A WA judge has warned police if allegations they tried to convince the sister of notorious bikie Ray Cilli to give up his location in exchange for allowing her to keep her baby in prison were true, they could be hauled before the State’s anti-corruption body.
District Court Judge Linda Black remarked during the sentencing of Sherina Tracey-Jan Lucas, who was handed a 15-month jail term for her role in a cash drop-off and pick-up of more than $800,000 that police say was linked to the alleged money laundering activities of her Comanchero brother.
The 35-year-old was meant to be jailed last month, but her hearing was adjourned after it emerged she could not secure a place at Bandyup Women’s Prison for her and her breast-fed baby boy and would have to stay at Melaleuca Prison without him.
It was also alleged at that hearing that when she initially went into custody in April, she was taken aside and told by people she believed to be police officers that her charges would “go away” and that she would be allowed to have her baby with her if she gave up the secret location of her bikie sibling.
Cilli fled WA in 2019 after murder charges against him were dropped, and he is believed to be hiding out in Thailand.
Police suspect he is still involved with the outlaw motorcycle gang and was named as an alleged target of another bikie, David Pye, who is charged with organising the murder of Rebels boss Nick Martin.
Police have also been monitoring Cilli’s family since he fled and arrested Lucas as part of a covert sting in June 2021.
During the mother-of-four’s sentencing hearing on Thursday, Judge Black said she was concerned to hear at the previous hearing that Lucas had been “effectively threatened”.
She said if the allegations were true, and if it were to occur again “in any way, shape or form” — that Cilli was “to be used as a carrot” to allow Lucas to have her baby with her in prison — then that would be “serious criminal misconduct”.
She then told Lucas’ lawyer, Katherine Dowling, that it should be reported to the Corruption and Crime Commission or senior police.
Ms Dowling told Judge Black she hesitated to raise the matter at the last hearing because she was “conscious it may make Ms Lucas’ time in custody more difficult”.
State prosecutor Emily-May Roberts told the court after the last hearing that the Australian Federal Police had contacted her to say they had made inquiries with Melaleuca. No one from their organisation had visited Lucas or called her, and as far as “they were aware, nothing like that had happened.”
“No one had formally logged in to visit,” she said. “No one had called her. So I just simply would like that on the transcript.”
Judge Black said she understood but said she found it “unlikely” that Lucas would “just make (it) up” but could not make any findings “against any police officer, particularly when she is not even certain it was a police officer”.
“It seems to me if that sort of thing is being said to her, then people need to understand that the court would take a very dim view about such conduct,” Judge Black added.
As for Lucas’ role in the cash drop and pick-up, Ms Dowling told the court her client had been asked by her former mother-in-law, Vivian Armstead, who was jailed for two years and two months, the night before, to be the driver. She only agreed because Armstead claimed she was having financial troubles.
She said despite her family background and significant personal trauma — she was allegedly kidnapped and held captive for six months when she was a teenager — her client had never been in trouble before and had led a productive and pro-social life.
Ms Dowling even described Lucas as once being on track to becoming the “next Cathy Freeman,” explaining that she trained night and day with a well-known track and field family in Perth for several years because she had shown extraordinary talent.
Judge Black accepted Lucas had been asked by Armstead but rejected she wasn’t fully aware of what was taking place until that morning.
Lucas, who was pregnant with a different child at the time, her mother Carolyn Cilli and Armstead drove to a warehouse on William Street in Perth where Armstead handed over two duffle bags containing $801,502 to Jing Zhang – who was jailed for two years and six months for her role. The exchange was caught on video by police.
Charges against Ms Cilli were dropped.
Judge Black said it was a “mystery” why Lucas would take part in the crime, adding there was no evidence she was to receive any money and queried whether it was done out of “loyalty to someone else”.
“It was, I must say, bluntly, the strangest and craziest decision you’ve probably made in your adult life,” Judge Black said. “A pregnant lady, sitting in a car, carrying close to a million dollars cash, and not even necessarily expecting to get anything much out of it. I can only ask you what on earth you were thinking.”
In sentencing, Judge Black took into account her guilty plea, her significant remorse, traumatic background, low risk of re-offending and that her time in prison would be harder.
She also considered that she may not have access to her now five-month-old while inside after receiving a letter from Corrective Services stating the only reasons she would not be “resourcing and capacity” issues.
She jailed Lucas for 15 months, making her eligible for parole after serving half.
Source Agencies
