A drug-fuelled man fired 35 shots with a sawn-off .22 rifle during a desperate 17-hour siege at Trevallyn in December 2018, the Supreme Court in Launceston heard.
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Brett Julian Robinson-Stacey told police negotiators: "I can't go back to jail."
"I'd rather die than go back to jail."
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The 24-year-old had been out of jail for just two weeks after serving an 18-month jail sentence.
Crown prosecutor John Ransom read to the court facts about a series of drug related events over three days in which Robinson-Stacey shot a woman, Robyn Lee Brown, in the leg and then was the principal antagonist in the siege.
Robinson-Stacey pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to Ms Brown in relation to an incident on December 5, 2018.
He also pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault, recklessly discharging a firearm, unlawfully injuring property and assaulting police in relation to the siege on December 7, 2018.
On December 5, Robyn Lee Brown, 47, went to 33 New World Avenue to confront Nomi Lea Mountney because she was unhappy about the quality of $100 worth of methylamphetamine she had bought the day before.
When no one was home she broke into the house and was ransacking it when Robinson-Stacey, Ms Mountney and number of others arrived home.
A fight broke out between Ms Brown and Ms Mountney and Robinson-Stacey fired a shot which hit Ms Brown in the left leg smashing the femur.
"Stop screaming or I'll shoot you again," he said.
He picked up two spent casings and left.
Two days later Robinson Stacey caught a taxi to Trevallyn and walked with a sports bag containing a firearm to Ms Mountney's house.
Police were alerted to his arrival at about 3.30pm by a neighbour and when they arrived Detective-Constable Jason Bolton went to the door saying "Tubbsy it's the police".
A shot was fired and a man yelled "f*** off."
Detective Bolton took cover behind a police car and police set up a cordon.
During the siege a police officer poked his head around a corner to check where shots were coming from.
Robinson-Stacey fired a shot which hit a bush about three metres away.
"Put your head out again goose and I'll shoot it," Mr Ransom related to the court.
"His intention was to scare the officer by pointing in his general direction."
Tasmania Police's Special Operations Group travelled to the scene while police negotiators talked to Robinson-Stacey throughout the night until 4am.
He told them he would rather die than go back to jail.
An agreement was made that he would leave at 8.30am but he changed his mind and demanded a car to drive him away from the area. He also demanded a crayfish to eat.
At 9.30am he told police that he was holding Ms Mountney as a hostage and if a car didn't arrive she would be shot.
He commenced a countdown from 20 and the Special Operations Group officers entered the house.
"Ms Mountney was in an extreme panic waving her arms from the bedroom," Mr Ransom said.
Robinson-Stacey resisted arrest by struggling violently, attempting to kick and abusing the SOG officers until a Taser was used to subdue him.
The shortened firearm had six .22 rounds in a magazine at the time of the arrest.
During the siege hit a police car causing $2829 damage and damage to a 76-year-old neighbours Toyota Prius and to the roof of her house.
Cost of police overtime during the operation was $33,706.
In an interview with police Robinson-Stacey said that if Ms Mountney had not been there he would have walked out of the house and been shot.
He said Ms Mountney had come up with an idea to pretend that she was a hostage so they could get driven away be a friend.She was going to be shot in the leg.
"The next thing the SOG came through the doors," he said.
He said his actions were pathetic and that he shouldn't have done it.
Mr Ransom told Justice Robert Pearce that he had a bad record for dishonesty and crimes of violence.
He said it was a much more serious siege than two previous ones in Launceston because of the use of a firearm.
"This is a particularly serious example because of the use of a firearm, danger to the public, the resources required and the continued resistance to arrest," Mr Ransom said.
Defence counsel Fran McCracken said the man had spent most of his life since 2013 in detention or jail.
"There is no doubt he is institutionalised and is unable to cope in the community," she said.
She said the siege came as a result of a mixture of panic and effect of illicit substances when it became obvious police were following up the shooting of Ms Brown.
"He upped the ante when police attended," she said.
"He put himself in a position he did not know how to get out of.
He is under no illusions that he is facing a lengthy sentence."
Justice Pearce said the siege was in a different league to any other sieges.He will sentence on June 17 at 2.15pm.
Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
