months.

With time already served, Sidaros was eligible to apply for release in July 2022.

The knife Sidaros allegedly had. Picture supplied

During Sidaros' bail application, defence lawyer Michael Kukulies-Smith said the gel blaster was not capable of "propelling lethal projectiles" and that the gel pellets were "akin to paintball pellets or similar".

Mr Kukulies-Smith said while it was conceded where the weapon was found, there was no suggestion about its use and the prosecution's case was "far from overwhelming".

"Clearly there was no indication anywhere that it was other than possession of that," Mr Kukulies-Smith said about the knife charge.

He said the speeding was "not a terribly serious or heinous example" of the offence and it did not indicate the type of criminality in which Sidaros was previously engaged.

A prosecutor opposed the application based on the likelihood of being charged from further alleged offending and endangering the safety or welfare of anyone.

The prosecutor said concerns were "well founded" because Sidaros has convictions for "incredibly serious offences".

He said the gel blaster case was not weak and the argument the knife was for Sidaros' carpentry work was "not a convincing reason to carry a knife in a scabbard around your neck".

"I can't express enough that the bail conditions are perfectly clear not to carry any sort of offensive weapon," he said.

Chief magistrate Lorraine Walker refused bail, saying while the latest charges were "certainly not the most serious matters", they were concerning because of "the repetition of allegations" related to weapon offences.

She said she accepted the prosecution case for the gel blaster charge was not overwhelmingly strong but neither was it impossible.

Ms Walker said the cases for the other two charges were strong.

"It seems that no conditions that this court would impose would be likely to prevent the commission of further offences," Ms Walker said.

Sidaros is set to front court again on February 2.

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