Looks like Australia is really trying to make criminals out of everybody that rides or knows someone that rides
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...er-freed-on-bail/story-fnihsrf2-1226814188558
Librarian and accused bikie Sally Louise Kuether freed on bail
A LIBRARIAN and mum-of-three charged under Queensland's anti-bikie laws has been granted bail.
Sally Louise Kuether, 40, faces a mandatory six-months in jail if convicted over a visit to a Dayboro pub with partner Phillip "Crow" Frederick Palmer, 57, a patched member of the Life and Death motorcycle club and associate Ronald Anton Germain, 50, in December.
MAGISTRATE'S WARNING OVER BIKIE LAWS
The trio were arrested on January 24 charged with knowingly participating in a criminal gang in public and for remaining in a licensed premises while wearing a prohibited item.
Kuether had worn a leather patch with the words "Life and Death" emblazoned on it and reading: "Property of Crow" during the meeting at the Dayboro Hotel at 10.50am on December 19.
Germain and Kuether were both successful in their bid for bail release before Brisbane Magistrate Noel Nunan on Thursday.
Ms Kuether was escorted from the Brisbane Magistrates Court just before 5.30pm.
She hugged and thanked the father of her children, Rolf Kuether, who had waited patiently for her outside following the bail hearing.
``I'm glad to see my kids, I'm so excited, I've never been away from my kids and I've got time now to work on this case because it's just not acceptable,'' she said.
She said she was well looked after during her stay behind bars at the Pine Rivers Watch House.
``I can't see what I've done wrong, all I did was have a beer with my partner and my mate,'' she said.
``How is that wrong?
``I've never committed any crime in my life ever before, I'm an upstanding citizen, what can I say?''
Palmer's bid for bail was delayed until next week.
Court 20 in the Brisbane Magistrates Court was packed with supporters for the hearing of both bail applications, with the results eliciting gasps and claps from the public gallery.
Lawyer Mark Howden, for Kuether, said his client was a mother of three children - Clayton, Angus and Stella - who had worked as a library assistant for Brisbane City Council at the Carina and Stones Corner libraries.
He said she was the recipient of a Lord Mayor's Award for excellence beyond the call of duty relating to her volunteer work during Brisbane's floods of 2011.
The court was told Kuether helped to load volunteers onto buses to clean houses and properties once the waters subsided.
She met Palmer in February, 2013 and claimed that although she knew he was a member of a motorcycle gang, she never sought to be one, never attended a meeting and could not have been a member because women were not allowed.
Mr Nunan rejected the submissions of Crown prosecutor Brendan Campbell, who opposed bail on the basis Kuether was at risk of committing further offences and a danger to the public.
"She's in a show cause situation but there's no risk she is likely to commit further offences or endanger anyone," Mr Nunan said.
Lawyer James Wallace, for Germain, argued his client had no criminal history except for a low-range drink driving charge in 1986.
He said Germain had served in the Army for 22 years and in Queensland Corrective Services as a prison officer for 15 years before retiring recently on medical grounds.
He said Germain was a father figure for his partner's two boys who paid a mortgage on his property.
The court heard Germain and Kuether had not realised they would be breaking the law when they met at the pub because it was their understanding a criminal organisation was defined by three members.
Under the Newman Government's anti-bikie laws, the definition of a participant in a criminal gang includes anyone who by their words, conduct or in any other way associates with the organisation.
The laws further stipulate anyone alleged to be a participant in a crime gang must "show cause" when applying for bail release.
Both will reappear in the Pine Rivers Magistrates Court in February.
Ms Kuether's former partner, an emotional Rolf Kuether, said justice had been "well served".
"We're very happy with the outcome and I'm pleased I can get home to my traumatised children," he said.
He said the former couple's three children, aged 17, 13 and 11, were coping as well as they could in the circumstances.
He fired a parting shot at the Newman Government's laws and the bikies who sparked the crack-down.
"Campbell Newman would be better off serving the people of Queensland by pursuing the real criminals in this state, the former government and the people down on the Gold Coast who started this whole sorry, unholy mess," Mr Kuether said.
"We'll live to fight another day. I just want to go home to my kids, our kids. Our law-abiding children."
Sisters Inside CEO Debbie Kilroy said Ms Kuether still had a long journey ahead of her.
"Here we have a woman who has been employed for 21 years, never been in trouble with the law and has been caught up in these draconian laws," she said.
"Now we're seeing an innocent woman being held in the watch house for more than a week and there's a risk of her serving six months mandatory imprisonment in solitary confinement."
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...er-freed-on-bail/story-fnihsrf2-1226814188558
Librarian and accused bikie Sally Louise Kuether freed on bail
A LIBRARIAN and mum-of-three charged under Queensland's anti-bikie laws has been granted bail.
Sally Louise Kuether, 40, faces a mandatory six-months in jail if convicted over a visit to a Dayboro pub with partner Phillip "Crow" Frederick Palmer, 57, a patched member of the Life and Death motorcycle club and associate Ronald Anton Germain, 50, in December.
MAGISTRATE'S WARNING OVER BIKIE LAWS
The trio were arrested on January 24 charged with knowingly participating in a criminal gang in public and for remaining in a licensed premises while wearing a prohibited item.
Kuether had worn a leather patch with the words "Life and Death" emblazoned on it and reading: "Property of Crow" during the meeting at the Dayboro Hotel at 10.50am on December 19.
Germain and Kuether were both successful in their bid for bail release before Brisbane Magistrate Noel Nunan on Thursday.
Ms Kuether was escorted from the Brisbane Magistrates Court just before 5.30pm.
She hugged and thanked the father of her children, Rolf Kuether, who had waited patiently for her outside following the bail hearing.
``I'm glad to see my kids, I'm so excited, I've never been away from my kids and I've got time now to work on this case because it's just not acceptable,'' she said.
She said she was well looked after during her stay behind bars at the Pine Rivers Watch House.
``I can't see what I've done wrong, all I did was have a beer with my partner and my mate,'' she said.
``How is that wrong?
``I've never committed any crime in my life ever before, I'm an upstanding citizen, what can I say?''
Palmer's bid for bail was delayed until next week.
Court 20 in the Brisbane Magistrates Court was packed with supporters for the hearing of both bail applications, with the results eliciting gasps and claps from the public gallery.
Lawyer Mark Howden, for Kuether, said his client was a mother of three children - Clayton, Angus and Stella - who had worked as a library assistant for Brisbane City Council at the Carina and Stones Corner libraries.
He said she was the recipient of a Lord Mayor's Award for excellence beyond the call of duty relating to her volunteer work during Brisbane's floods of 2011.
The court was told Kuether helped to load volunteers onto buses to clean houses and properties once the waters subsided.
She met Palmer in February, 2013 and claimed that although she knew he was a member of a motorcycle gang, she never sought to be one, never attended a meeting and could not have been a member because women were not allowed.
Mr Nunan rejected the submissions of Crown prosecutor Brendan Campbell, who opposed bail on the basis Kuether was at risk of committing further offences and a danger to the public.
"She's in a show cause situation but there's no risk she is likely to commit further offences or endanger anyone," Mr Nunan said.
Lawyer James Wallace, for Germain, argued his client had no criminal history except for a low-range drink driving charge in 1986.
He said Germain had served in the Army for 22 years and in Queensland Corrective Services as a prison officer for 15 years before retiring recently on medical grounds.
He said Germain was a father figure for his partner's two boys who paid a mortgage on his property.
The court heard Germain and Kuether had not realised they would be breaking the law when they met at the pub because it was their understanding a criminal organisation was defined by three members.
Under the Newman Government's anti-bikie laws, the definition of a participant in a criminal gang includes anyone who by their words, conduct or in any other way associates with the organisation.
The laws further stipulate anyone alleged to be a participant in a crime gang must "show cause" when applying for bail release.
Both will reappear in the Pine Rivers Magistrates Court in February.
Ms Kuether's former partner, an emotional Rolf Kuether, said justice had been "well served".
"We're very happy with the outcome and I'm pleased I can get home to my traumatised children," he said.
He said the former couple's three children, aged 17, 13 and 11, were coping as well as they could in the circumstances.
He fired a parting shot at the Newman Government's laws and the bikies who sparked the crack-down.
"Campbell Newman would be better off serving the people of Queensland by pursuing the real criminals in this state, the former government and the people down on the Gold Coast who started this whole sorry, unholy mess," Mr Kuether said.
"We'll live to fight another day. I just want to go home to my kids, our kids. Our law-abiding children."
Sisters Inside CEO Debbie Kilroy said Ms Kuether still had a long journey ahead of her.
"Here we have a woman who has been employed for 21 years, never been in trouble with the law and has been caught up in these draconian laws," she said.
"Now we're seeing an innocent woman being held in the watch house for more than a week and there's a risk of her serving six months mandatory imprisonment in solitary confinement."
