Eight years for Southport shooting
A GOLD Coast man who opened fire on another man at close range outside a Southport property in February last year has been sentenced to eight years’ jail.
Jay Darrin Ellison, 27, earlier in the week pleaded guilty in the Southport District Court to a raft of offences including armed robbery, malicious acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm, possession of cannabis and stealing.
The court heard Ellison shot Nicholas Pickering, a man he had never met, in the stomach and thigh about 8.30pm when Mr Pickering opened the door to his Worendo St home on February 25, 2016.
He fired the pistol because he wanted to help out his friend, co-accused Jesse James Farmer, who was having a dispute with the victim over the storage of another person’s furniture, the court was told.
The court was told the victim required two bouts of surgery and was hospitalised for two weeks after the incident.
Ellison was sentenced to eight years for the shooting, which was deemed by the court a serious violent offence.
He was sentenced to a further three years, to be served cumulatively, for an armed robbery of the Varsity Lakes Tavern.
Ellison will be eligible for parole in April 2023 after already serving 535 days on remand.