Former Comanchero bikie David Kinneen jailed after being found with cocaine in hired Range Rover in Greenwood

A one-time bikie who lost his brother to a bizarre gas bottle blast has now lost his freedom for more than four years after being nabbed with a quarter of a kilogram of cocaine in a hired luxury car. David Kinneen was once a senior Comanchero member, flaunting his colours online as the gang’s sergeant-at-arms. But in Perth’s District Court on Tuesday, those links and that position was disavowed – even as Kinneen was admitting to the possession of the significant stash of drugs earlier this year. The court was told that in May, in Greenwood, police pulled Kinneen over as he drove in a red Range Rover Velar, which retails for more than $100,000. The car was not his, and Kinneen should also not have been driving it, having been banned from the roads for a myriad of offences over several years. But the 32 year-old had never been charged or convicted of drug dealing before. From now, he will be classified as a drug trafficker, after admitting he intended to sell the vacuum packed package containing 249 grams of cocaine to fund his own spiralling meth habit. Kinneen’s lawyer Paul Holmes said that at the time, his client was self-medicating with meth as a way to try and cope with the unresolved grief over the loss of his younger brother Jack. Jack was just 23 years-old, and an expectant father, when in September 2022 he had come across a blaze near a bush track in Pinjar, north of Perth. When he went to investigate, a gas bottle that had been deliberately placed on a tyre fire exploded, leaving him with horrendous wounds from the shrapnel. He died at the scene, as his friends looked on. And Mr Holmes said that loss was fiercely felt by his oldest brother, who could not attend his funeral because he was in prison. “This was a tragic event to me, and it was in his mind at the time when he was with the police on the side of the road with the 249 grams of cocaine,” Mr Holmes said. “(He was) ruminating over the issues associated with brother’s birthday, which was very close proximity to this date. “He says: ‘I was doing this because I was affected by drugs. I couldn’t afford it.’ ‘I was doing it because I was self-medicating. I’ve got a lot going on in my head, especially the death of my brother. I couldn’t tolerate it, and I did this for those reasons.” Mr Holmes told the court Kinneen was no longer involved with outlaw motorcycle gangs. Since his arrest he had voiced his desire to reconnect with his young daughter, and become a personal trainer once released. “He certainly got the physique and the muscles to do it,” Mr Holmes said. And, his lawyer also urged Judge Vicki Stewart to also take into account the continuing poor conditions inside Hakea Prison, where Kinneen will have to remain because of his previous bikie links. “The court has made it plain ... imprisonment is the only appropriate sentencing option for serious drug offenses,” she said. “The incentives, financial and otherwise to participate in the illicit drug distributions networks has to be counterbalanced by a clear and certain understanding that such involvement will ordinarily result in immediate terms of imprisonment.” Kinneen was jailed for four years and two months. He will be eligible for parole in July 2026.