A magistrate jailed two Melbourne men on Friday for their part in a wild strip club bikie brawl, comparing their behaviour to a pack of wild dogs attacking each other.
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Nuulua Sooa Levi, 55, and Peniamina Elia, 34, pleaded guilty to affray following the all-in scrap at the Capital Men's Club in Fyshwick.
The violent shirts-off melee had erupted in the early hours of August 20 last year, after members of the Comanchero gathered in Canberra for the club's memorial run.
In surveillance footage of the brawl, Levi and Elia punched and kicked and stomped on other men.
No one involved spoke to police, but detectives prepared a case against several of the men involved by studying surveillance footage and photographs of the Comanchero members.
In the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday Levi and Elia were sentenced by Special Magistrate Ken Cush to 10 months in jail, with five months to be served full time in the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
The pair join 27-year-old Paea Talakai in the prison, after he was jailed for his role in the brawl earlier this year.
On hearing the sentence members of Levi and Elia's family cried, and Elia hugged his pregnant partner and child.
While Levi had refused to disavow his membership of the club, the court heard, he said his behaviour had brought shame on his family and the Samoan community and that he was ashamed.
Elia apologised, and told the court the behaviour wasn't appropriate and that he took full responsibility.
He also admitted being addicted to ice and using steroids, though his partner had reported improvements on what was his once daily use after regular drug tests.
Solicitor Michael Kukulies-Smith this week called his client Elia to the stand where he told the court he had only belonged to the Comanchero for a year, and had since quit by calling his brother to let him know.
Bail conditions banned him from contacting any other members, he said.
But prosecutors called evidence in reply from a police officer in Taskforce Nemesis Stewart Alexander, who said in his experience leaving the club was not that simple.
He said members were censured once leaving and had to pay something, such as surrendering a motorcycle.
If you left on bad terms, he said, there was also physical punishment on top of payment. He referred to a recent arrest for an alleged shooting and arson attack in Canberra committed on a former member.
Mr Cush said when sentencing the pair that protection of the community was important, and told the men their behaviour was completely unacceptable.
He hoped they truly understood the stupidity of their actions.
Levi and Elia will be eligible for release in March 2019.
