A trusted lieutenant in the Illawarra’s fledgling Brothers 4 Life gang has been labelled a “danger to society”, with police revealing he has a violent criminal history spanning more than a decade.
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Richard Dutton is facing up to two years behind bars after admitting he helped the gang’s incarcerated leader, Damien Featherstone, continue his reign from behind bars.
Dutton operated at Featherstone’s beck and call in October and November last year, helping him direct the group’s activities from inside Goulburn’s Supermax jail. Police allege Featherstone was recruited to the gang by its founder, Bassam Hamzy.
Recordings of their conversations revealed Dutton was responsible for managing members and bolstering the gang’s weapons haul with illegal firearms.
However, his stand-in leadership came to an abrupt and bizarre end on January 4 when he inexplicably but deliberately fired a gun into the air outside Lake Illawarra Police Station before surrendering himself for arrest.
Dutton was sentenced to two years behind bars for that offence, however he wasn’t charge over his involvement with Featherstone and B4L until a few months later.
He has since pleaded guilty to a charge of participating in a criminal group.
In court on Thursday, police prosecutor Sergeant Richard McDonald said Dutton’s lengthy record showed a “serious involvement in criminal offending” that made him an ongoing danger to the community.
He cited four serious acts of violence, beginning in 2004 when he was jailed for at least 18 months on a charge of kidnapping.
In 2009 he was involved in a home invasion, resulting in an eight-month jail term.
He was jailed for six years (three years’ non-parole) in 2012 on a charge of robbery armed with an offensive weapon and was still on parole when he carried out the police station shooting.
“There’s systemic offending over a long period of time that would suggest the accused has a distinct disregard for being rehabilitated,” Sgt McDonald said.
“Mr Dutton is a dangerous person, you Honour.”
Dutton’s lawyer, Justine Hall, has previously urged the court not to impose a “crushing sentence” on her client, who she said was already in jail until 2020 on the shooting charge.
Magistrate Mark Douglass is expected to hand down his sentence on November 16.
