Granny in firing line
Shooter faces up to seven years’ jail
A VIGILANTE granny who shot at her son-in-law twice could spend up to seven years in jail for trying to protect her granddaughter.
Miriam Annette Eason, 53, took a handgun and fired twice at her son-in-law outside his Nerang home on March 22, 2016 because she wrongly believed he, Malcolm Howarth, had sexually assaulted her granddaughter.
Eason yesterday appeared stoic in the dock of the Southport District Court during sentencing proceedings.
Judge Catherine Muir remanded her in custody until next Thursday week when she hands down her decision regarding the appropriate sentence.
Eason wanted time to conduct research into the sentencing quirks surrounding the dangerous conduct using a weapon charge. The maximum penalty is seven years.
Eason’s shoulder length, long blond hair was left wild around her head as she kept a stony face towards her lawyer.
Almost a dozen supporters of Eason packed into the small courtroom to offer the grandmother support.
They remained silent throughout proceedings but were seen talking and hugging Eason during a break in the sentence.
Crown prosecutor Michael Mitchell told the court Eason went to the Nerang home armed and ready to confront Mr Howarth about the allegations.
When she was just twoand-a-half metres away from Mr Howarth in his own front yard, Eason pulled the trigger twice.
Both bullets Howarth.
Eason’s daughter then came running from the Nerang home into the front garden missed Mr
HER PREVIOUS ABUSE AS A CHILD MADE HER FEELINGS MORE INTENSE THAN SOMEONE WHO WAS REMOVED FROM THAT BACKGROUND
and Eason turned the gun to the sky and pulled the trigger another four times.
The bullets did not hit anyone and no one was injured in the incident.
Defence barrister Mal Harrison, instructed by Fisher Dore Lawyers, said Eason had been sexually abused a child.
He said it was her “honest belief” the same was happening to her granddaughter.
“It is a case that her previous abuse as a child made her feelings more intense than someone who was removed from that background,” Mr Harrison said.
He said Eason, who no longer believed her granddaughter had been abused, tried to get the authorities involved.
“She took it up with the government department, her daughter and her daughter’s father,” Mr Harrison said.
“There was a level of vigilantism (in the shooting).
“That does not excuse it in any way shape or form.”
Eason yesterday pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous conduct using a weapon and possessing a weapon.