A former bikie begging for day release so he can attend his daughter’s wedding insists he is the only man she trusts to walk her down the aisle after being allegedly raped by the notorious Skaf gang when she was 12.
Tim Fitzpatrick lodged the last-ditch application at Villawood Detention Immigration Centre, in Sydney’s west, last week but was advised on Thursday it was still be processed by the centre’s operators, Secure Journeys, just two days out from his daughter’s big day.
The 67-year-old has been locked away for almost two months after being arrested and detained by Australian Border Force officers on March 7 for consorting with outlaw motorcycle gangs.
Mr Fitzpatrick, who entered Australia legally from his native New Zealand in 1979, now faces being deported despite having spent most of his adult life in Sydney, and having no living relatives in his birth country.
In his hey day, he ran with both the Hells Angels and the Bandidos in Sydney, but maintained he’s never been involved in any criminal activity during his time with either club and that he had left the bikie gangs for good around the time Covid hit.
Mr Fitzpatrick, who also worked as a security guard and quantity surveyor, told Daily Mail Australia he was devastated by the prospect of being exiled from Australia but even more distraught by the thought of missing his only daughter’s wedding on Saturday.
‘I’ve been locked up in here for nine weeks now,’ Mr Fitzpatrick said from unit three in the detention centre’s Hotham Compound.
‘I was arrested at nine o’clock in the morning as I was walking out the door to take my father-in-law to the doctor two months ago and I haven’t been home since.
Tim Fitzpatrick is making a last-ditch plea for day release to attend his only daughter’s wedding on the weekend, explaining he is the only man she trusts to walk her down the aisle after she was allegedly sexually assaulted as a teen
Mr Fitzpatrick said he has also been been caring full-time for his wife of 39 years, Cheryl, as she battled with the ravages of early onset dementia, while also supporting his son and looking after his four grandchildren
Mr Fitzpatrick, who has lived in Sydney for decades after arriving in Australia legally from New Zealand in 1979, has been locked away in Villawood Immigration Detention Centre after being arrested over his former connections to outlaw motorcycle gangs
‘The worse part of all this is that I’m stuck in here while my only daughter gets married.
‘There’s nothing any father wants more than to walk their daughter down the aisle on the day of her wedding and be there to give her away.
‘I love her and wish I was with her – and I feel it’s my fault and that I’m letting her down – it’s horrible, it’s devastating, absolutely devastating.’
Mr Fitzpatrick said he was advised just before 3.30pm on Thursday that his plea – the latest of six application – for day release to attend the wedding had been denied by Australian Border Force.
Instead, he said he was informed that he would be able to meet see his daughter briefly before the wedding and later watch a video of the ceremony on a big screen television in the detention centre.
However, he hopes there’s still time to overturn the decision.
‘I’m no danger to anyone – I’m just asking to be let out for one day to go to the wedding – seeing her an hour before the wedding when she’s getting made up isn’t the same,’ he said.
Mr Fitzpatrick said his ongoing detention had been made all the worse by the fact he knew his daughter had trouble trusting men after allegedly being sexually assaulted by the Skaf gang rapists when she was just 12.
The retired security guard has had six applications to attend his daughter’s wedding denied – though he still holds out hope he can overturn the rejection on his latest plea (pictured)
Mr Fitzpatrick’s daughter has consented to him discussing the sexual assault she suffered outside Westfields shopping centre in Hurstville as a twelve-year-old in the hope it will underscore the importance of his attendance at her wedding
He claimed she been attacked by the gang during a day out at the movies at the Westfields Shopping Centre in Hurstville in August 2000.
Although she initially reported the assault to police, he said the gang was never formally charged over the incident given her young age and their reticence as a family for her to have to endure the trauma of giving evidence in court.
The members of the gang, led by Bilal Skaf, was eventually convicted of a string of rapes and sexual assaults of women and teens as young as 14, with the ringleader still behind bars serving a 31-year prison sentence.
Mr Fitzpatrick said his daughter had agreed to let him discuss her alleged assault for the first time due to the extenuating circumstances around his detention.
‘It happened at Hurstville on a Saturday morning while she was at the cinemas watching a movie,’ he said.
‘She was going to the toilet halfway through and they grabbed her by the firedoors and pulled her through them and out to where they had a van waiting and raped her.
‘As you can imagine, it’s incredibly traumatic to think about, let alone talk about, even now quarter of a century on.
‘Not only was she raped in such a horrific way, she was also only 12 years of age at the time.
Mr Fitzpatrick was a member of the Hell’s Angels before quitting the club about five years ago
‘It’s been a long road to recovery for her. She’s found it extremely hard to recover – and, in some ways, she never has.
‘The first few years she was self-harming and it took her a long time to trust people and believe in herself again.
‘She’s been so brave and so resilient, I love her so, so much and that’s why it hurts so much not to be with her – just for the day – when she needs me.
‘We’ve been planning her wedding for two years… and now this happens.
‘I’m so proud of her and the man she’s marrying. He’s kind and understanding and comes from a loving family – and I trust him to be the rock that I’ve always tried to be for my daughter and to hold everything together.’
Mr Fitzpatrick’s daughter said although she would be gutted if her father was unable to attend her wedding she did not blame him for the situation.
‘It will be heartbreaking for me, and heartbreaking for everyone, but he hasn’t let me down – and I don’t want him to feel like that – he’s not done this,’ she said.
‘He’s a loving, caring many who has always done everything he can to help me – he’s my cheerleader and my rock.
‘He’s the one who has taken care of all of us through everything – the good times, the bad and the very worst – I’m here today because of him.’
Before joining the Hell’s Angels, Mr Fitzpatrick was previously a member of the Bandidos
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Australian Border Force for comment.
Although getting day release for his daughter’s wedding might be held at a Catholic Church in Sydney’s inner west on Saturday morning was Mr Fitzpatrick’s most pressing concern, it was not his only one.
He said he was also worried about the impact his potential deportation would have on the rest of his family.
Mr Fitzpatrick said he had been been caring full-time for his wife of 39 years, Cheryl, as she battled with the ravages of early onset dementia, while also supporting his son and looking after his four grandchildren.
He admitted he had been a known member outlaw motorcycle gangs scene in Sydney for much of his life, and was prominent enough to rate a mention in Cold Chisel songwriter Don Walker’s 2019 memoir, Shots.
‘Sasha Milenkovic was shot dead in the basement of the Blackmarket club in Chippendale on November 9th 1997,’ Walker wrote in the tome while introducing a raft of songs before continuing.
‘Two years prior, he, [Hells Angels boss] Felix Lyle and Tim Fitzpatrick had done my family a big favour.’
Walker said he repaid the debt by performing a gig at the Bandidos’ western Sydney clubhouse, though he does not disclose the nature of the favour.
Cold Chisel songwriter Don Walker (second from right with bandmates Ian Moss, Jimmy Barnes and Phil Small) is a friend of the Fitzpatrick family
Mr Fitzpatrick confirmed he was close friends with Walker but politely declined to discuss the favour, saying it was ‘a private matter’.
‘I’ve been riding motorbikes since I was five years old growing up on my parents – I’ve always loved being around bikes and other people who share my passion,’ he said.
‘I was with the Hells Angels but let about five years ago. I was with them or about 10 years and before that I was with the Bandidos.
‘But I’ve never been involved in an criminal activity during my time with either club.
‘It’s something you know, that’s just been hyped up by Hollywood and the media – but you can’t tarnish every one because of the actions of a few bad apples.’
He said his only encounter with the law came almost four decades ago when he was working as a pub security guard in 1987.
‘We were always dealing with drunks and sometimes, back in those days, you had to get a bit heavy handed and man-handle people to get them out of the pub,’ he said.
‘One patron though I got a bit to heavy handed and I got taken to court and done for assault.’
Mr Fitzpatrick says he never engaged in any illegal activity during his days as a bikie
The incident saw Mr Fitzpatrick convicted and placed on a good behaviour bond but he maintained that was the sole blot on his otherwise clean record.
He added he had been hand-picked to join the security detail of former US President Jimmy Carter when he made a private visit to Australia in 1980 as well as helping to protect King Abdullah of Jordan during his visit.
‘I have never been to jail before and haven’t been in trouble with the law since then,’ he said.
‘And now I’m in here with drug dealers and murders and arsonist and people who have done long stretches in prison.
‘It’s the first thing the guards asked me when I arrived: “What prison are you coming from?” Even the other inmates can’t believe I’m in here.’
Mr Fitzpatrick’s lawyer, Stewart Levitt, described the former bikie’s detention as ‘ridiculous’ and said he would be fighting his deportation when his case was heard before the Administrative Review Tribunal on May 19.
‘He’s been a faithful husband and good, loving father his whole life and this is how he is treated,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘It’s outrageous.’
