Guilty plea on shooting

Man’s lucky escape

A NORTH Geelong man pleaded guilty yesterday to involvement in a shooting at a Corio house that left its occupants fearing for their lives.

Bradley Taylor, 34, drove to the Corio home with a mate on October 27 last year and the friend fired a shot through two doors at the property.

The shot grazed the face of a man inside the Fairbairn Rd home, the court was told during an earlier hearing.

Before the shot was fired the man inside the home opened the door to find Taylor and his co-accused — both masked — allegedly holding a .22-calibre gun.

The victim quickly shut the door before the bullet was fired into the house, ending up lodged in a wall.

In Geelong Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Taylor pleaded guilty to shooting at a house, possessing two longarm guns without a licence, unlicensed firearms dealing and ammunition possession.

Magistrate Ann McGarvie found there was enough evidence to warrant the matter going to the County Court.

Two men, aged 45 and 41, who were inside the home at the time of the shooting told investigators they believed they were going to die in the incident, a summary of the offending reveals.

Police said Taylor sourced the ammunition used in the offence and drove his 37-yearold co-accused to the property to carry out the shooting.

At an earlier hearing, the court heard the frightening incident was sparked by an unwanted sexual advance to a woman.

Two days after the shooting, police found the car used by Taylor and his co-accused dumped in Apollo Place, Whittington, with a dark bandana and white gloves inside. Fingerprint evidence linked the car to Taylor.

Taylor was arrested in relation to the shooting at his North Geelong home last December and held for several hours before being released. A summary of the case against Taylor reveals he sold a .303 Lithgow rifle and ammunition for $1250 on January 14 to a man he met while in custody.

The special operations group was deployed to arrest Taylor at his North Geelong home on February 26. A search of the house found a .22 firearm barrel, shotgun ammunition and an air rifle barrel.

Taylor was remanded in custody to face the Geelong County Court on September 3.

His co-accused is also due to face court that day.