Anti-association Charges Dropped Against First Woman Arrested under VLAD Laws
Friday 10 April 2015 @ 2.04 p.m. | Crime
Forty year old library assistant, Sally Kuether, became the first woman arrested under the controversial Queensland ‘anti-bikie laws’ after she was arrested and charged on 24 January 2015. She was charged under new laws that prohibit more than two alleged bikies from meeting in public.
Facts of the Case
Kuether, a mother of three, had met her partner Phillip Palmer and friend Ronald Germain at the Dayboro Hotel on 19 December 2014. The three were allegedly wearing club colours associated with the Life and Death motorcycle club. All three were held in custody until 30 January 2015, when a magistrate released Kuether and Germain on bail. Palmer’s hearing was deferred to 6 February 2015.
Police say subsequent raids of two properties at Manly West and Samford Village turned up a number of illicit items, including a snake. Detective Inspector Brendan Smith said items located at the properties included dangerous drugs, drug paraphernalia and criminal gang paraphernalia. However, Kuether’s family insists that she is not a club member and further to this, Kuether has no criminal history.
However, when the matter appeared before the Brisbane Magistrates Court, the association charges were dropped and Kuether was fined $150 for breaching the Liquor Act by wearing a bikie vest in a licensed premise, but no conviction against her was recorded. Her lawyer Angus Edwards told the court she was not aware that wearing the vest and meeting Parmer and Germain in the pub was against the state's anti-bikie laws, which were only two months old at the time. "She simply did know she was committing a criminal offence," he said.
The Anti-Bikie Legislation in Queensland
The Anti-Bikie laws currently in force in Queensland include:
- Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Act 2013 (QLD) (Assented and commenced on 17 October 2013);
- Criminal Law (Criminal Organisations Disruption) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2013 (Qld) (Assented on 27 November 2013 and commenced by later proclamations); and
- Criminal Law (Criminal Organisations Disruption) Amendment Act 2013 (QLD) (Assented and commenced on 17 October 2013).
Law to be reviewed
Newly appointed Queensland Attorney General Yvette D’Ath said the Labor Government would review the existing anti-bikie laws so that organised crime would be tackled as a whole. D’Ath said:
"We want to do what the LNP failed to do which is properly consult and work with the key stakeholders on what the legislation should look like to actually provide those fighting organised crime on the frontline with the proper resources…We're setting up the high-level taskforce to review the VLAD legislation which will report back to the Premier and the Government in December of this year and we're setting up the Commission of Inquiry into organised crime…That is the proper way to look at these issues."
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