A charity that awarded a young Victorian woman a $100,000 4WD in a raffle only for it to be later repossessed is run by an alleged bikie gang member, it has been revealed.
Amelia Conway, 22, won the brand new Widebody Y62 Nissan Patrol in July 2022 after buying $120 worth of tickets in a raffle organised by Hello Lifestyle Australia.
The Colac hairdresser flew all the way to Queensland to pick up the car and drive it home – only to find out when she tried to transfer it into her name and get it registered in Victoria that it was still under finance, despite the company claiming its on-road expenses had been fully paid.
On February 1, it was repossessed. “Randomly, without me knowing anything, at 8pm last night, a guy showed up to repossess the car,” Ms Conway said after her car was taken, with the story of her plight quickly going viral.
Queensland’s Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation subsequently launched an investigation into Hello Lifestyle Australia, which is registered to an accountancy business in Brisbane’s Bowen Hills.
It has now emerged that Hello Lifestyle is run by barber Jason Eneli Roberts, 39, who allegedly has “strong ties to the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gang”, according to police.
The new revelation, reported by The Courier-Mail, was contained in a police statement of facts tendered in the Brisbane Supreme Court, where Roberts is facing charges related to a drive-by shooting of a palatial Brisbane home last month.
Police allege Mr Roberts fired seven shots at the $4.3 million Robertson mansion in a revenge attack after $2 million was “stolen from a safe” from inside the Meadowbrook industrial unit where Hello Lifestyle is based, according to the report.
Mr Roberts reportedly suggested to police that Hello Lifestyle’s neighbour, who runs a high-end car customisation business, “orchestrated the theft” of the $2 million.
The man has not been charged with any crime. He was not at home during the March 1 drive-by shooting but his ex-wife and three children were in the house.
The woman told police she believed the drive-by shooting may be linked to a demand from one of her ex-husband’s business associates that she leave one of his “high valued” cars on the street with the keys inside “and not ask any questions”.
“Hello Lifestyle have had recent media attention for winners of the vehicles having to return the vehicle as they were encumbered goods with money owing on the vehicles,” the police statement of alleged facts state.
Mr Roberts has been charged with acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm, wilful damage and unlawful use of a stolen car.
Five other men have been charged in relation to the shooting.
The details of the latest allegations were contained in documents filed in court during a successful bail application by co-accused Joshua John Lucey, The Courier-Mail reports.
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Lucey, 36, is “a confirmed Bandido member of the Logan City chapter who is likely attempting to patch over to the Comanchero” and is believed to have been “performing tasks for the outlaw motorcycle gang including enforcement duties and violent acts”, police said in a document objecting to bail.
The four other men, Nivatial Talalelei Faafua, 21, Daniel Enchelmaier, 34, Leo Winara Ribbon, 38, and Pelenato Halanghu, 36, all have links to the Bandido bikie gang, police allege.
Lucey was granted $100,000 bail on April 6 and must wear a GPS tracker.
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