The former boss of Canberra Rebels bikie club has been jailed over a series of phone conversations, riddled with expletives, during which he threatened to hurt several people.
Ali Bilal, 50, pleaded guilty to five charges relating to using a carriage service to harass or threaten serious harm after the conversations were captured in telephone intercepts.
In one conversation played to the ACT Magistrates Court, he told a woman he was trying to contact someone and wanted her to arrange the meeting, ignoring the woman's pleas to listen to her.
"Get him to meet me. That's it," Bilal screamed into the phone.
"I'm gonna f*** him, his mother, his father. I'm not gonna leave anybody tonight," Bilal told her.
In another conversation, Bilal asked a man who had angered him where he was.
"We'll just come to you now," he said.
"Forget the bulls***.
"We'll come to the site where you are now and we'll deal with you in public in front of everybody to finally make a statement in this town.
"I'm happy to go to jail for it. Let's not f*** around anymore."
Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker said the conversations revealed a grandiose and alarming attitude and displayed "manipulative aggression".
But she noted Bilal had said he never intended to carry out the threats.
Chief Magistrate Walker said Bilal had also expressed some remorse in his pre-sentence report, although she said that should be qualified.
"He has not demonstrated contrition in any practical sense," she said.
The court heard that Bilal had left the Rebels, although Chief Magistrate Walker said that news was also "received with some scepticism" given Bilal's long association with gangs.
Chief Magistrate Walker said some of the conversations may have been driven by some kind of perverted form of moral authority.
But she said there was no other option but to send him to jail.
Bilal has been sentenced to 13 months in prison, but that will be suspended after four months.
He will also have to sign an 18-month supervision order.
Editor's note: On September 15, 2022, Ali Bilal received a small reduction to his sentence after an appeal to the ACT Supreme Court.
In handing down the original sentence, Magistrate Lorraine Walker referred to the Rebels' reputed involvement in standover tactics. But Justice Geoffrey Kennett found Magistrate Walker had erred by not inviting Bilal's lawyers to counter that idea.
Justice Kennett re-sentenced Bilal, suspending his sentence after three months.
