Around 40 patched members and their motorcycles head east on Marua Rd. Video / NZ Herald
Six years on from a raid on the Head Hunters East pad, an asset forfeiture trial is under way for the man police allege is the wealthy kingpin of the motorcycle gang.
Wayne Doyle sat with family in the back of a hearing room in the High Court at Aucklandon Monday while lawyer Conrad Purdon opened the Police Commissioner’s case before Justice Peter Andrew.
“Mr Doyle is the president of the Head Hunters motorcycle gang, an organised criminal group which engages in drug dealing and violent property offending for profit,” Purdon said.
Doyle’s lawyer Ron Mansfield KC is contesting the bid by the Commissioner to force Doyle to forfeit properties police say represent ill-gotten gains.
Police speak to Wayne Doyle after the raid of the Marua Rd property in 2017. Photo / Peter Meecham
He will say the Commissioner cannot prove Doyle has benefitted from any criminal offending.
Because it is a civil case, the Crown has the benefit of a lower onus of proof than exists in a criminal trial.
One of the profit forfeiture orders sought by police against Doyle covers about $12.4 million, while the other order against Doyle and his late partner jointly covers $2.9m.
Among the several properties police want to force Doyle to forfeit is the Ellerslie headquarters of the East Chapter at 232 Marua Rd, housing a large gym and accommodation.
Police want to seize 232 Marua Rd, the base of the Head Hunters East Chapter. Photo / Nick Reed
Purdon said the property plays host to the Head Hunters’ regular national meetings they call “church”.
The Crown will argue the properties are tainted by the proceeds of crime, and as a result, even their capital gains should be able to be recovered by police.
“The Head Hunters are a business,” Purdon said. “A criminal one no doubt, but a business nonetheless. And Mr Doyle is at the head of that business.”
From his imprisonment in 1978 until he was last released in 2001 Doyle spent just five years on the outside, but nevertheless managed to acquire interests in two pieces of real estate, Purdon said.
Since 2001 he has not been arrested or charged by police for any offence and has acquired interests in three more pieces of property.
Over the years his primary source of declared legitimate income had been benefits from the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), Purdon said.
“This is a man at the head of a large organised criminal group who has amassed property well beyond what can be considered reasonable or possible from a person who has never declared almost anything other than MSD benefits.”
The property, also known as Fight Club 88, in the aftermath of a drive-by shooting in 2022. Photo / Dean Purcell
Purdon said Head Hunters members pay a portion of their earnings to the gang, said to be about 20 per cent, out of the proceeds of their activities including taxing and standovers.
This has coincided with what police say is an escalation in the underworld practice of taxing, where criminals extort cash, drugs or valuables from other criminals in fear of violence or intimidation.
“Taxing” is reported to police on rare occasions, as the victims are in fear of further retribution or exposing their own criminal behaviour.
Police raided 232 Marua Rd in September 2017, finding $275,000 in cash, Purdon said. Since then the case has been subject to lengthy delays.
Key to the case is a company and web of trusts Purdon said are used by the Head Hunters.
Among them are the That Was Then, This Is Now (TWTTIN) charitable trust, set up in 2001 with the stated goal of helping prisoners reintegrate into the community.
“While ostensibly [it] is a charitable trust [it] is in fact no more than the Head Hunters by a more palatable name,” Purdon said.
The judge heard the Marua Rd property is owned by East 88 Property Holdings Limited (PHL) - 88 is a common shorthand for the Head Hunters using 8 to refer to the position of H in the alphabet - 88 representing “HH”.
Doyle is the sole director of East 88 PHL and owns a third via his Doyle Trust.
The other third is owned by Doyle and other trustees, while the final third is held by various individual trusts controlled by patched Head Hunters, with Doyle a joint trustee of every one, Purdon said.
The purchase of the property shortly after Doyle left prison in 2001 was funded by loans paid off in their entirety in just four years, Purdon said. Repayments were made from the bank account of East 88 PHL and the TWTTIN trust, funded large amounts of donations.
“Not bad for a beneficiary,” Purdon said.
“The Commissioner’s case is that the transfer of funds to the Doyle entities, the deposits into those accounts ... was done for the purpose of laundering the proceeds of crime.
“The Commissioner’s case is that the property is tainted.”
