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 Bikie gunman jailed for life 

Bikie gunman jailed for life

23 Sep, 2008 01:00 AM
The former Hell's Angels bikie who shocked Melbourne with an inner-city shooting rampage last year is to stay behind bars until at least 2042.

Christopher Wayne Hudson was sentenced yesterday to life in prison with a 35-year non-parole period for murdering father of three Brendan Keilar and the attempted murder of two others.

Hudson emptied his six-round Smith and Wesson about 8 o'clock on June 18 last year, a busy Monday morning when commuters were heading to work.

Mr Keilar and Dutch tourist Paul de Waard, who suffered two bullet wounds, had tried to help Hudson's former girlfriend and model Kaera Douglas.

Hudson, loaded with steroids and crystal methylamphetamine, was assaulting Ms Douglas at the corner of Flinders Lane and William Street when they came to her aid.

After the brazen shooting, Hudson dumped the gun and fled. He surrendered to police two days later.

In the Victorian Supreme Court, Justice Paul Coghlan said the offences fell into the ''highest category'' and that no quantity of adjectives could properly capture the appalling violence that had shocked Melbourne's conscience.

During a 45-minute sentence, Justice Coghlan detailed Hudson's crime and history from the time he was 16-year-old drinker and school truant from a stable family to the drug-fuelled life of violence in his 20s that led to the attack.

Hudson had been a member of the Fink motorcycle gang, switching to the Hell's Angels in 2004.

After being shot in the face during a fight with his former gang members, the Queenslander became paranoid and carried a gun with him.

Six days before the attack, Hudson met Collingwood footballer Alan Didak in a nightclub and took him to the Hell's Angels clubhouse. During the evening he fired the weapon while speeding over the Bolte Bridge, and fired at police cars to escape a pursuit.

In the hours before the rampage, Hudson had spent time in two King Street nightclubs.

His first victim was stripper Autumn Daly-Holt, whom he brutally kicked and punched shortly before 8am.

One kick left Ms Daly-Holt with severe facial injuries from which she is still recovering.

''That kick was delivered with as much force as you could muster,'' Justice Coghlan said.

The judge found that Hudson was ''calm and deliberate'' when shooting his three other victims, and that the two survivors, and others, were lucky he had only six shots.

''You shot Mr Brendan Keilar twice more while he was on the ground, you executed him,'' Justice Coghlan said.

''You shot Mr Paul de Waard once more while he was on the ground. Your gun was then empty. You and others ought to be grateful for that.

''None of your victims presented any threat to you.''

Mr De Waard, who returned home to the Netherlands earlier this year after painful rehabilitation, told the court in a statement he still had a bullet lodged near his pelvis and that surfing, swimming and snowboarding were not the same.

''My life has changed for ever and I'm still struggling with my health every day,'' he said.

Mr De Waard is due to return to Melbourne this week, and will be presented with a bravery award later in the year.

Justice Coghlan sentenced Hudson to five years' jail for carrying an unlicensed weapon, eight years' jail for assaulting Ms Daly-Holt and 12 years for each count of attempted murder.

The sentences will be served concurrently with the life sentence and 35 years minimum for Mr Keilar's murder. Including time already served.

Hudson, now 30, will be able to apply for parole after his 64th birthday. Hudson pleaded guilty, sparing witnesses, victims and family members the ordeal of a trial.

The guilty plea contributed to Justice Coghlan's decision to impose a minimum term.

After being led in, Hudson appeared nervous and fidgeted inside his grey striped suit.

Once Justice Coghlan began reading the sentence in the Supreme Court building only a few blocks from the crime scene, Hudson stayed almost expressionless. His parents similarly showed no emotion as they walked from court dressed in black and flanked by three bikies.

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