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Our client was a 63-year-old man who was charged with “possess unregistered firearm” when Police were called to his home due to an unrelated domestic violence complaint which did not result in any charges. During the visit, the Police searched our client’s gun safe and located an air rifle which had not been correctly registered, and our client was consequentially charged for firearms offences.
Possess unregistered firearm is a serious criminal offence which attracts a maximum penalty of 5 years of imprisonment and/or a fine of $5,500. Upon being charged, our client was very concerned about the implications this offence will have on the status of his valid firearms license as well as his ability to retain his other properly registered firearms. Our client’s livelihood also relied on his ability to maintain a valid Working with Children Clearance as his work was conducted at public and private schools.
Our client contacted our CDLA Sydney office, when our our senior lawyer Bashir spoke to and gave advice.
In preparation for his matter, our Bashir worked tirelessly in preparing crucial subjective material/evidence and relevant legal submissions to bring about the best possible court outcome.
Bashir appeared at the Raymond Terrace Local Court with our client and tendered the subjective material/evidence that he had prepared before proceeding to sentencing hearing before the Local Court Magistrate. Bashir made extensive and persuasive oral submissions concerning the circumstances in which our client came to possess the unregistered air rifle, his genuine remorse and contrition, and the significant implications that a criminal conviction for this offence will have on our client’s firearms license and his livelihood. Bashir also made further submissions addressing our client’s prior criminal record which included very serious offences involving terms of full-time imprisonment.
His Honour Magistrate Cheetham accepted the submissions made on behalf of our client, in that the unique circumstances of the offence fell towards the lower end range of seriousness, and that the consequential implications of a conviction being recorded would be disproportionate to our client’s level of offending.
Ultimately, His Honour Magistrate Cheetham was persuaded by our Bashir’s submissions and granted a non-conviction conditional release order. This meant that our client did not receive a criminal record against his name, kept his job and was able to move on in life.
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