STATE OF TASMANIA v STEVE ALEXANDER FREEMAN 11 SEPTEMBER 2026
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BRETT J
Mr Freeman, you have pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful trafficking in firearms.
You committed the crime on 29 July 2024. Your marriage had broken up and you were moving out of the marital home. As part of that process, you hired a storage unit located 2.7 kilometres from your home, for the purpose of storing all of your personal belongings. Among those belongings were the firearms in question. They consisted of an imitation pistol, two air pistols, a rifle and shortened shot gun. The basis of the trafficking is conveying the firearms from one place to another, that is from your home to the storage unit and possessing and concealing them for that purpose. The concealment involved placing the firearms into a PVC pipe and a small box. You did not hold a firearms licence and were not the registered owner of any of the firearms.
You are 53 years of age. You have no prior convictions in Tasmania although you do have some in other states. As far as I can see, none relate to the unlawful use or possession of firearms. You are currently in full-time employment.
While there is a level of objective seriousness inherent in any example of this crime, this case is a long way from the type of concerning and serious criminal activity which often constitutes trafficking in firearms, and which undoubtedly is the conduct with which this crime is primarily concerned. Although conveying the firearms did fall under the definition of trafficking, your sole purpose was to convey the firearms to the storage shed consequent upon the breakdown of your marriage. There was no commercial element whatsoever to your conduct, and no suggestion that you intended to pass the weapons on to any other person. It goes without saying that you should not have had these firearms in the first place, both because of the lack of lawful registration and because you were prohibited from possessing firearms by the conditions of a family violence order. Your unlawful possession of the firearms is an aspect of this crime, and you have not explained how they came into your possession or what you intended to do with them. However, while your conduct is not condoned, and the presence and dealing with any unlawful firearms in the community is a serious matter, your conduct, in my view, falls at the lower end of the scale of seriousness for this crime.
You have already served 31 days in custody in respect of this conduct, being time between being remanded in custody and granted bail. I consider this to be adequate punishment. You are convicted of the crime and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 31 days, which is backdated to the date that you were remanded in custody, 5 August 2024. As you have clearly served this term, you can be released immediately.