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UNREGISTERED guns hidden underneath a bed have put an end to man's unblemished record after a tip-off to police brought him before a court.
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Adrian John Roberts, 52, of the Mid Western Highway, Kings Plains was sentenced in Bathurst Local Court on May 10, 2023 after he pleaded guilty to three counts of having an unregistered firearm and four counts of not storing a gun properly.
Police went to Roberts' home in Kings Plains about 6.30pm on November 27, 2022 when they were told by a person he had a number of unregistered guns hidden under his bed, court documents state.
Roberts said to police he had no other guns, apart from his four registered firearms, before he took police to the bedroom where he got on the floor and used a torch on his phone to look under the bed.
After he pulled out one of the unregistered firearms from beneath, he was asked by officers if there were any more and he said no.
The court was told police looked under the bed with their own light and found two more guns, which brought the collection to a .22 calibre rifle, a 12 gauge single barrel shotgun, and a .177 air rifle.
Police noticed the .22 rifle - which had been listed as stolen in 2007 - had seven rounds of ammunition in the fitted magazine and one round in the chamber with the bolt locked forward.
Roberts told police on two separate occasions that the guns, which he claimed belonged to his father, had come into his possession about a year ago and he simply forgot they were under the bed.
He also said his four other firearms took up the majority of space in his storage unit, which meant the other three had to be kept elsewhere.
Sentence
Roberts' solicitor Mr Manwaring told the court that in the 20 years his client held a firearm licence, there had never been a firearm-related offence on his criminal record.
"At the time, he was under a great deal of stress," Mr Manwaring said.
"His other firearms were stored safely but he didn't have any more storage. I note from the SAR [Sentence Assessment Report] he is of low risk of re-offending ... there hasn't been anything on his record since the 90s."
Magistrate D Pearce found it concerning Roberts had "simply left the firearms under the bed", especially when taking into account the "important message from Parliament that these firearms are to be properly stored".
Roberts was placed on a community correction order for 18 months and fined $800.
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