Ex-bikie Axel Sidaros sentenced after warning of Canberra's 'first daylight hit'

An ex-bikie warned a rival that Canberra should get ready for its “first daylight hit” when sending him threatening messages as part of their longstanding feud.

Axel Sidaros, a 29-year-old from O’Malley, has been in custody since his arrest late last year and pleaded guilty to a charge of using a carriage service to threaten to cause serious harm in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday (19 June).

Police originally alleged he and his victim had known each other for years and had gotten into “a longstanding feud” after briefly dating the same woman.

On Wednesday, Magistrate Ian Temby said the agreed facts of the case stated Sidaros had been granted parole in May 2023, the conditions of which he breached when committing his newest crime.

In October of that year, the victim had been away from home when he received a video on the social media application Snapchat from Sidaros showing the latter outside his house.

Then, on 6 November, Sidaros sent his victim several more photos and videos over Snapchat, showing scenes like him holding several handguns or wearing a balaclava.

“Canberra get ready for ur first daylight hit [sic],” he wrote in one.

“I ain’t playin. I catch you slippin ima kill you [sic],” he wrote in another.

In a third, he held a handgun with a caption that read, “[the victim’s] a snitch and a b-h this big 40s gonna blow off his head [sic]”.

Magistrate Temby said the victim had seen these Snapchat messages when he was with a police officer and told police they only left him feeling “uncomfortable” and “he could handle it himself”.

The magistrate also said some of Sidaros’ language came from the lyrics to a song, which made it less clear whether the threats were to be carried out.

A psychologist said Sidaros indicated remorse for his crime but also indicated the victim was “pathetic” for going to the police rather than confronting him directly.

Magistrate Temby said while the agreed facts contained a threat to kill, he couldn’t take that into account as Sidaros’s charge was a threat to cause serious harm. This meant he was left to sentence the former bikie for a “general threat”, which was exacerbated by him holding a gun and the “clear level of animosity displayed towards” the victim.

“The brandishing of a gun is a serious form of threat … but the threat itself is very general in nature once I exclude the threats to kill,” he said.

The magistrate also raised Sidaros’s criminal history, which included a prior conviction for intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm.

“It is clear there are some issues that he definitely needs to address in terms of resorting to violence and threats of violence,” he said.

However, he said a full-time jail sentence was not required for his most recent crime as it was at the lower end of seriousness and he was already serving a period of imprisonment that will end in August 2025.

Sidaros was convicted and sentenced to a two-year good behaviour order as well as a $2000 fine. His parole was automatically cancelled, and when he is released from custody, it is a matter for the parole board.

On 25 January 2023, police found him with a knife in a scabbard hanging from a necklace around his neck, and he was convicted of a charge of possessing a knife without a reasonable excuse.