A Newnham man shot through the window of a Hadspen house with a high-powered rifle as part of a dispute with his ex-girlfriend over a mattress, the Supreme Court in Launceston heard.
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Dylan Maxwell Cocker, 28, pleaded guilty to a count of recklessly discharging a firearm on March 5 and 6 this year.
He also pleaded guilty to a charge of recklessly discharging a firearm with no regard to the safety of people and property on March 6.
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He also pleaded guilty to several firearms charges including possession of a Brno .22 rifle and 180 .22 rounds, 101 12-gauge shotgun rounds and other high-calibre rounds and driving charges.
Crown prosecutor Claire Darvell said Cocker was driving through Launceston when he spotted his ex-girlfriend and another man in a car.
He tried to get them to pull over so he could confront her about the mattress. When they did not pull over he followed them to a home in Kipling Crescent, Hadspen.
The mother of the woman's new boyfriend gestured for him to leave and as though she was going to ring police.
Cocker sent a series of abusive texts from 9.42pm to 10.26pm.
"The accused and an unknown male returned in a car and the unknown man fired a .22 Brno rifle with a silencer owned by the accused through a car breaking two windows and then struck the house," she said.
There were four people in the house at the time.
He then sent a further three text messages to the ex-girlfriend's phone.
He was charged as an aider and abetter despite not firing the shot.
At 8.45am the next morning Cocker returned to the address alone.
He parked 15-20 metres away and approached the house and saw a man sitting on his bed with a dog.
The man pulled the curtains back and Cocker briefly considered shooting the dog but then altered his aim so that the bullet smashed the window in the top corner.
Ms Darvell said the bullet travelled through the window and through a bedroom wall into a second bedroom.
The glass fell close to the man but the dog was not hurt.
After arrest police raided his home finding the ammunition and the firearm, with a scope and a silencer, and a bullet in the breach.
He told police that for a second he had thought about shooting the dog.
Ms Darvell said Cocker had relevant prior convictions which included two common assaults of an ex-partner in 2011 and injuring property. One of the assaults was by spitting.
In 2012 he was convicted of the aggravated assault of an ex-girlfriend by pointing a firearm at her and smashing the weapon on the bonnet of the car she was sitting in. He received a month's jail and a had two months' jail suspended in the Launceston Magistrates Court.
In July this year, he was found guilty of assaulting the most recent ex-girlfriend by punching her, grabbing her jumper pulling her into a car and depriving her of her liberty.
Ms Darvell said the use of a high powered weapon and the fact that he fired a shot while a person was in view were aggravating features of the crime.
Defence counsel Fran McCracken said he had dealt poorly with the breakdown of the relationship.
"His behaviour was related to jealousy," she said.
She said the potential for injury was certainly high.
She said he had worked at a sawmill during the period of offending while using illicit substances. She said he had been in custody since March 6, 2021.
Justice Robert Pearce remanded him in custody for sentence on October 25 at 4.15pm.
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