By Cam Lucadou-Wells
An accused bikie and drug trafficker with a reported history of violence and firearms use has been refused bail.
Damon Burriss – who denies being a current Finks member – faced Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 7 April on charges such as trafficking ‘ice’ while on bail.
Police seized drugs at the 30-year-old’s alleged home in Cranbourne East as part of an investigation into a non-fatal shooting and a burnt-out car on 1 February.
In Burriss’s driveway that day, police found a VW Golf that allegedly fled the scene of the torched car.
In his alleged bedroom, police seized 11 grams of meth, $615, two sleeping tablets, stolen driver’s licence and Medicare card as well as a stolen Bunnings card in the name of the shooting victim.
Burriss wasn’t at the home at the time but his personal effects, photos, clothing and driver’s licence were found in the same room, police told the court.
After his arrest, a “close associate” claimed to own the drugs found in the bedroom.
She was released without charge due to “major inconsistencies” in her story, police said.
Police are awaiting fingerprint analysis of the drugs.
At the time, Burris had been on bail for possessing ice, ecstasy pills, knuckle dusters and pepper spray while out walking on New Years’ Eve.
He was also on a community corrections order – after serving eight months’ jail – for carrying a loaded home-made firearm while walking drug-effected in a Finks T-shirt in Frankston.
The ‘torch’ gun was cocked to fire upon release of a “safety” hair tie.
A Corrections Victoria report stated Burriss was unsuitable for a further CCO.
“It appears that the current order has again failed to act as a deterrent nor mitigate his risk of reoffending,” the report stated.
In opposing bail, police informant Detective Senior Constable Andrew Missen argued Burriss had a significant criminal history of drug trafficking, firearms and violence.
He had 11 prior convictions for failing to answer bail and breached multiple CCOs.
Being unemployed, he was likely to traffick drugs to sustain his ice addiction, police argued.
Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg said Burriss was a “danger to the community” and unacceptable risk of reoffending.
He noted Burriss’s compliance with his current CCO had been “poor at best”. He didn’t accept that a CISP bail program would be a “miracle cure”.
On the face of the police summary, the associate who claimed the drugs were hers had “serious credibility problems”.
“I’m not at all surprised they didn’t charge her yet.”
Burriss was remanded to appear at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 28 April.
