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Race rioters 'fear for lives' after bail is refused
David King
10jan06

A MONTH ago, the two men were caught on camera with fists flying as they took part in the mob bashing of a defenceless man in Sydney's Cronulla race riots.

In court yesterday, it was their turn to be afraid, with one man weeping as he was refused bail and the other revealing he feared for his life in jail.

Daniel Paul Kelly, 20, of Engadine in Sydney's south, and Danny Glen Shanahan, 19, of Picton on the southwest outskirts of Sydney, were refused bail yesterday on charges of riot and affray in separate hearings in Sutherland Local Court.

Mr Kelly cried in the dock as a magistrate Ross Clugston refused bail after looking at photographs of the bashing of Safi Merhi during the Cronulla riots on December 11.

Mr Shanahan apologised to his victim through his lawyer, Lionel Rattenbury, who told the court his client "is living in fear that he might be killed" in jail by men of Middle Eastern appearance.

In both bail applications, police prosecutor Paul Upsall tendered a number of photographs of the attack on Mr Merhi taken by the media. The court heard that Mr Kelly and Mr Shanahan had never been in trouble with the law before the riot.

Mr Clugston said that in both cases the young men appeared to be "at the forefront" of an attack by a group of men on a man of Middle Eastern appearance.

Julie McSpedden, barrister for Mr Kelly, said her client had been involved in the attack but was not a ringleader.

"It does not appear that this defendant was the prime mover in the events," she said.

"This was an isolated event, the product of tensions on the particular day.

"His arrest and incarceration has been a salutary experience. He has been, quite frankly, terrified."

Mr Rattenbury said Mr Shanahan had been involved in the attack and had punched the victim in the back of the head.

"At the end of the day, it was a cowardly act which he is deeply remorseful for," Mr Rattenbury said. "He apologises for his actions against the victim. He wants to warn other people not to get involved in these mass rallies."

Mr Rattenbury said his client was "hopeful" of pleading guilty to a charge of affray.

He said Mr Shanahan was held in protective custody in jail "where there are a large number of people of Middle Eastern appearance".

"He is terrified, living in fear that he may be killed."

Mr Clugston rejected the suggestion Mr Kelly had not been "a prime mover" in the attack, noting he was in the forefront of the pictures.

In refusing bail, the magistrate took into account law changes, enacted after the riots, that removed the presumption of bail for the offences of riot and affray.

Another man, Samuel Murray, 19, of Barden Ridge in Sydney's south, faced the same court charged with two counts of riot and two counts of affray from the Cronulla attacks but did not apply for bail. His case was adjourned for two weeks.

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