Rose Tattoo Drummer Paul DeMarco Suicidal and in trouble with the law

Poor old Paul DeMarco, drum man from Angry Anderson’s Rose Tattoo. He is severely depressed to a degree that earlier this year that, when his wife arrived to find police searching their home in the middle of the night, she thought he had killed himself! DeMarco, 55, is charged with 27 firearms offences over his role in an alleged gun supply syndicate with underworld figure Sam Ibrahim and Ibrahim’s sister Maha Sayour.

The trio were arrested after dozens of police officers swooped on six properties in Sydney and the Illawarra during a series of dawn raids in April. Police say the raids followed a five-month operation in which an undercover officer allegedly bought 13 firearms from the ring, including pistols, two shotguns, seven revolvers and an assault rifle and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

During an unsuccessful bail application in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday, attended by Rose Tattoo’s lead singer Angry Anderson, Mr Demarco’s wife Deirdre told the court the drummer’s mental health had deteriorated significantly in the months before his arrest. “I have been dealing with Paul’s depression, as have my family, for a long time,” said Ms DeMarco who was separated from her husband but living under the same roof. I thought depression was really getting to the point of desperation for me … he seemed to fall deeper and deeper into that,” she said.

“When I arrived home and saw all the police there, I thought he was dead, I thought the depression had gotten the better of him. It turned out they were there to arrest him.”Ms De Marco said that she had no idea her husband had been engaged in gun supply, nor that he was addicted to smoking crystal methamphetamine, also known as “ice”.  She said that, despite the charges against her husband, many members of the Australian music industry had come forward with offers of support. She said he was now “detoxing” and thinking more clearly “than he has in a long time”.

Mr DeMarco’ s barrister, Michael Ainsworth, said his client had lived the “rock’n’roll life style for many years” but had never before engaged in the type of criminal behaviour he was now accused of. He urged acting Justice Anthony Blackmore to release his client on bail so that he could attend a rehabilitation facility and make “clear headed decisions about his case”. But acting Justice Blackmore refused, finding that the former drummer would be a “risk to the community” if released.

“Offences like this present a particular risk to the community, which is obviously concerned about the prevalence of guns,” acting Justice Blackmore said. “The nature of the Crown case suggests that the accused was very deeply ingrained in the criminal milieu. “Bail must remain refused.” Mr DeMarco will return to court next month.