A man charged over the brazen firebombing of a controversial YouTuber’s house has been granted bail after a judge heard the bikie gang “prospect” had cut ties with an outlaw motorcycle group.
Andre Stepanyan is one of two men charged over an arson attack at the home of Jordan Shanks-Markovina – better known by his online alias of FriendlyJordies – in November 2022.
The property at Bondi, in Sydney’s east, and an adjacent home were damaged in the fire which police have said was linked to another fire at the property days earlier.
Stepanyan, who’s charged with destroying property in company and participating in a criminal group, appeared for a bail hearing in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday.
His lawyer Bianca Barnes said the case against her client was not strong.
The 38-year-old was allegedly the driver behind the wheel of a black Mercedes that took at least two passengers to the house.
Ms Barnes said cell towers put his phone at the pick-up point for the car, but there was no evidence showing he had actually travelled in the vehicle to the Bondi property.
As Stepanyan watched by video-link from Bathurst prison, Ms Barnes said he would fight the allegations.
“I think an issue at trial is going to be whether or not he had any knowledge of what was happening,” she said.
There was no evidence Stepanyan was associated with any criminal groups at the time of the firebombing in November 2022, Ms Barnes added.
However, she acknowledged he had become a “prospect” for a bikie gang by August 2023.
“He wasn’t a fully-fledged member with voting rights or anything like that,” Ms Barnes said.
At the time, the court heard, he saw the group stab another man three times in the buttocks and cleaned up the blood for them afterwards.
Stepanyan has pleaded guilty to being an accessory to wounding with intent over that attack and will face sentence in December.
Justice Sarah McNaughton pointed out his escalating criminal activity and association with a bikie gang.
But Ms Barnes said he had since cut ties with the gang.
The judge accepted this and granted Stepanyan bail under a host of strict conditions.
He will have to live with his father under home detention at Macquarie Park, in the city’s northwest, and is not allowed within a kilometre of Shanks-Markovina’s home.
A friend will put up $25,000 in surety, which will be forfeited if he does not attend court as required.
Another man, Tufi Junior Tauese-Auelua, has been charged with two counts of destroying or damaging a property by fire over the arson attack.
Both will appear at Downing Centre Local Court on November 7.
Shanks-Markovina in February posted a statement on his YouTube account, which has more than 1.3 million subscribers, saying people featured in a previous video he made were “once again threatening dire consequences” if it wasn’t taken down.
“You win, we’re taking down the video, congratulations, you run this city,” he said.
Source Agencies
