Club Deroes bikies Guilio Mocerino and Adriaan Van Wyngaarden found guilty of gang rape after victim testifies

One of Australia’s most depraved bikies, who tried to blow up a police station and is implicated in the murder of a police officer, has been found guilty of gang-raping a woman 22 years ago. Long-serving Club Deroes bikie Guilio Mocerino is in jail after his victim risked the vengeance of the notoriously bloodthirsty gang to make a complaint about the harrowing night in 2003. The jury that listened to the 55-year-old woman’s account of the terrifying pack rape on March 15 of 2003 found Mocerino and fellow gang member Adriaan Van Wyngaarden guilty of sexual penetration and unlawful detention. The then 33-year-old woman had met Van Wyngaarden at the Cactus Club nightclub above the Gosnells Hotel. WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT Not knowing he was a bikie, she gave him a lift home and accepted an invitation to see his Harley Davidson. Once inside, he ignored her warnings that “this isn’t going to happen” and forced her into a bedroom, tearing off her jeans and top and raping her twice. As the victim tried to find her clothes, she heard other men arrive at the house. One of them was Mocerino, who had introduced himself as Paul Mewer at the Cactus Club. He came into the bedroom and raped her while a third man, Justin Szakay, watched. Szakay died and was never charged with the crime. The woman was then anally raped by Szakay and forced to give Mocerino oral sex as other men walked in and out of the room watching. “The two men continued to jointly assault (her) for some time during which various other men came in and out of the bedroom,” prosecutor Elisabeth Noonan told the court. The woman walked out of the room after dressing herself and found Mocerino and Van Wyngaarden wearing bikie jackets. “You just f***ed two Club Deroes,” Van Wyngaarden said. The men followed her to her car, asking where she lived. When she refused to tell them, they warned her that they could find out from her car registration. After arriving home about 5am, she called the Armadale police station and underwent a medical examination that revealed the brutality of the rape. Police raided Van Wyngaarden’s house, obtained fingerprints from the woman’s car and put her clothes in the evidence locker but three months later she said she did not want to proceed. Police revisited the rape case 10 years after the woman made her original complaint. “In April 2014 police reopened the investigation and contacted (the victim) to ascertain whether she was willing to proceed,” Ms Noonan said. After identifying Mocerino, the victim again declined to proceed. “Then almost six years later in August 2021 detectives contacted (the victim) about this matter to again ascertain whether she would be prepared to proceed with it,” Ms Noonan told the court. Mocerino was arrested on March 23, 2023, and Van Wyngaarden was in handcuffs four days later. Van Wyngaarden’s lawyer Simon Watters argued in court that the sex was consensual. “You got caught up in the moment this night by having sex with multiple men,” he said. “You felt shame for having sex with multiple men. You were entirely in control of your actions this night.” An intense exchange on cross-examination revealed the woman had considered taking her own life. Watters: “And then you said ‘200 an hour and I’ll have sex with all of you’?” Victim: “I never said that. That’s an absolute lie.” Watters: “Paul Mewer then said ‘I’ll give you $100 for five or 10 minutes’.” Victim: “That is an absolute lie. He never said that.” Watters: “And another man, Justin, also agreed to pay for sex with you.” Victim: “That’s a lie too.” Watters: “As you sit here today do you accept it’s impossible to say what you have blocked out in your memory in terms of events?” Victim: “No, that’s not true.” Watters: “So are you saying you know what memories you can remember?” Victim: “I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that I did block a lot of stuff out about that assault over the years. I’ve tried to live with it. It’s taken me to a very dark place. I’ve actually tried to kill myself. I wanted to kill myself over this.” Mocerino and Van Wyngaarden declined to give evidence. They were remanded in custody for sentencing in August. At a bail hearing prior to the seven-day trial, prosecutors outlined Mocerino’s criminal history. “Information received (by) police was that Giulio Mocerino was linked to (the) Club Deroes and Rebels outlaw motorcycle gangs. Receiving large sums of money, he has overseen various crimes including homicides, including that of a police officer,” prosecutors said. Prosecutors warned the court that the outlaw would “employ tactics used by them (the Club Deroes) to locate (and) harm witnesses involved in the criminal proceedings”. “Investigators have inferred there (are) connections with the licencing of government departments which may be able to provide him with the capability to locate the victim, her spouse, relatives, or any other witnesses to threaten or harm them,” prosecutors told the court. “In 2012 (it) was identified that the Club Deroes motorcycle gang had antecedence for corrupting government officials and had exploited the Department of Planning and Infrastructure or the Department of Transport in order to obtain drivers’ licences.” The bail hearing was told that in 2012 police believed Mocerino “was planning to ram a vehicle-born improvised device or a car bomb into the front doors of Curtin House”. “A search of his home located a hand-drawn map of Curtin House, and enquiries identified the accused had access to explosives through an associate,” the court was told. Mocerino, who was driving a Ferrari at the time of the bombing conspiracy, was kicked out of the gang for drawing too much attention. He fled to South-East Asia before living in Tasmania.