Man ignores gun ban

Pleads guilty, appeals sentence

A MAN banned from possessing firearms for a decade has immediately appealed a 12month jail sentence after pleading guilty to serious weapons offences.

John Rieck was served a firearms prohibition order less than a month before he was found in possession of a handmade firearm, shotgun and numerous rounds of ammunition.

The 27-year-old was found hiding in the back of a Newcomb garage on January 7, an hour after police saw him run a red light in his green Ford Festiva in central Geelong.

Police were led to Rieck after they spotted the same green car parked outside a unit in Helm St, Newcomb. They could see a shotgun round lying on the driver’s seat.

Police were granted entry to the unit, where they found Rieck hiding in the garage and arrested him.

Court documents reveal Rieck told police where he had stored a loaded shotgun, ammunition and the keys to the green car.

Police found the items and also uncovered a black bag containing Rieck’s driver’s licence, cannabis and methylamphetamine. They also found another bag hidden in the garage, which contained the firearms prohibition order dated December 10, more ammunition, ammunition casing and a homemade firearm.

Rieck was arrested and taken to the Geelong police station where he made a nocomment interview.

The court heard Rieck was in custody from his arrest until he was granted bail on April 14 and had since gained full time work as a concreter.

Rieck pleaded guilty to a string of offences, including being a prohibited person possessing a firearm, driving while disqualified and possession of drugs.

Lawyer Mel Cox said Rieck experienced a traumatic childhood, had been diagnosed with a shizoaffective disorder and ADHD. She said her client had used drugs since the age of 12 and had been in and out of prison since 2016.

Ms Cox argued her client should be spared jail and instead complete a supervised community correction order that would provide structure to succeed and allow him to rekindle a relationship with his eight-year-old daughter.

But a prosecutor said driving while disqualified while using drugs and possessing a firearm was a “recipe for disaster”. He argued the only adequate sentence for such serious offending was jail.

Magistrate Simon Guthrie said Rieck had displayed “a total disregard for the law” and sentenced Rieck to 12 months’ jail plus a community corrections order.

Rieck appealed the sentence and will front court again at a later date.