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London courts: MMA fighter Justin Primmer was a `trusted associate? of Hells Angels, dangerous offender hearing told

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When pressed in a police interview about his outlaw biker connections, Justin Primmer tried to be firm. “I used to,” he told the Huntsville OPP officer. “I actually hate the Hells Angels, if you want to know. I used to be in that life but I got out.”

But, as was shown Tuesday to a judge at his dangerous offender hearing in London, there’s a lot to suggest that the former amateur mixed martial arts fighter was happily connected to the London chapter of the Hells Angels.

Primmer is in the sentencing phase for four convictions related to a former girlfriend in 2013. He has other violence in his past, including a conviction for manslaughter in the death of a Stratford man in 2004.

Also on his criminal record is a conviction for assault causing bodily harm for injuries suffered by Desiree Gallagher, 23, of Brantford.

She fell from a seventh floor balcony at Primmer’s apartment building on Talbot Street in May 2013. Gallagher suffered catastrophic injuries from the fall, but there wasn’t evidence to link Primmer to her plunge.

What Primmer did have were cellphone photos of Gallagher taken in the hours before her fall with injuries to her face and body. Gallagher was left with permanent injuries that left her blind and in a wheelchair. She died in 2015.

The assault on the former girlfriend happened before Gallagher’s injuries, but was not reported to the police until a year later.

The dangerous offender hearing is to determine how much risk Primmer poses to the community. If Superior Court Justice Alissa Mitchell decides he meets the test, he could be jailed indefinitely.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Mitchell saw a videotaped interview Primmer had in Huntsville in January 2013, soon after he had relocated there from London.

The police had arrested him after a woman reported injuries she said Primmer caused after she refused his advances.

Primmer denied touching the woman — he would later plead guilty — and he denied any connection to the outlaw biker gang.

However, the officer asked him about the large skull tattoo on his arm, similar, but not exactly like the Hells Angels’ death head logo. Primmer said he had “dedicated” it to the Hells Angels.

OPP Det. Const. John Rupert, with the biker enforcement unit since 2009, was shown a series of photographs taken of Primmer.

Primmer was pictured at the London Hells Angels’ clubhouse, often wearing Hells Angels support shirts. With him were high-ranking members of the biker hierarchy, including president Rob Barletta and the sergeant-at-arms Dave (The Hammer) MacDonald.

In several photos, the bikers have an arm around Primmer’s shoulders. Bikers decline to have anyone touch them unless they’re an associate of the club, Rupert said.

“Mr. Primmer is a trusted associate of the members of the Hells Angels, specifically the London chapter.”

The tattoo, he said, was similar to the official biker gang tattoos but was not close enough to resembling an official Hells Angel logo.

A biker must be a full-patch member for at least a year before getting a club tattoo, he said.

The hearing continues Wednesday.

jsims@postmedia.com

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