"There's a lot of people wanting to get him": Big Jim's enemies speak out - Sydney Morning Herald

RACHEL OLDING November 22, 2012

If the words of one former associate are to be believed, there are a lot of people in Sydney who would want to shoot up the eastern suburbs home of "Big Jim" Byrnes.

The Bellevue Hill mansion was peppered with bullets on Thursday morning with one hitting the room where his young daughter was sleeping and another shattering a window pane high in the two-storey home.

The 54-year-old former advisor to Alan Bond and self-confessed "bankruptcy guru", who has been jailed for heroin supply and banned from owning companies in the past, called police just after midnight to report noises that sounded like fireworks or gun shots.

Police attended but found nothing. It wasn't until 6.30am on Thursday morning that he found two bullet holes in his home and called police back to the wealthy street.

"It's just a cowardly attack, shooting at a house in the middle of the night," said Detective Superintendent Mick Fitzgerald.

Mr Byrnes's wife, Gina, and two school-aged daughters spent the day away from their home while Mr Byrnes gave a statement to police.

He returned to collect some belongings with his older son on Thursday afternoon and told reporters they were all "fine".

"It's been an interesting day," he said, adding that he was feeling a little worse for wear. "Shootings will do that to you."

He praised the work of police, saying they were working quickly to find the culprits. However, one former associate-turned-foe of the rambunctious businessman said police would not have to look far to find a long list of potential suspects. Mr Byrnes has made plenty of enemies in his time.

"There's a lot of people out there wanting to get him," said a man who has been involved in legal stoushes with Mr Byrnes. He did not want to be named.

Mr Byrnes, who describes himself as an "entrepreneur, philanthropist, insolvency specialist, bankruptcy guru, venture capitalist and classic car restorer" has fought to keep his Cranbrook Street mansion for more than six years.

After a long-running battle in the NSW Supreme Court in 2010, a sheriff and locksmith were preparing to turf Mr Byrnes and his wife out of the home they bought for $4.5 million in 2004 but an 11th hour payment was made. A private lender, George Romiz, was attempting to repossess the house over unpaid loans.

At the same time, the National Australia Bank was seeking to repossess the property over a loan in the order of $5 million, but it's believed the Byrnes's eventually paid that sum back, too, despite a judge chastising Mrs Byrnes for "draw[ing] out . . . proceedings to her own advantage".

Mr Byrnes was jailed for the deemed supply of heroin in the 1980s, named as a person of interest in the fatal heroin overdose of a key witness in a separate trial, convicted for assaulting a bikie, acquitted of fraud charges and banned twice by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

In 2007 he successfully appealed a jail term, after pleading guilty to charges over his use of a baseball bat to smash the office window of a Sydney solicitor.

During that appeal the Chief Judge of the District Court, Reg Blanch, said Mr Byrnes had had a bad start in life, but went on to make a success of himself.

When a five-year ban on company ownership expired last year, Mr Byrnes quickly appointed himself director of a handful of companies including Australian Carbon Credit Exchange, IP Telecom Australasia, Australian Corporate Restructuring Services and the Paddington luxury jewellery shop Pierre Winter Fine Jewels.

One well-known neighbour, who heard what he believed were firecrackers last night, said Mr Byrnes has always been a good neighbour.

"I've got no difficulty with him as a neighbour," he said. "We keep to ourselves. That's how it's always been."