A case against a senior Rebels bikie is threatening to unravel due to police's unlawful seizure of steroids and flaws with official certificates that are supposed to prove he was not permitted to have a shotgun, explosives, knuckledusters or an extendable baton.
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Police raided the Wanniassa home in June last year, sending in their elite Specialist Response Group while criminal investigations detectives waited a block away.
Their entry to the property was helped when a woman drove up to a senior detective, gave him a key, and asked him to make sure the dog and cat didn't get out.
Police found a pump-action shotgun in the garage, while other weapons and steroids were found in the house.
Prosecutors have alleged they belonged to the president of the Rebels southside chapter, Michael Wayne Clark.
Clark has pleaded not guilty to all charges and faced the ACT Magistrates Court for hearing on Wednesday.
But the case met difficulty early on, when barrister Jack Pappas objected to evidence being led about the steroid possession.
Mr Pappas argued the vials of steroids were unlawfully seized.
The vials of steroids were not specifically mentioned in the search warrant, meaning police were only permitted to seize them if there were reasonable grounds for believing they may be linked to an indictable offence, generally defined as a crime that attracts a maximum sentence of two or more years.
The possession of steroids is not an indictable offence, and is punishable only by a maximum of six months imprisonment.
No calls were made to the station to check, nor did police search online to find out whether possessing steroids was an indictable offence in the ACT.
"[The officer] simply seized the vials, and that speaks to me of recklessness and behaviour that should not be endorsed by this court," Mr Pappas said.
Special Magistrate Maria Doogan agreed the steroids had been seized unlawfully, and refused to allow the vials into evidence.
The case then ran into further difficulty when Mr Pappas objected to a series of certificates issued by police and WorkSafe.
The certificates are designed to inform the court that Clark had not been permitted to hold any of the weapons or explosives at the time of the raid.
The defence is arguing that the certificates are defective and that the prosecution has failed to prove they were issued with proper authority.
The entire case relies on those certificates to prove Clark unlawfully possessed the items, and the prosecution conceded it may not be able to proceed if they are not admitted into evidence.
The issue is expected to be determined on Thursday morning, when the case comes back before Ms Doogan.
Police say they found a large amount of Rebels paraphernalia in the house, as well as documents identifying Clark, such as a passport, boat licence, and legal and business paperwork, some of which related to a tattoo parlour.
But police conceded they had not found any documents that expressly stated he lived at the address that had been raided.
They made no checks with the Australian Tax Office, gas or electricity providers, or landlords to see who they had recorded as living at the property.
