STATE OF TASMANIA v DYLAN MAXWELL COCKER 25 OCTOBER 2021
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
Dylan Cocker, you have pleaded guilty to two counts of recklessly discharging a firearm. I also agreed to deal with your plea of guilty to a number of other firearm offences and two counts of driving while your licence was suspended.
Late in the evening on 5 March 2021 you saw your former girlfriend Sophie Rigby out driving with her new boyfriend Brandon Shaw. There was ongoing ill-feeling arising from the breakdown of your relationship, and you followed them to the home in which they were living with Mr Shaw’s mother, Della Behera and her partner Simon Aleri. You left only after Ms Behera indicated she would call the police. However you then sent some abusive text messages to Ms Rigby before, at about midnight, returning to the house in a car with another man. You were driving even though your licence was suspended. Your passenger had a .22 calibre Bruno rifle, with a silencer attached. The rifle and the silencer belonged to you. Ms Behera’s car was parked outside. Your associate, who has not been identified, fired a round from the gun which travelled through the front driver side window and the rear passenger window of the car, breaking both windows, before hitting the front right window of the house. It cracked the house window but did not travel through it. All four of the occupants were in the house at the time.
You then sent further text messages to Ms Rigby demanding to know where Mr Shaw was. At about 8.45 the following morning, still angry, you drove back to the house alone. Again, all four people were inside. You parked 15 to 20 metres from the house. Through one of the front windows you saw a person sitting on the bed with a dog. You later told the police you thought the person was Mr Shaw, but it was Mr Aleri and the room was the bedroom he then shared with Ms Behera. You fired a round from the gun which pierced the top of the window and curtain, travelled through the back wall of the bedroom and into a further bedroom. Glass from the window fell close to Mr Aleri.
You were arrested later that day. The police found the rifle hidden in a loft in your garage. It was fitted with a scope and a silencer, and had a magazine containing two rounds. The bolt was forward with a round loaded in the breach. The police also found ammunition in your bedroom, 101 x 12 gauge rounds, 14 x .22 and .17 rounds, 180 x .22 Magnum rounds and 7 other various high calibre rounds. When you were interviewed you claimed that the dispute with Ms Shaw was about a mattress she had not returned. You admitted that you saw a male person in the bedroom draw the curtain back, and fired the shot believing it was Mr Shaw. You said you thought about shooting the dog, but because you thought there was a “fair chance” you may hit someone you changed the aim of the shot to the top corner of the window. You admitted that you knew it was a dangerous thing to do. You have been in custody since 6 March 2021.
You are now 28. You pleaded guilty although the plea was not a particularly early one. The plea avoided the need for a trial and saved the people involved from having to give evidence. You have a stable family background, supportive parents and a good employment record. However this is not the first time you have committed offences in the context of relationship breakdown. In 2011 you twice assaulted a former partner, in addition to assaulting another female and damaging her car. In 2012 you assaulted the same ex-girlfriend in breach of a family violence order by, in public, threatening to shoot her at close range with a shortened firearm, which you then used to damage her car. You were sentenced to imprisonment for eight months. Apart from those convictions your record until then included breaches of bail, evading police and driving offences. For a period of about eight years you stayed out of trouble, but the breakdown of this relationship led to other offending, including two assaults of Ms Rigby and damaging property and some associated drug and driving offences. On 20 July 2021 you were sentenced by a magistrate to imprisonment for three months from 6 March 2021, two months of which was suspended for 12 months. You served that one month term so the sentence I impose should commence on 6 April 2021.
The risk you posed to the community and to the occupants of this house, Mr Aleri in particular, is obvious. You did not fire the first shot but you are at least equally responsible for it. The risk posed by the first shot was less than the second, but both were unacceptable. Although you say that the shot you fired was aimed away from the man you saw, there was a very real chance that Mr Aleri or someone else in the house may have been shot if there had been unexpected movement, or a faulty aim, or if the bullet had somehow been diverted from its path. Any right thinking member of the community would condemn the act of firing a high powered rifle at or near a house. The seriousness of possessing a firearm of this nature, with a silencer and ammunition, should not be overlooked. You had no licence for it, you took it loaded into a public place, and you used it. The prohibition on unlicensed possession of firearms, particularly guns like this, is a matter to be taken very seriously. Both Ms Behara and Mr Aleri were significantly affected. They were both very frightened and will likely feeling the effects of the threat to their safety for a long time.
I accept that, as you have demonstrated in the past, you are capable of being a law abiding and productive member of the community. This is not a family violence offence because your relationship with Ms Rigby was not of that nature, but it is necessary to punish you and warn you and other men of the consequences of violence and threats of violence, especially involving firearms, in the course of relationship breakdown. I will allow the shortest possible non-parole period but it will be for the Parole Board to decide when it is appropriate to release you.
Dylan Cocker, you are convicted on each count on the indictment and on counts 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12 and 13 on complaint 30962/21. I make a compensation order in favour of Della Maree Behara and adjourn the further terms of that order to a date to be fixed. On counts 12 and 13 you are fined $300 and disqualified from driving for 8 months from your release. On the remaining counts I impose one sentence. You are sentenced to imprisonment for 22 months from 6 April 2021. I order that you not be eligible for parole until you have served half of that term.