A West Launceston man was remanded in custody after pleading guilty to firearm charges in the Launceston Magistrates Court.
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Magistrate Simon Brown adjourned sentencing and an overlapping bail application for Jason Robert Burns, 29.
Burns pleaded not guilty through defence counsel Lucy Flanagan to a count of aggravated carjacking, allegedly armed with a firearm, and recklessly discharge a .22 rifle at Churchill Park on December 12, 2021.
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Police allege Mr Burns was in the company of two other men when shots were discharged towards a man.
The court heard that the charges were indictable and would be heard via a jury trial before the Supreme Court of Tasmania in Launceston.
Burns had a charge of discharging a firearm from a public place at Churchill Park, Invermay, possession of a shortened firearm, namely a .22 rifle, and trespass while in possession of a rifle at Newstead on the same night adjourned indefinitely.
Police prosecutor Matt Hills said that on February 15 this year police located Mr Burns in a hotel room in Riverside with his partner.
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A search located a loaded 12-gauge shotgun and 35 shotgun shells and a backpack that contained a black stun gun.
Mr Hills said the Boito 12-gauge shotgun was stolen and had been shortened to less than 40 centimetres.
Defence counsel Lucy Flanagan said Burns had been in custody since February 15.
She said that he had been in hospital between the alleged aggravated carjacking and the raid on February 15.
He had missed an operation in relation to an unrelated firearms bullet wound due to being held in custody.
Ms Flanagan said the shotgun was stolen while Burns was in hospital.
"It was purchased before he was released and he concedes it was not a legitimate sale, cash was paid by an associate," she said.
She said he hadn't used the shotgun and hadn't intended to use it.
"His possession of it was only brief," she said.
Ms Flanagan said Burnes and his partner were living at the hotel in Riverside at the time of the raid and arrest.
She said that the defence accepted that his record was a lengthy one and that he had had the benefit of a drug treatment order in the past.
The court heard that he was awaiting trial in the Supreme Court on a separate matter.
She submitted that his sentence should be backdated to February 15 and any further imprisonment be suspended.
Bail was opposed by Mr Hills.
Mr Brown said that he needed to think about the matter and adjourned it for sentence and decision on the bail application until March 30 at 2.15pm.
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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.
