The Court: Melbourne Magistrates Court
The Lawyer: Lucy Massouras
The Charges:
- Acquire a Firearm except from a Licensed Firearms Dealer
- Possess Ammunition
The Allegations:
Our client grew concerned for his safety in his home after there were local armed robberies in his area. He installed security systems with cameras and alarms; however, he grew more concerned when he noticed vehicles slowly scoping out his house several times a day and night without headlights.
He decided to seek a firearm and ammunition over the internet for safety purposes. He commenced conversations online and arranged currency transactions for their purchases. When he attempted to retrieve his purchases, he was arrested, having been speaking to a member of the police force the entire time.
Firearms charges are incredibly serious charges, especially in this case, where our client was attempting to purchase a machine gun, which is designated as the most serious acquisition under the firearms legislation. Our client was looking at receiving a lengthy prison term.
At Court:
At court, our solicitor was able to contextualise our client’s growing fears by demonstrating his history of homelessness and building himself up from practically nothing to owning a vehicle and a property, to this concern of having all of these ripped from him. We also highlighted his lack of education, which might explain his poorly demonstrated problem-solving skills.
Our client also had a number of prior convictions. However, the majority of these were over a decade old, mostly consisting of the time when our client was experiencing homelessness. Our solicitor was able to demonstrate from his current working habits that he was clean and not using drugs, that his intentions were not to turn back to a life of criminal activity, but purely for safety and peace of mind. We convinced the court that his intentions were not at all sinister.
Our solicitor requested that our client be assessed for a Community Correction Order (CCO) to treat his concerns therapeutically and rehabilitatively rather than through a custodial sentence.
A community correction order is a sentencing option available to the court upon all criminal charges with a maximum penalty greater than five penalty units. It is a community-based option that emphasises treatment, rehabilitation, and possibly community work to address the offending.
However, the conditions are strict. If a person is sentenced to one of these orders, they must adhere to all conditions and attend all appointments asked of them. If they do not, they can be charged and re-sentenced.
In this case, the Magistrate noted that, due to the seriousness of the offending, they would only consider a Community Correction Order if it was coupled with a prison term.
After the client’s assessment, our solicitor further submitted to the court that our client had previously demonstrated his ability to complete community-based orders, responded well, and could use the programs on the orders to make better choices in the future.
The Outcome:
Our solicitor submitted to the court that whilst the offending is serious, the circumstances were drastically mitigated by his cooperation with police, his lack of recent prior criminal charges, his general lack of violent criminal priors, and a lack of sinister intent in the firearms’ use.
The court ultimately accepted this and did not order a term of imprisonment. Instead, an 18-month Community Correction Order was made, consisting of extensive community work and treatment for offending behaviour.
