A Punchbowl woman who brought a blank-firing starter pistol to a Launceston pub and told security she intended to shoot a man as part of a "cry for help" will serve a further nine months in jail.
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Katrina Gail Chick, 53, was sentenced in the Launceston Supreme Court on Monday after pleading guilty to being unlawfully armed in public, handling a firearm while under the influence of alcohol and other charges.
The court heard Chick was "substantially alcohol affected" when she brought a six-millimetre blank-firing six-shot pistol to The Commercial Hotel on October 5.
Others at the premises became aware that she was armed with the pistol and the police were called. Chick continued to act in a "confronting way" and other punters became concerned at her behaviour.
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She was arrested and the pistol was seized, but during the arrest, Chick backed herself against a wall to attempt to avoid being handcuffed and was subsequently charged with resisting arrest. She has remained in custody since.
The court was told Chick did not intend to shoot anyone and instead wanted to be taken into custody, a fact that Justice Robert Pearce agreed was the most likely course of events.
Chick was convicted in 2018 for stabbing her husband and was jailed for 12 months, with six months suspended for three years. She breached this suspended sentence as a result of the offending.
Justice Pearce said that while Chick's life was "in turmoil" and the incident was part of a "cry for help", it was to be expected that others at the pub at the time would have been fearful because the gun had the appearance of a regular firearm.
"The people who saw it were not to know what you intended or what the gun was capable of," he said.
"No doubt those that saw it were very scared.
"You were highly intoxicated but that does not reduce the seriousness of your conduct."
Her six-month suspended sentence was activated, backdated to October 5, and she was jailed for a further four months to be followed by a 12-month community corrections order.