Mosgiel man sentenced to jail for string of offences
A MOSGIEL man with a violent streak and a penchant for firearms has been jailed for two years, nine months.
Ellery Charles Coffin (32) appeared in the Dunedin District Court this week on a slew of charges spanning more than a year.
It began in February last year when the defendant was asleep with his girlfriend in a car in George St.
A passerby shone his cellphone torch through the window, so Coffin chased him and smashed the phone.
When the man threw rocks at the car in retaliation, Coffin chased him, ended up catching the man’s friend and dealing to him with a dozen punches.
Nearly four months later, the defendant’s exgirlfriend became the subject of his displeasure.
They argued over the ownership of property and Coffin stor med off with the woman’s handbag, her cellphone and tobacco.
Using the phone, he entered Facebook using her identity and posted a status update: ‘‘I’m a slut I chat up other guys while my man’s at work. It’s a shame he’s in your Facebook now’’.
In October, police were called to a disorder incident in Mosgiel and found Coffin’s BMW nearby.
The butt of a firearm was visible protruding from a footwell.
A search found it was a semi automatic rifle with a round of ammunition in the chamber and nine in the magazine.
In a bag on the back seat were glass methamphetamine pipes and point bags containing white powder residue.
Coffin was released on bail with a specific condition not to possess firearms but when police searched his home on February 27 they found a 12gauge pumpaction shotgun under his bed. He claimed it belonged to a friend.
Judge John Macdonald noted Coffin was considered a high risk of reoffending.
He was convicted of: injuring with intent to injure, wilful damage, accessing a computer system without authorisation, two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of ammunition and possession of a pipe.
As well as the prison term, he ordered the defendant pay $549 reparation and condemned the firearms to destruction.