STATE OF TASMANIA v THOMAS HENRY NEWTON 23 MARCH 2023
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE GEASON J
On 22 April 2022, members of the Australian Border Force intercepted a parcel addressed to you at the Victorian International Cargo Arrival Depo. The parcel was x-rayed, revealing a stainless steel rifle barrel. The parcel was addressed to your address at Mountain River.
Australian Border Force information disclosed that you had received 10 previous importations into Australia, including a number of items which could be used in the manufacture of firearms or firearm parts. These included a rifling button, a milling cutter, and turning tools. A National Firearm Licence check revealed that you was not the holder of a firearms licence in any State or Territory. The item was seized and Tasmania Police were notified.
On 4 May 2022, police executed a search warrant at your address at Mountain River. You were interstate at the time of the time of the search, however, one of your housemates, was present. Police were shown around the address, including a detached building where you were living at the time. They were also shown your white Toyota Corolla station wagon which was parked on the property. Inside your bedroom, police found a makeshift workstation, which contained a lathe, drill press, and other manufacturing tools.
Sitting on a shelf nearby was a whiteboard containing a detailed list of items required by you to build firearms. Although the majority of the items on that list were items used in general manufacturing, some of the items were specific to the manufacture of firearms and firearm parts.
On a bedside table, police found an incomplete 3D-printed firearm magazine. They then gained access to your vehicle. Although the vehicle was locked, police were able to gain access easily through a faulty window. Inside they found: a 3D printer on the back seat of the car; two vacuum sealed bags containing large amounts of ammunition; three homemade firearms in the boot and a number of firearm parts in various stages of completion. Neither the ammunition nor firearms were stored in compliance with the Firearms Act.
All items were seized, and subsequent analysis of the firearms showed that one was a rifle approximately 80% complete. This rifle was constructed to discharge ball bearing type pellets by gas propulsion. The firearm was constructed of steel and aluminium, there was also a 3D-printed grey and black pistol with a site and torch attached. The pistol had a removable 3D-printed .22 calibre magazine fitted. This pistol had no working parts. There was a second 3D-printed white and black plastic pistol with a small torch attached. This pistol had no working parts either.
Analysis of the partly constructed firearms showed a partially completed steel firearm breach with an ejection port and bolt channel cut out and a scope taped to this item; and a second partially completed steel fire arm breach with an ejection port, bolt channel, and magazine housing. This item had a 3D-printed magazine attached. In terms of the two bags of ammunition, one bag contained approximately 2,950 rounds of .22 calibre long-rifled rim fire ammunition; and the second bag contained approximately 150 air rifle pellets. The day after the search, you contacted Tasmania Police to discuss the search and the items that the police had located.
On 6 May 2022, you voluntarily attended Hobart Police Station and participated in a video recorded interview. You made full admissions to the possession and manufacture of the items located during the search. You told police you had a deep interest and passion in firearms, that you had previously held a firearms licence, but had let it lapse. You agreed that you ordered the firearm barrel which was seized by the Australian Federal Police, from eBay.
You told police that all items seized were for your own personal use and that you were going to use the firearm to shoot rabbits and wallabies. You told police that you had manufactured the items over the last 12 months. The list on the whiteboard located in your room was a list of things you required to finish that process. You told police that you put the items in your car because there was no lock on the bedroom door and there had been some burglaries in the area recently. You also described to police the process you used to manufacture these items and the tools that you used to do so.
In terms of the firearms located by police, you said you used the 3D printer to create the two pistols that the police had found, but emphasised that neither were operational. The steel and aluminium rifle was a slug gun but it was not fully functional. You told police it could not be loaded properly, and that you needed to weld some parts to it, but that your welding skills were not very good. In terms of the two partially constructed firearm parts, you told police that the barrel with the scope attached was going to be a bolt action .22 rifle. You said that you bought the barrel from eBay and the scope from a gun shop in Kingston. You said that you would have kept building this firearm but it had days and days of work left before it would be operational. The second barrel found by police was useless. You had cut holes into the barrel but the dimensions were all wrong. In terms of the ammunition, you told police that you vacuum sealed it so it did not degrade overtime. At the end of the interview, you were charged, processed and bailed.
Importantly for sentencing purposes, the Crown does not assert that you had any nefarious purpose in the manufacture of these items. However, it submitted, and I accept that this is a serious matter because if these items fell into the wrong hands, they could be used quite easily for a criminal purpose.
In mitigation, your counsel told the Court that you are 30 years of age, a single man with no children and that you are currently employed as a tree propagator, cloning trees for plantation farms and nurseries.
It is emphasised that this was an early plea of guilty and that you cooperated in the investigation. You voluntarily went to the police station and engaged in an interview when you did not have to do so, making full admissions to police.
Relevantly to for the purposes of sentencing you is the fact that you have no prior convictions under the Firearms Act.
You accept the seriousness of your conduct, and you acknowledge that had these firearms fallen into the wrong hands, there is a risk to public safety. You accept that storage of the ammunition in the motor vehicle was a poor decision,
I also accept that you are remorseful and that is reflected in the fact of your plea.
I accept that your purpose was to provide for yourself by hunting wallabies and rabbits.
The primary sentencing consideration is the need to deter others from acting unlawfully in relation to the possession of firearms and of course that includes manufacturing firearms, a method whereby dangerous firearms are introduced into the community without the appropriate checks and balances. The Court must impose a penalty which serves to deter others from engaging in such behaviour as well as deterring you from repeating it in the future.
In circumstances I have determined that in respect of the indictable matter a term of imprisonment is the appropriate sentencing response because offending involving firearms is an extremely serious matter and the Court has an obligation to impose a sentence which reinforces the need to protect the community.
In respect of the indictable matter, I sentence you to four months’ imprisonment.
Having regard to your personal circumstances your cooperation and early plea of guilty and obvious remorse, and your lack of prior convictions, I have decided that I should suspend the operation of that sentence for a period of two years. That suspension is on condition that you are of good behaviour for that period and commit no offence punishable by a term of imprisonment in that time.
In respect of the summary matters I record convictions.