Phone data and CCTV have placed an allegedly violent member of the Mongols bikie gang and his getaway car at the scene of a firebombing that engulfed the Bondi home of YouTube creator and political commentator Jordan Shanks, a court has heard.
Shanks, known online as FriendlyJordies, was not home in November 2022 when the eastern suburbs property was allegedly twice attacked by arsonists, causing significant damage.
A blaze breaks out at the Bondi house of Jordan Shanks on the night it was firebombed in November 2022.Credit: OnScene Bondi
Tufi Junior Tauese-Auelua, who police allege has links to organised crime, was charged in December over his alleged role in the blaze and remains before the courts.
Strike Force Promethium officers on Thursday arrested and charged a second man, Andre Stepanyan, with destroying property in company using fire and participating in a criminal group.
Police allege Stepanyan, 37, was driving the car used in the second fire attack on Shanks’ home and is a member of the Mongols outlaw motorcycle gang.
The prosecutor argued the case against Stepanyan was strengthened by surveillance device material and phone records which placed him “in the vicinity of the crime and in contact with co-accused persons”, while CCTV placed the “vehicle in question in that same vicinity”.
Magistrate Catherine Follent said, according to the facts alleged by police, Stepanyan “is a member of an outlaw motorcycle gang” and his “criminal associates do have a bearing” on his application for release.
Follent refused bail due to the unacceptable risks he presented, and adjourned his case to Waverley Local Court next Wednesday.