Gang squad probe car fire-bombing at bikie lawyer's Port Kennedy home

 

POLICE say they are yet to establish a firm motive after the overnight firebombing of a car at a Port Kennedy property owned by prominent bikie lawyer Malcolm Ayoub. Police and firefighters were called to the house in San Sebastian Boulevard at 12.25am this morning after reports molotov cocktails had been thrown at the house, damaging a car. The house is co-owned by Mr Ayoub, a criminal lawyer who acts for several Rock Machine bikies, including sergeant-at-arms Brent Reker, 26, and Stefan Pahia Schmidt, 25, who is accused of murder after allegedly throwing a man out from an upstairs window of the Ocean Beach Hotel in May. PerthNow understands the vehicle sustained minor damage. On Friday, Reker and another man were convicted extorting $2000 from two young men they claimed were boasting about having links with the Rock Machine. Reker, 26, and tattooist Kyle Adam Barry, 28, were found guilty in Perth District Court of two counts of demanding property with oral threats. It is not clear if this morning's firebomb attack relates to Friday's court verdict or the ongoing tit-for-tat war between the Rock Machine and the Rebels bikie gangs. Assistant Commissioner Nick Anticich this afternoon told PerthNow police were yet to establish a motive for the attack, but officers were focussing on recent court cases involving the victim. ``At this stage, we have nothing concrete as to who has done this or why it has happened,'' Mr Anticich said. Gang Crime detectives were assisting in the investigation, which is being led by Rockingham detectives, he said. ``If strong gang links emerge, then the Gang Crime Squad will take a more active role in the investigation.'' Police have repeatedly warned that the Rebels and Rock Machine gangs are at loggerheads since the Rock Machine set up its national headquarters in WA about two years ago and a Rebels member who was removed from the club later joined the Rock Machine. While police say the feud relates to a turf war over drug distribution networks, those close to the Rebels say the issue is not drug-related but merely a ``clash of personalities'' between members. The Rebels, which has about 50 members and four clubhouses in WA, is Australia's biggest bikie gang. The Rock Machine, a Canadian-based gang, has about 20 known members and a clubhouse in Myaree. The Rock Machine, a Canadian-based gang, is notorious for a violent turf war with the Hells Angels in Canada in the 1990s, which left 162 people dead, including an 11-year-old boy who was killed by shrapnel from a car bomb explosion.