Bikie Mercanti jailed for assault

Former Coffin Cheater bikie gang member Troy Mercanti has been jailed for two years and four months for assaulting a man in a nightclub in the Perth suburb of Northbridge.

Mercanti hit 26-year-old Gregory Fistonish at the Geisha Bar in May last year, breaking his jaw.

His defence lawyer argued Mercanti's sentence should be suspended because he was needed to run his goat farm.

Mercanti will be eligible for parole in just over a year.

Raid attempt to intimidate journalists: Sunday Times

The editor of the Sunday Times newspaper says the public should be concerned about a police raid on its offices.

About 20 officers seized documents yesterday while investigating a complaint about an article by journalist Paul Lampathakis about the Treasurer Eric Ripper's request for $16 million from the Expenditure Review Committee.

The article claimed the money was to be spent on government advertising.

The Department of the Premier and Cabinet has confirmed it referred allegations of the unauthorised disclosure of a confidential document to the police and to the Corruption and Crime Commission.

Sunday Times Editor Sam Weir says the investigation is an attempt to intimidate his paper.

"The Western Australian public should be very concerned that our state's already stretched police force appear to be being wasted on investigations designed to intimidate journalists from the Sunday Times and their sources from pursuing politically sensitive stories," he said.