Jeffery Robert Cutting pleads guilty after Elizabeth South shooting

Chasing up a loan from an acquaintance with an interest in guns nearly turned lethal when the man opened fire. But a court has heard he was provoked.

Two people shot at following a friendly cash loan gone terribly wrong have described how a bullet went so close to their head they felt the wind from it.

The Adelaide District Court heard how Jeffery Robert Cutting unloaded four rounds from a gun at David Aitken and Leah Pitts as they ran from the front heard of his Elizabeth South home in June 2020.

What they were doing there, the court heard, was chasing up a debt Cutting – also known as Barney – owed them from the loan.

The victim impact statement of Ms Pitts, read to the court, described how the shooting had led to her and Ms Aitken fleeing the state and routinely reliving the traumatic experience.

“At the time of the incident I thought I was going to die,” Ms Pitts said.

Jeffery Robert Cutting has pleaded guilty to charges resulting from a terrifying incident at Elizabeth South in 2020. Picture: Facebook

“It was pretty terrifying (and) I could hear the sound of a bullet whiz straight past my head and I felt the wind from it.

“It was complete terror.”

The court heard Mr Aitken had military experience, but had become “overwhelmed with terror” by Cutting being an “out of control person waving a gun around and discharging it … with no regard to training and protocol, in an open situation, out on a public street”.

“I thought, if he is capable of this, he is unstoppable and he could do anything,” his victim impact statement said.

“I feared our lives could be blown away.

“My only thoughts in that immediate moment were, ‘we have to get out of here quick, we have to save ourselves’.”

Footage of the incident shows Mr Aitken and Ms Pitts running to their Ford, parked outside Cutting’s house on Willison Road, before screeching down the road and heading to the police station to report what had happened.

Upon arriving at the station, the court heard, Mr Aitken found a bullet hole in the car’s front bumper.

Cutting pleaded guilty to two counts of discharging a firearm to injure, annoy or frighten.

Judge Michael Burnett heard Cutting had in 2007 spent years behind bars for attempted murder and wounding with attempt to cause grievous bodily harm after randomly stabbing two people in the Adelaide CBD.

Ben Armstrong, for Cutting, told the court Cutting had shot at Mr Aitken and Ms Pitts after they had come to his family home “wishing to pursue the debt quite vigorously”.

Mr Aitken, the court heard, had become acquaintances with Cutting over a mutual interest in gel blaster guns and told him he was formerly in the SAS – something which turned out to be a lie.

The court heard Cutting had fired a warning shot in the air, after which Mr Aitken and Ms Pitts did not leave, before then firing towards them.

“It’s not (Cutting) going out there looking for trouble, effectively trouble visited him in his family home,” Mr Armstrong said.

“(Mr Aitken) became aggressive while in (Cutting’s) house and (Cutting) has pushed him out the door.

“Mr Aitken then went out to his vehicle and armed himself with a stick and returned to the premises.”

Judge Burnett remanded Cutting, who has been behind bars since June 2020, ahead of sentencing him in December.