Jail for drugs, guns, theft

A MAN has been jailed for 47 charges relating to drugs, guns, theft and family violence.

Christopher Michael Goss, 35, was yesterday sentenced by Magistrate Chris Webster to 12 and a half months’ imprisonment for crimes committed between March 2015 and January this year. They included 16 breaches of a family violence order, six for drug possession and six relating to possession of firearms and ammunition.

Goss, living at Molesworth at the time of his offending, was charged twice with driving under the influence of amphetamine, ice and cannabis.

Defence lawyer Philippa Morgan told the court despite having no firearms licence, Goss was “very comfortable” around guns.

“Mr Goss described to me that he was always someone who grew up around firearms,” she said.

“He described that he has a knowledge and understanding about how firearms work, he’s able to pull them apart and work on them, and has always felt very comfortable around firearms.”

Ms Morgan told the court Goss had suffered depression since he was crushed by a wall at the old New Norfolk Hospital in a freak accident when he was about 16.

Goss suffered a fractured skull, two broken legs, a broken arm, hearing loss in his left ear and sight loss in his left eye as a result of the incident.

After smoking cannabis for most his adult life, Goss started using ice about three years ago, something Ms Morgan said made him paranoid and difficult.

Mr Webster ordered that Goss’s sentence be backdated to September 18, 2017, and also imposed suspended sentences for some of the “charges of dishonesty, guns and drugs”.

He must not commit an offence punishable by imprisonment for three years.

His licence will be suspended for two and half years from the day of his release.