NSW: Biker family relieved at guilty sentence

AAP General News (Australia)
08-22-1999
NSW: Biker family relieved at guilty sentence

SYDNEY, Aug 22 AAP - Emotions overflowed in a Sydney courtroom today as the families of
three murdered bikers demanded life sentences for two men found guilty of their
execution-style killings in a nightclub shootout.

Former Rebels biker member Bruce Malcolm Harrison, 37, and club member Constantine
Georgiou, 33, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Bandido club president, Michael Alexander
Kulakowski, 41, and Bandido club bikers Sasha Milenkovic, 33, and Rick Destoop, 24, at the
Blackmarket nightclub on November 9, 1997.

They also pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Robin David, 33, who was wounded in
the shooting.

The New South Wales Supreme Court jury were told the men were shot at point-blank range.

Harrison suffered a gunshot wound in the wrist from a .25 pistol during the shooting and
the pair then fled in Georgiou's silver Porsche.

Witnesses said one of pistols used in the shooting was flung from the Porsche during a
high-speed police chase.

Harrison was arrested after the chase and Georgiou was arrested on February 3 last year as
a passenger on a freighter bound from Botany Bay to Yokohama.

He had a false passport, a false driver's licence, a false name and about $10,800 in cash.

In evidence, Georgiou told the court he left the club hours before the shooting and was at
home asleep when it happened.

Harrison, a tattooist, said he did not know or know of any of the shot men; did not see any
of them at the Blackmarket and did not see anyone armed at the club.

But after two days deliberation, the jury today found the two men guilty on all charges.

No motive for the murders was ever established.

Outside the court, the family of murdered Bandido sergeant-at-arms Sasha Milenkovic
demanded Harrison and Georgiou receive life sentences for their crimes.

"We've lost our loved ones, we're the ones living a life sentence, so a life sentence is
exactly what we're looking for," his sister Suzana Mitrovic said.

She said her brother's murder had destroyed her family but the guilty verdict was a
relief.

"Three loved ones were executed, its destroyed and completely changed our lives," she said.

Ms Mitrovic said the guilty finding would go some way to comforting the grieving families.

"Obviously losing a loved one in an execution, cold blooded murder it's very hard to move
forward but we have to, we have no choice," she said.

The men will be sentenced in six weeks.

After the findings Justice John Dowd said one of the witnesses, Wendy Duncan had been
charged with contempt of court after she refused to give evidence during the trial.

She was bailed to appear in the Supreme Court at Darlinghurst Court on a date to be fixed.

AAP smf/nd/bm

KEYWORD: BLACKMARKET NIGHTLEAD

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