Robina Town Centre is
a large shopping centre in the suburb of Robina, Queensland. The place earlier known as Kerrydale was
acquired and promoted by Singaporean real estate developer Robin Loh.
In criminology, examining why people commit crime is
very important in the ongoing debate of how crime should be handled and
prevented. The occurrence of a crime depends on two things: the presence of at
least one motivated offender who is ready or willing to engage in a crime, and
the conditions of the environment in which that offender is situated, to wit,
opportunities for crime. All crimes require opportunity but not every
opportunity is followed by crime. All crimes
have a motive is oft repeated cliché. A motive, in law, especially criminal
law, is the cause that moves people to induce a certain action. Motive, in
itself, is not an element of any given crime; however, the legal system
typically allows motive to be proven in order to make plausible the reasons of
the accused for committing a crime, at least when those motives may be obscure
or hard to identify with.
Then most killers know their victims and plan to execute
the crime. Generally disgruntled affairs, property disputes, jealousy, family
squabble, public squabble, political rivalry, crime and more are given as
reasons for murders. Rarely, (that too
in Western Countries) – there are random killings, killing with the 'thrill' of
taking a human life. In the interesting
‘The King of Torts’ of John Grisham, the hero takes on the case of Tequila Watson, a man
accused of a random street killing.
Downunder
in Queensland, a man dropped a $10 note at a shopping centre. A passing Good
Samaritan picked it up and innocently handed it back. He never knew that the money fell out because the man, a
Mongols bikie named Mark James Graham,
had just drawn a gun from his bum bag ~ worser still, he never knew that
he was in the middle of a bikie stand-off. That was April 28,
2012. Today, Courier Mail reports that
Graham, 28, was jailed for 12 years and three months for gunning down an
innocent woman during a fight with a rival at a packed Gold Coast chopping
centre.
The report further
adds that Graham showed little emotion as he sat in the prisoner’s dock in the
Supreme Court at Brisbane for sentencing. His hair was recently shaved,
revealing tattoos on his head, as well as those already visible on his face
that read “carnage”, “revenge” and the bikie tag “1%”. Graham was taken into custody on September 30
when a jury found him guilty of the attempted murder of ex-Bandido Jacques
Teamo and the unlawful wounding of shopper Kathy Devitt when he opened fire at
the crowded Robina Town Centre at 1.46pm on April 28, 2012.
Justice Alan Wilson
jailed Graham for 12 years and three months for the “brazen” and “shocking”
shooting. He sentenced Graham to a further seven years for unlawful wounding
and 18-months for the unlawful possession of a hand gun. Justice Wilson said it
remained a mystery why Mr Teamo armed himself with a knife and Graham with a
handgun to go shopping with their respective families. “When you saw each other, neither the
presence of family nor of large numbers of innocent bystanders, discouraged you
from a confrontation which resulted in Teamo and Ms Kathy Devitt, a person
unknown to you, being shot,” he said.
“What you did with that weapon shattered the
peace of a place in which citizens generally feel safe as they go about their
leisurely business, confident that acts of extreme violence are remote and
highly improbable,” he said. “Your conduct exposed a large number of people to
a real and present but also alien and entirely unexpected danger.” Justice
Wilson was critical of Graham’s expressions of remorse, adding they had only
been expressed after he was convicted by a jury. Down under, sentences above 10
years automatically attract a serious violent offender declaration, where the
prisoner must serve at least 80 per cent of the sentence before being eligible
for parole.
Graham was a former
member of the Finks MC before patching over to the Mongols last year. Graham
was on the Gold Coast to visit family and celebrate his daughter’s birthday
when he had a “chance encounter” with Mr Teamo that quickly escalated outside
the Sony store on the second level of the Robina shopping complex. CCTV showed
the two men facing-off before they were interrupted by a Good Samaritan who
innocently handed Graham a $10 note that he inadvertently dropped, probably
while he pulled a gun from his bum bag.
The Mongols Motorcycle
Club, sometimes called the Mongol Nation
is a outlaw motorcycle club and alleged organized crime syndicate. The
club is headquartered in southern California.
The Finks is an Australian outlaw motorcycle club. It is stated that in Oct 2013, Flinks MC
decided to patch over to Mongols MC.
Brazen
to read about such killings and thankfully such things are not reported to
occur in India.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
3rd Nov. 2014.
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