Former bikie boss Mohammed Nchouki leaving Canberra’s courts in 2022. Photo: Albert McKnight.
A former president of an outlaw motorcycle gang has been jailed for an offensive rant he made over the phone about a police officer and the officer’s wife.
Mohammed Nchouki was convicted and sentenced to five months’ jail but will be released after he serves three months, an ACT Supreme Court judgement from late December 2022 says.
He was aware that police might be monitoring his calls when he spoke to his younger brother, Jomal Nchouki, over the phone on 23 May 2021.
During the conversation, Nchouki made threats of sexual violence towards the officer’s wife, slurs about his sexuality, accused him of paedophilia, used sexually explicit language about him and threatened violence towards him.
“While a complete understanding of the language used is necessary to gain a full impression of the violence, menace and hostility displayed by the language, it is not appropriate to set out the actual language used in these reasons as it may give it a prominence that it does not deserve,” Justice David Mossop said in his judgement.
He said Nchouki had been aware that the officer, who arrested him over other charges in 2020, had been involved in intercepting his calls as well as how police would likely bring the contents of such calls to the officer’s attention.
Police had indeed been listening to the call and did raise it with the officer, who listened to it.
“While in one sense the status of the intended recipient as a police officer was someone less vulnerable than other members of the community, it was a direct challenge to the lawful authority of the officer to do his job,” Justice Mossop said.
Nchouki, who owns a construction company in Canberra, is the former president of a chapter of an ACT outlaw motorcycle gang. He says he ceased contact with the club five years ago and is no longer an active member.
His criminal history includes, from 2017, charges of drug trafficking, weapons offences and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
“The offender is now 42 years old. He is, therefore, old enough to know better,” Justice Mossop said.
“He has demonstrated no remorse or acceptance of the wrongfulness of the conduct.”
The justice did accept that Nchouki did not know his statements would be brought to the officer’s attention but was “only reckless” to that fact.
Nchouki had pleaded guilty to a charge of using a carriage service in a menacing, harassing or offensive way.
He will be released from jail in April 2023 on a two-year good behaviour order once he has served three months behind bars.
His brother, Jomal, was handed a jail sentence earlier in 2022 over a cocaine bust outside Belconnen Bunnings.
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