A MAN was told he had “no right to be stupid” by a Magistrate for threatening his partner’s friend with what they thought was a gun.
Tyler Freegard appeared at Rockingham Magistrates Court on July 3 where he pleaded guilty to being armed to cause fear and possessing a controlled and prohibited weapon.
The prosecutor said Freegard was with his partner when they went to pick her up two-year-old child from a friend’s house in Waikiki.
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READ NOWWhen an argument broke out, Freegard got out of his car, grabbed something from the back and pointed it at the victim, who believed it was a black handgun.
Police conducted a search at Freegard’s home after the victim contacted police.
They found an extendable baton and an electric shock weapon disguised as a torch under his mattress.
His lawyer said a friend had left them there and Freegard thought he had to be the man of the house so he kept them there for protection.
She said her client accepted as it was dark at the time and any reasonable person could have easily mistaken the item – a soldering iron – for a gun in the circumstances.
She said he had lost his security job due to the weapons charges and asked for a spent conviction.
Magistrate Gregory Smith told Freegard he stood to lose a lot because of the charges.
“And so you should, particularly for the extendable baton; nobody but police are allowed to have them,” he said.
“And the foolish stunt of making a threat to someone.
“Young people have no right to be stupid. Don’t be stupid.”
“You are what you do; you’re not getting a spent conviction.”
Freegard was fined $2350.
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