A Condingup man who had a loaded gun in his loungeroom, pleaded guilty to a total of 11 charges relating to firearms, threatening another person, drugs, and breaching a restraining order.
On May 30 last year, 32-year-old William Brown threatened to kill his father and his father’s farm hand at the family property when they refused to give him a firearm.
The next day while speaking to his father over the phone in custody, police told the court he made further threats; “enjoy it while it lasts, if I ever see you again, I’m going to kill you.”
Prosecution officer Sergeant Kate McDowell said five days later he breached his restraining order which prohibited the possession of firearms.
She said police entered Brown’s home and found a loaded Winchester pump action shotgun under a cushion on his sofa.
She told the court police also found 29 rifle rounds, 27 shotgun rounds and .22 rounds too.
She said they also found more than five kilograms of cannabis inside, a growing area at the side of the house with a “watering system” and a plastic and glass bong.
Magistrate Lyons said Brown’s charges were “very serious”.
“The threats were very specific — I have no doubt the people to whom you made those threats were very frightened,” Magistrate Lyons said.
The magistrate considered Brown’s difficult upbringing and acknowledged that Brown accepted responsibility for his actions.
He said Brown contributed to the workforce and said after spending nine months on remand, he thought a community-based order was more appropriate.
“I hope you recognise that you should not expose that behaviour to other people,” he said.
If you hadn’t spent that time in custody I would be serving you a sentence of imprisonment.
Magistrate Lyons served Brown a 12-month concurrent community-based order to attend counselling and address his drug problems.
Brown was given a fine totalling $1,500 and a destruction order was placed on the cannabis and firearm.
