No jail for Vic ex-bikie over club brawl
2:25pm March 5, 2014
Former Bandidos enforcer Toby Mitchell has avoided jail over a strip club brawl, but a judge has told him he's too old for that kind of behaviour.
Mitchell, 39, pleaded guilty to affray over the wild nightclub brawl in central Melbourne in November 2010.
Staff were punched and bar chairs thrown after Mitchell and two other men were asked to leave the Centrefold Lounge on King Street.
Since the incident Mitchell has twice been shot and nearly died after one of the shootings, the Victorian County Court heard on Wednesday.
Sentencing Mitchell and co-offenders Savvacis Tsivicios, 41, and Peter Robert Algie, 43, on Wednesday, Victorian County Court Judge John Smallwood said the trio were "getting a bit old for it".
"The fact of the matter is you can't behave like this in public," he said.
"You are all big blokes."
Judge Smallwood said Mitchell had admitted the brawl happened for no good reason.
He said while the brawl was not the worst example of affray he had seen, it was not a trivial matter.
Judge Smallwood noted Mitchell's poor health and agreed with a submission from his lawyer that he would be a target in jail.
He said delays in the matter being finalised, which were no fault of the three men, were also a factor in his sentence.
Judge Smallwood jailed Mitchell and Tsivicios, of Taylors Lakes, who also pleaded guilty to affray, for four months but wholly suspended the sentence for 12 months.
Algie, of Southbank, pleaded guilty to recklessly causing injury and was given a two-month jail sentence, wholly suspended for nine months.
Mitchell, who wore a pink shirt to his sentencing, appeared relieved as he left court without commenting to reporters.
The court was told during his pre-sentence hearing on Tuesday that Mitchell was no longer a member of any gang or club and was concerned that other inmates would seek to attack him if he was sent to prison.
Mitchell was shot five times in the back outside a Brunswick gym in 2011 and was again shot in March last year after more than 30 rounds were fired at a Melton bikie clubhouse.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2014/03/05/11/09/no-jail-for-ex-vic-bandido-bikie-mitchell
