Men Who Killed Qantas - Matthew Benns [77]
Crown prosecutor Craig Chowdhury said that the attacks amounted to indecent assault: ‘It’s an evil, wicked thing to do to render someone so unconscious they can’t defend themselves,’ he said. ‘It’s a tragedy how this accused abused the trust of these women.’11 The jury agreed and found the 35-year-old steward guilty. The emotional stewardesses hugged each other at the back of the court while Robertson sat in the dock shaking his head. Judge Robert Hall said Robertson had abused the women’s trust so he could ‘gain some sort of voyeuristic thrill’ and sentenced him to six years in jail, which was reduced to four on appeal. Judge Hall said Robertson had shown not ‘the slightest trace of remorse’ and did not recommend early parole.12
The court case was embarrassing to Qantas and once again raised the question of exactly how much care the company was offering its staff. But, of course, in a large company there are always bound to be some bad apples. And staff are not the only potential risk of embarrassment to a busy and successful airline. By the very nature of its business, Qantas can also become embroiled in the scandals of its paying customers. On a quiet Sunday afternoon in March 2009, an unfortunate chain of events put the airline back onto the front page of the nation’s newspapers and at the top of television news bulletins.
On Sunday 22 March the president of the Hells Angels Guildford chapter, Derek Wainohu, boarded Qantas flight QF430 in Melbourne to return to Sydney. He had been in Victoria to assure his Hells Angels counterparts there that the bikie gang war troubles in Sydney would soon be over and the push for membership for the Free Australia political party could go ahead. With him was fellow Hells Angel Peter Zervas and his 29-year-old brother Anthony Zervas. Unfortunately, six heavily tattooed members of rival gang the Comancheros happened to be on the same plane. They had been in Melbourne for the premiere of the boxing movie Two Fists, One Heart. It was a terrible coincidence. According to the Sydney Daily Telegraph: ‘Wainohu did what any quick-thinking gangster would do. He texted ahead for back up.’13
To make matters worse the two groups were seated together, one behind the other. Other passengers said the groups became increasingly agitated as the flight wore on, exchanging threats mid-flight and frantically texting on their mobile phones. By the time the plane landed in Sydney at 1.30 pm, the cavalry had arrived with knives and knuckle-dusters. Four Comancheros passed through the metal detectors to meet the plane at the gate, leaving two in the arrivals hall with the weapons. The Hells Angels had arrived in force too, and were in the arrivals hall while the two groups of bikies pushed and shoved each other as they attempted to disembark from the Qantas plane.
As the Hells Angels trio emerged from the airbridge to be met by the Comancheros at Gate 5, Wainohu and Comanchero president Mick Hawi told their members to pull it in. Then, according to the Daily Telegraph, ‘a Hells Angel smiled’. Police say a Comanchero snarled: ‘What the fuck are you laughing at?’14 One of the bikies shouted: ‘Come on, boys, let’s go, let’s go.’ And a mass brawl erupted as two armed federal police officers waited for back-up to try to tackle the brawl that erupted inside the security barrier then moved towards the terminal doors ‘like one big rolling ball of mayhem’.15
‘When the two groups saw each other it exploded. The larger group charged at the others, screaming and swearing, and the brawl was on,’ one witness told the Sydney Morning Herald:
Initially they were punching and kicking, using kick-boxing, but within about five seconds the brawl had moved towards the sliding doors near the entrance next to the road where the taxis drop off. As they surged past check-in counters at least five of them grabbed the steel bollards that are used to corral people waiting to check in their bags and began swinging …
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