Woman fights back against intruder
Fires shot at man who threatened her child
A WOMAN shot at an intruder during a violent home invasion at Coomera at the weekend after he attacked her and threatened her child.
Police are now hunting for an assault rifle believed to have been stolen by two men who stormed the woman’s Gunther Ave property dressed in balaclavas at about 11.30pm on Sunday.
It is understood they broke down the door of the house, threatened the woman and her children at gunpoint and punched her in the face before she fired a shot at one of them with a handgun.
The woman believed to have been involved in the altercation is the partner of a man arrested one day earlier after police raided the property. The woman is not the subject of any charges.
Her partner, Matthew Hutchins, was charged with possession of a drug believed to be GHB and cannabis following the Saturday raid.
He was denied bail in the Southport Magistrates Court yesterday and the court heard the northern Gold Coast home will remain a crime scene until Wednesday evening.
Several bullets that fit the assault rifle, a scope and a bipod were also found at the property, the court was told.
A Chrysler car stolen during the alleged home invasion is believed to have contained the rifle.
No one has been charged over the violent robbery or the car theft.
Yesterday, prosecutor Kevin Thomas objected to Hutchins being granted bail, saying he had the potential to exercise “payback” on the men who were allegedly involved in the home invasion, if he were released.
“The defendant is furious about the assault … and rightly so,” Mr Thomas said.
“There is the potential for payback given his state of mind (because of) what occurred at the residence.”
Defence lawyer Campbell MacCallum, of Moloney MacCallum Lawyers, said Hutchins had instructed him a “white substance” found at the property was used to treat arthritis.
Mr MacCallum said a liquid police suspected of being drugs that was found in a plastic bottle had not been tested.
He said the offences his client had been charged with were not “significantly serious” and the cannabis allegedly found at the property was “not out of the realms of possibility for personal use”.
Magistrate Kay Philipson disagreed, saying the defendant had previously breached his bail on several occasions and had continued to reoffend.
“He has shown no regard for bail that is imposed,” she said.
“I have serious concerns about him continuing to commit offences.”
Hutchins was remanded in custody until his next appearance on June 1.