Shooter’s actions all too real

A MAN who shot another person at close range during a home invasion at a Surfers Paradise hotel has been described by a Southport District Court judge as believing he was a character in the cult film Pulp Fiction.

Stephen Allen, 29, was sentenced to more than seven years’ jail in the Southport District Court yesterday after pleading guilty to a spate of offences including grievous bodily harm and burglary while armed in company.

Allen pleaded guilty to accidentally firing a gun into the stomach of another man in August 2015 after he and a friend stormed an apartment at Mantra Crown Towers to settle a $1100 drug debt.

The court heard Allen did not know the men at the property but joined his friend with a loaded 9mm Glock as the “muscle” during the invasion.

Judge David Kent QC said even though this kind of offending was common in drug circles “it doesn’t mean it has to be sanctioned by the court”.

“(Allen) must have known there was some possibility of recourse from bringing a loaded gun ... It reads as if your client (thinks he is) in Pulp Fiction

... some people seem to think Chicago is coming to the Gold Coast and I’m not in the job of indulging that, I must say.”

After serving more than two years on remand, Allen will be eligible for parole in February next year.