Whether the owner of a Queensland motorbike shop called Taking Care of Bikes was more concerned with 'taking care of business” – specifically gang business – is something a High Court jury must consider.

Nine senior members and affiliates of the Mongols gang are standing trial in Hamilton on a raft of drugs and weapons charges.

Following a covert surveillance operation, police arrested the entire senior hierarchy of the gang in June 2020. At the time the police said a gang war was brewing in the Bay of Plenty region, with numerous groups battling for the lion's share of the drug market there.

Among those on trial is the Mongols' national president, Jim David Thacker, also known as JD; sergeant-at-arms Leon 'Wolf” Huritu; Jason '666” Ross; Kelly 'Rhino” Petrowski; Matthew Ramsden; Kane Ronaki; Te Reneti Tarau; and another man who has interim name suppression.

The trial, which began in August, took another step forward on Monday with the opening of the defence case.

But it was a small step forward.

Thacker's counsel Bill Nabney advised jurors his client would not be giving evidence in his own defence. Rather, Thacker elected to call evidence from his uncle Andrew Pinikera, who was living in Queensland at the same time he was.

None of the eight other defendants in the trial elected to give or call evidence on their own behalf.

During his examination by Nabney and the subsequent cross-examination by Crown prosecutor Anna Pollett, Pinikera spoke about how his nephew ran a business called Taking Care of Bikes in Logan, a suburb near Brisbane.

Pinikera was an occasional visitor to and customer of the store, which specialised in the customising of Harley-Davidson motorbikes. He said he had 'fallen in love” with one of Thacker's bikes, which he had hoped to acquire at a family discount.

Both lawyers asked Pinikera about Thacker's association with a chapter of the international bikie gang, The Bandidos, however Pinikera said he had little knowledge of such matters.

Pollett asked him whether he knew his nephew was the chapter's president – he said he wasn't aware – or whether he knew Thacker had been deported to New Zealand in September 2018.

'I would not say ‘deported'. I would swear on my mother's soul ... He was sent back to New Zealand.”

Pollet asked Pinikera whether he was aware Thacker rode a bike in New Zealand with 'DEPORT” as the number plate. 'No, not at all,” the uncle replied.

'You are aware [the Bandidos] are an international outlaw motorcycle club?” Pollett asked.

'I knew he had some sort of affiliation with the Bandidos, but no.”

Pinikera was also queried about an alternative name for Thacker's shop – Taking Care of Business – but Pinikera said he had little knowledge of such matters, and thought it related to attending to business on Queensland's highways.

Taking Care of Bikes sponsored an Aboriginal junior rugby league team, and Thacker had donated boxes of store merchandise to a fundraising event at a local primary school, Pinikera said.

The jury also have fewer charges against the defendants to consider, with numerous counts – including 25 against Thacker – dismissed by Justice Melanie Harland prior to the start of the defence case.

Thacker also pled guilty to a charge of the theft of a sweatshirt belonging to a member of the rival Greasy Dogs gang in May 2020.

The trial will continue on today with the start of the Crown's closing address to the jury.

-Mike Mather/Stuff.