Vivian Drewett sentenced for cleaning up shell casings after partner, Jeffery Cutting’s shooting

A woman has been sentenced for helping her boyfriend conceal his crime after he opened fire on a terrified couple, who felt the wind from the bullet whiz past their head.

A woman has been sentenced for helping her boyfriend conceal his crime after he fired shots at a couple fleeing for their lives.

Vivian Drewett, 34, avoided jail after she told the court she wants to cut ties with her criminal boyfriend who is behind bars yet again.

During sentencing, the District Court heard Drewett’s partner, Jeffery Robert Cutting organised to buy a gel blaster from David Aitken on June 21, 2020.

Mr Aitken and his wife, Leah Pitts came to Cutting’s Elizabeth South home in June 2020 to collect payment but Cutting said he would not pay and an altercation ensued.

Cutting went back into the house and returned with a rifle, which he then fired into the air.

Vivian Drewett was sentenced for helping her partner Jeffery Cutting (left) clean up shell casings after he fired shots at a couple. Photo: Facebook

Vivian Drewett pleaded guilty to an impeding an investigation. Photo: Facebook

“After this, he pointed and fired the firearm towards (Ms Pitts) who was in the car at that time, then fired the firearm once or possibly twice as the victims fled the scene,” Judge Geraldine Davison said.

The victim impact statement of Ms Pitts, read to the court in November during Cutting’s sentencing submissions, described how the shooting had led to her and Mr 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.

“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.”

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”

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

“I feared our lives could be blown away.”

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.

The court heard Drewett was captured on CCTV assisting Cutting, who she shares a child with, in removing shell casings before police arrived.

Drewett, of Taperoo, pleaded guilty to impeding an investigation.

Cutting, who pleaded guilty to two counts of discharging a firearm to injure, annoy or frighten, was jailed for three years and nine months last year.

Cutting was jailed last year for discharging a firearm. Photo: Facebook

The court heard Drewett was in a relationship with Cutting from a young age, which resumed after he was released from jail for randomly stabbing two people in the Adelaide CBD.

The court heard Drewett, who struggles with drug abuse, said she was determined not to engage in a relationship with Cutting in the future.

Judge Davison sentenced Drewett to one year and nine months jail.

“You deliberately removed the shell casing in an attempt to discredit the victims of the shooting and to distance yourself and your co-accused from that offending,” she said.

Drewett was ordered to serve the sentence on an intensive correction order, with supervision.