The nurse whose home became the scene of a siege at Trevallyn was so terrified she urinated in her pants and cowered hysterically on a bathroom floor after a gunman threatened to shoot her, a court has heard.
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Nomi Lea Mountney, 41, spent 17 hours inside her New World Avenue home with Brett Julian Robinson-Stacey in December 2018.
Heavily armed special operations police stormed the home after Robinson-Stacey threatened to shoot Mountney and started counting down the seconds left until the shot would be fired.
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Mountney was forced to relive the ordeal in the Launceston Supreme Court on Monday when she pleaded guilty to reckless firearm discharge and possession charges.
During the siege, the court heard a police officer saw Mountney fire one shot from a sawn-off shotgun.
After the siege came to an end Mountney told police she never fired the shot, but she wept in court as her defence lawyer Evan Hughes told the court the shot was fired to placate Robinson-Stacey.
Mr Hughes said Mountney was not friends with Robinson-Stacey, but she let him into the home because she believed he was at risk of being harmed by other people.
"It's a very fluid and foggy circumstance that developed over the 17 hours that Ms Mountney was in that house with Mr Robinson-Stacey," Mr Hughes said.
"She went to the bathroom after he arrived, heard a knock on the door and running feet. Mr Robinson-Stacey was shouting and swearing."
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Mr Hughes said Mountney realised it would be a "difficult' afternoon after she heard a noise which sounded like thunder and police calling out.
"Ms Mountney made repeated and continuous attempts to persuade Mr Robinson-Stacey to bring an end to the siege," Mr Hughes said.
"When police gained entry, Ms Mountney was in the bathroom. She was cowering on the floor, terrified.
"Upon entry to that bathroom Ms Mountney's fear was at such a level that she wet herself; she was hysterical."
The court heard Mountney feared Robinson-Stacey would shoot her or that she would be caught in an exchange of fire between the gunman and police.
Mr Hughes said during the siege Mountney cooperated with Tasmania Police and helped officers try to get Robinson-Stacey to hand himself in.
"On two occasions she was part of a group which convinced him to leave the house," Mr Hughes said.
Robinson-Stacey later refused to leave because members of his family were outside and his behaviour became more erratic and unpredictable due to ice use, the court heard.
Mr Hughes said Mountney was now homeless and had been blamed for the siege.
"There's some sort of misguided belief amongst some that Ms Mountey is somehow responsible for Mr Robinson-Stacey's predicament," Mr Hughes said.
"She was assaulted by six people and one of them broke her jaw, she was hospitalised."
Mountney was forced to buy new clothes because while she was on her way to court she had a "noxious liquid mixed with some sort of powder" thrown at her, Mr Hughes said.
"That's the life she's been living," he said.
Mr Hughes said Mountney worked as a nurse at the time of the siege and was halfway through obtaining a university qualification.
"She hasn't given up on a career, working in healthcare," he said.
Justice Robert Pearce said Mountney would not be sent to jail and he would consider the imposition of a community service order.
Mountney is due to be sentenced at 10am on Tuesday.