Man dealt firearm fine

Rifle used to ‘put down’ wallabies

A LOIRA man found in possession of an unregistered rifle – which he said he used to put down badly injured wildlife on his property – and charged with other firearm-related offences was fined $800 and has avoided conviction.

Police prosecutor Mike Bonde told the Launceston Magistrates Court the .22 pump-action rifle and two boxes of ammunition were found in the shed of Paul Hendrik Hili’s Loira property during a police search on February 2. Police also found a silencer in the kitchen.

In a police interview on March 1, Hili said the firearm had been given to him from his father who had placed it in his car.

He told police he discovered it under the seat of the car, had not realised it was an unlawful rifle and decided to keep it.

Mr Bonde said Hili told police he kept the silencer in case he had to shoot near another property or other animals and hadn’t realised it was illegal.

Hili was unrepresented and told the court the firearm had not left the property where he runs a boarding kennel.

He said there were lots of rock wallabies on the property, some that were sick and had gone blind. “You hear them banging into fences, and I used the gun to put them down,” he said.

Hili said some of the ammunition had belonged to the previous owner of the property and he had been in the process of getting a safe.

The 49-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of possession of a firearm when not the holder of a firearm licence of the appropriate category, possession of ammunition when not the holder of the appropriate firearm licence, possession of an unregistered firearm, and failing to take all precautions to ensure the safekeeping of firearm and ammunition.

“I had applied for a firearms licence three months before the police showed up,” he said.

He said several other firearms that had belonged to his father, who had since died, had been sent to and registered to a firearms dealer in Beaconsfield.

In sentencing, Magistrate Sharon Cure said Hili didn’t have any history of related offences, but the correct storage of firearms on rural properties was crucial.

“The potential consequences of a firearm falling into the wrong hands is great,” she said. A conviction was not recorded.

Hili was also ordered to pay court costs of $207.45.