No prison for tenant over siege

NOMI Lea Mountney had a charitable wish to help gunman Brett Julian RobinsonStacey when she let him into her home on December 7, 2018, a court has heard.

Mountney, 42, was sentenced in the Supreme Court in Launceston yesterday after pleading guilty to recklessly discharging a firearm during a 16-hour standoff between Robinson-Stacey and police at her home in Trevallyn.

She also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm without a licence and possession of a shortened firearm.

The court heard RobinsonStacey knew police were looking for him when he arrived at Mountney’s rented home. When detectives arrived he fired about 35 shots over the next 16 hours. Justice Robert

Pearce yesterday said Mountney did a “good deal” throughout the siege to try to deescalate the situation.

The court previously heard an officer saw Mountney appear at a window carrying Robinson-Stacey’s “cut down firearm” and fired it from hip level out an open window.

“You say it was to placate Mr Robinson-Stacey … that was a misguided view,’’ Justice Pearce said.

About 9.30am RobinsonStacey told police he was going to shoot Mountney. “Special Operations Group entered the property by force and captured him,” Justice Pearce said.

Justice Pearce said a conviction was required, but imprisonment was not necessary.

He convicted Mountney on each charge and imposed a community corrections order for 18 months from yesterday.