Director of Public Prosecutions v Lunt

[2025] VCC 254

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

 Suitable for Publication

AT LATROBE VALLEY & MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 24-01848

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

JESSE LUNT

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE CHETTLE
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	25 February 2025
DATE OF SENTENCE:	11 March 2025
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Lunt
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2025] VCC 254

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:  CRIMINAL LAW – SENTENCE

Catchwords:  Prohibited person possess firearm, prohibited person possess imitation firearm, prohibited person possess a silencer, unlicensed person store firearm in an insecure manner, making a false document, possess cartridge ammunition without licence or permit, plea of guilty, Bugmy; general deprived and disadvantaged background, 

Legislation Cited: s6AAA Sentencing Act 1991

Cases Cited:Berichon [2013] 40 VR 490, Sultan [2022] VSCA 205, Bugmy V R (2013) 302 ALR 192

Sentence:Imprisonment, Total effective sentence of 3 years and 6 months, Non-parole Period of 2 years and 3 months, Forfeiture and disposal Orders, $500 fine

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms I. Anticev	Ms I. Anticev, Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr J. Cleveland	Ms J. Kennedy, Leanne Warren & Associates

HIS HONOUR:

1Jesse Lunt, you have pleaded guilty to three charges of being a prohibited person possessing a firearm, two charges of prohibited person possessing an imitation firearm, one charge of being a prohibited person possessing a silencer, one charge of unlicensed person store firearms in an insecure manner and finally one charge of making a false document.  You also pleaded guilty to three related summary charges of possessing cartridge ammunition without a licence or permit.

2The fats of your offending are set out in Exhibit A of the prosecution opening for plea.  I was informed by your counsel I could treat that document as an agreed statement of fact, and I incorporate it into these reasons for sentence.  I sentence you on the basis of the facts set out in that document together with some of the documents in the depositions to which I referred during the course of your plea.

3Briefly stated, on 29 February of 2024, police executed a search warrant at your address in Yallourn North.  They located a loaded .22 rifle with a suppressor but no serial number, leaning against your bedroom wall In the study, a loaded sawn-off shotgun was located.  A sawn-off .22 rifle was found in the garage.  All three of those weapons were insecurely stored.  Two imitation handguns were located in your walk-in robe.  The .22 rifle was loaded with eight .22 rounds of ammunition.  The sawn-off shotgun had one 12-gauge cartridge loaded and in your walk-in robe was a bag containing sixty-seven 12-gauge shells and
37 ACP rounds.  An ACP round is automatic pistol ammunition.

4In your bedroom, a card printer, various identification cards, including a fake Victorian driver's licence in your name and a card laminator, were located.  The so-called licence was on your bedside table next to your phone.  You assisted the police by showing them where the imitation firearms and two of the other firearms were located.  You exercised your right to silence.  In a no comment record of interview when interviewed at the police station, you certainly did not say that you found the weapons or used them as you now contend.  You have admitted an extensive criminal record, some 24 pages in length.

5In 1999, you received a two-month suspended gaol term for trafficking cannabis and a community correction order for three charges of handling stolen goods.  In 2002, you were fined for possession of a controlled weapon, and you later received an intensive correction order for handle stolen goods and driving whilst disqualified.  In 2004, you were sentenced to another community correction order for charges including handling stolen goods, possessing proceeds of crime and possessing ammunition.  In 2007, you were sentenced to two years and seven months' imprisonment with an 18-month non-parole period by the Bendigo County Court on dishonesty charges.  That sentence was varied on appeal to two years and four months' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 14 months.

6On 3 April 2012, you were sentenced to imprisonment for possession of a prohibited weapon.  In November of 2012 you were again imprisoned for burglary.  In December 2015, you were imprisoned for drive whilst disqualified, drug offences and dealing with proceeds of crime.  On 21 January of 2016, you were sentenced to 120 days' imprisonment for offences of prohibited person possessing a firearm, drug trafficking, dishonesty offences and possession of cartridge ammunition.  In November 2016, you received a community correction order for dishonesty offences that included possessing identification information to commit or facilitate an indictable offence.  In 2019, you were again imprisoned for dishonesty offences including obtaining property by deception.  Subsequently, you have been before various courts on drug charges, driving charges, dishonesty charges and breaching community correction orders.

7You are now 44 years of age, being born in March 1980.  Your personal history is set out in the psychological report of Geoffrey Cummins, Exhibit 2.  Your childhood was marked by both your parents' drug use, by disadvantage and disruption.  Your parents often separated, and you were raised by your grandmother in Northcote until the age of 5 or 6 when you moved to Moorabbin.  You moved back again to Northcote where you completed Year 6 at Westgarth primary school.  You started at Northcote high school but left at the age of 13. 

8Both your parents were imprisoned about this time, and you lived with your older sister.  You had started using both cannabis and methylamphetamine at that early age and have had very little gainful employment over your adult years.  You have had some drug counselling over the years and successfully completed a Drug Court order in 2016.  That saw you remain drug-free for nearly three years.  You have had several personal relationships and have a 20-year-old son who resides with his mother.

9Mr Cummins opines that your criminal offending history is significantly linked to your dysfunctional upbringing and chronic polysubstance use.  You are moderately depressed and anxious.  About four and a half years ago you moved with your 73-year-old mother into Yallourn North.  Your mother has extensive serious health issues.  Since being bailed in May of 2024, you have been caring for your mother, and your sister also lives with you.  She is legally blind and has her own health issues.  A full list of your mother's medical problems is set out in Exhibit 1 of your counsel's submissions. 

10They include non-insulin-dependent diabetes, renal failure requiring dialysis three times a week and she suffered a stroke in January of this year.  She has been regularly hospitalised.  The discharge summary for those admissions was tendered on your plea and she suffers regular falls, has obstructive pulmonary disease, impaired memory and poor mobility.  Your counsel submitted that if you are incarcerated, your mother would be required to go into residential care against her wishes as there is no-one else able to provide her with the fulltime care she requires.

11Your sister's own issues mean she cannot provide the necessary care your mother requires.  It was submitted that your mother's personal circumstances meet the exceptional requirement and that the court should extend you mercy as a result.  I accept that your mother is very unwell.  I also accept that you are extremely concerned about her welfare and that time in custody will be more onerous for you because of that concern.  I do not however find that your mother's circumstances meet the exceptional requirement required by law to significantly affect me sentencing you.  Your mother should go into hospital or care, she needs that level of support.  You want to be with her, but that is not exceptional.  Most sons have concerns about their mother's health and wellbeing.  I will take your concerns as to her health into account, but overall there are no exceptional circumstances as required by law.

12Since being arrested and bailed, you have made attempts to deal with your addiction to illicit drugs.  Drug screens, Exhibit 4, showed clean results, save for one in October 2024 where cannabis was detected.  If you can deal with your long-term drug addiction, your prospects for rehabilitation will be substantially enhanced.  Your criminal history however makes these prospects extremely guarded.  Your instructions to counsel are that you found most of the guns and ammunition located by police.  You told Mr Cummins that you possessed those guns to shoot vermin, in particular rats on your mother's property.  You claimed you shot at them or in the air to scare them away.

13You claimed, 'I tried to make a silencer because I didn't want to keep waking mum up when I was using the firearms to scare the rats away'.  As I said during your plea, I totally reject these assertions.  Your counsel submitted that the circumstances of your offending do not support a finding that you possessed firearms, imitation firearms and ammunition for a criminal purpose.  In Berichon [2013] 40 VR 490[1] at page 496, Redlich JA said:

'The conduct of a prohibited person in possession of an unregistered firearm may be placed in one of two broad categories of seriousness.  The first category of cases are those where the conclusion is not open that the possession of the firearm is associated with some ongoing criminal activity.  Sentences of a low order of imprisonment are usually appropriate unless the previous criminal history of the offender warrants a more substantial sentence proportional to the gravity of the offence.  The second category of cases are those where the evidence enables the conclusion that the possession is for the purpose of criminal activity of a specified criminal purpose.  More severe sentences are then usually in order.  Such sentences will be appropriate where the firearm is for example possessed in the context of a criminal activity to provide security or means of enforcement.  The prior convictions of the offender in conjunction with the circumstantial evidence may also enable the conclusion to be drawn that the possession is for some unlawful activity'.

[1]Berichon [2013] 40 VR 490

14The Court of Appeal examined the application of those principles recently in the case of Sultan [2022] VSCA 205[2].  Your counsel submitted that your conduct fell into the first category set out by Redlich JA and it was not open for the court to find your possession of the firearms is associated with some ongoing criminal activity.  The learned prosecutor argued that the court could find that you purchased the items for a criminal purpose.  A number of factors in combination lead me to conclude beyond reasonable doubt that your possession of the firearms, imitation firearms and ammunition were possessed for the purposes of some unidentified criminal activity. 

[2]Sultan [2022] VSCA 205

15Firstly, the number of firearms and imitation firearms you possessed.  An imitation rifle, a saw-off shotgun, a cutdown .22 rifle and two realistic imitation handguns represents an arsenal of illegal items. 

16Secondly, each of those items represents serious pieces of equipment in a criminal setting. 

17Thirdly, the rifle and sawn-off shotgun were loaded and ready for filing. 

18Fourthly, you possessed a significant quantity of ammunition for the firearms, and you possessed further ammunition for firearms that you did not even then possess. 

19Fifthly, so far as the sawn-off shotgun and sawn-off .22 rifle are concerned, they have no legitimate purpose and can only be used for a criminal purpose.

20Sixthly, you have significant relevant prior criminal convictions, including prohibited person possessing firearms and you are a criminal with drug and dishonesty prior convictions. 

21Seventhly, you were a prohibited person at the time you possessed these items on multiple bases. 

22Eighthly, the depositions disclose conversations you had about obtaining and selling firearms.  I do not sentence you for any trafficking of firearms' offences.  Rather, that evidence is relevant to an assessment of the credibility, or lack of it, of the version of events you told Mr Cummins and your counsel.

23I do not however intend to impose a higher sentence of the second category as outlined by Redlich JA.  There seems to me to be a sliding scale of seriousness of offending for offences such as yours.  I simply reject your instructions and assertions to Mr Cummins.  The categorisation of offences as described by Redlich JA is not always clear.  I cannot say what particular criminal purpose you were involved in.  You may have possessed the firearms and imitation firearms for sale.  You may have had other plans for them.  All I can say is that you definitely did not possess those items for a legitimate purpose.

24I do take into account your pleas of guilty.  Those pleas of guilty were entered at an early stage.  They have significant utilitarian value.  You have spared the community the time and expense of a criminal trial and you are entitled to, and shall receive, a reduction in sentence to reflect those pleas of guilty.  I will return to the effect of that reduction subsequently. 

25I also take into account your co‑operation with the police during the execution of the search warrant, by your disclosure to them of the location of firearms, imitation firearms and ammunition. 

26I take into account your deprived and disadvantaged background in a general way in accordance with Bugmy[3] principles.  As previously indicated, I take into account your stress, anguish and concern as to your mother's medical issues.  Your time in custody will be more onerous for you as a result.  Similarly, your time in custody will be more onerous because of your depression and anxiety.  Your adjustment disorder and disturbance of emotion and conduct will also make prison more onerous for you.  Each of your mental health issues may be aggravated by your time in custody. 

[3]

27I take into account finally the efforts you have made to address your drug addiction since you have been on bail.  Principles of general deterrence, specific deterrence and just punishment, denunciation of your conduct and protection of the community are all relevant sentencing factors in your case.  The maximum penalties prescribed by Parliament as set out in Exhibit A of the prosecution opening, demonstrate how seriously your crimes are regarded.  Your prior convictions for dishonesty give context to your possession of a false driver's licence.  Your plea of guilty to Charge 8 admits an intention to use that false driver's licence dishonestly.

28Finally, I have had regard to principles of cumulation, totality and parsimony in arriving at the appropriate sentences and the effective term of imprisonment in this case.  In my view, nothing other than a term of imprisonment is appropriate in this case.  I cannot accept your counsel's submission that time served, and a community correction order, would satisfy sentencing considerations.  Your offending and your prior criminal history are simply too serious for such a disposition. 

29I did have you assessed for your suitability to undergo a community correction order and, although you were found suitable, I am not of the view that such a disposition is open.  You were, however, assessed as a high risk of reoffending and you persisted with your false version as to why you possessed the firearms in your explanation to the assessing officer. 

30Would you stand up please. 

31On all charges you are convicted.

32On Charge 1, prohibited person possess firearms, that is the .22 rifle, you are sentenced to nine months' imprisonment.

33On Charge 2, prohibited person possess a firearm, that is the sawn-off shotgun, you are sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

34On Charge 3, prohibited person possessing a firearm, the sawn-off .22, you are sentenced to six months' imprisonment.

35On Charge 4, prohibited person possess imitation firearm, you are sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment.

36On Charge 5, prohibited person possess imitation firearms, you are sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment.

37On Charge 6, prohibited person possessing a silencer, you are sentenced to six months' imprisonment.

38On Charge 7, failing to securely store the firearms, you are sentenced to three months' imprisonment.

39On Charge 8, making a false document, you are sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment.

40I order that three months of each of the sentences imposed on Charge 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8, be served cumulatively on the sentence imposed on Charge 2, which I declare to be the base sentence.  That is an effective term of imprisonment of three years and six months and I order that you serve two years and three months of that sentence before being eligible for parole. 

41I declare that 93 days of that sentence have already been served by way of presentence detention. On the three related summary offences of possessing ammunition without a permit, you are fined an aggregate sum of $500.

42I make the forfeiture orders and disposal orders sought by the prosecution.

43I indicate pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991[4] that but for your pleas of guilty, I would have imposed an effective term of imprisonment of five years with a non-parole period of three years and six months.

[4]

44Are there any other orders required, Madam Prosecutor?

45MS ANTICEV:  Just confirming that it was a firearms disposal order and an ordinary disposal order.

46HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  Whatever the ones you applied for have been made.

47MR CLEVELAND:  Thank you, Your Honour.

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