Shot down a second time

Magistrate upholds firearms licence ban

A HOBART magistrate has backed a police decision to cancel a man’s firearms licence after he struck his partner, threatened to shoot her dog and was nabbed hiding a shotgun in his wardrobe.

Mark Anthony Robertson attacked the woman in January 2018 after she had accidentally broken a plate belonging to his dead mother, slapping the victim to the face and causing her to fall.

He yelled and swore at the woman, telling her “you owe me $150 to replace that plate” and “I will put $150 worth of bullets into your dog”. He later urged her via text to tell her family the assault was accidental.

Two days later, when police arrived and Robertston surrendered his firearms and ammunition in accordance with a family violence order, he had a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun hidden in a spare wardrobe behind clothes.

In March 2018, Robertston pleaded guilty to one count of common assault, one count of possessing an unregistered firearm, and one count of failure to comply with the prescribed firearms storage requirements.

He was convicted and fined $800, saying he had “had a hard day at work” and that he’d “just over-reacted”.

At the end of 12 months, Robertson asked for his firearms licence to be reissued, but Tasmania Police Firearms Services declined, concluding he was not a “fit and proper person” to hold one.

Robertson later argued he was a “responsible gun owner” and said hitting his partner was an accident when his “hand slipped off the door”, despite previously pleading guilty to common assault.

He said the shotgun in the cupboard belonged to a friend, and that he wanted his licence back so he could get back to his “recreational hobby” of shooting kangaroo and deer for himself and his dogs.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Michael Daly said the fact Robertson urged his partner to lie about his violence, and also lied to Firearms Services when he said the assault was an accident, “reflects poorly on the applicant’s credibility”.

He found the evidence suggested Robertson might “lack the ability to properly discharge his obligations as a responsible holder of a firearms licence”, affirming the decision to cancel it.