SA court told crimes of gun-running drug dealer Clifford James Schloithe like events leading up to murder of Lewis McPherson
EXCLUSIVE: A drug dealer purchased an arsenal of 33 guns and almost 600 bullets from a teenage client in a crime that mirrors the murder of Lewis McPherson, a court has heard.
A DRUG dealer purchased an arsenal of 33 guns and almost 600 bullets from a teenage client in a crime that mirrors the murder of Lewis McPherson, a court has heard.
Prosecutors have urged the District Court to jail Clifford James Schloithe, saying offenders like him make it possible for “unsavoury” people to access illegal firearms.
They compared his crimes to those of Charles Alexander Cullen, who supplied drunk, drugged murderer Liam Humbles with the gun used to kill Mr McPherson on New Year’s Eve, 2013.
Charles Wright, prosecuting, said the potential consequences of Schloithe’s actions were catastrophic.
“Cullen sold Humbles drugs and this case is a similar sort of situation — the association between Schloithe and (the youth) was marijuana,” he said.
“The case of Cullen illustrates the tragic consequences when firearms are trafficked to unsavoury individuals who should not possess firearms at all.”
In November last year, The Advertiser revealed Schloithe’s co-accused was being sentenced, in the Youth Court, for gun-running and arms trafficking.
The youth, 17, admitted he and Schloithe stole his father’s legally-owned and stored collection of 33 firearms and ammunition between August 8 and 19, 2014.
He said he had agreed to sell the collection of pistols, rifles and shotguns to Schloithe, and had received $500 and a “substantial” amount of cannabis.
Despite extensive investigations, SA Police have been unable to recover 18 of those weapons.
Senior Judge Stephen McEwen ordered the youth to serve a month’s detention and a two-year good behaviour bond.
He said he was “astonished” the state’s firearms laws permit people to “congregate an armoury” in their homes.
One month earlier, the State Government announced new laws that would see illegal gun dealers sentenced as accessories to the crimes committed by the weapons they sell.
Those laws were prompted by Humbles’ murder of Mr McPherson with a gun supplied to him by Cullen, who was also his drug dealer.
SPECIAL REPORT: THE NEW VILLAINS OF SA CRIME
Humbles is serving a minimum 24-year term while Cullen was jailed for eight years.
SPECIAL REPORT: SA POLICE “KNEW HUMBLES WAS ARMED 191 DAYS BEFORE MURDER”
Schloithe, 32, of Andrews Farm, pleaded guilty to a raft of charges including 29 counts of supplying a firearm to a person not authorised to possess a weapon.
Today, Mr Wright told the District Court that Schloithe’s case was “a similar scenario” to that of Cullen, Humbles and Mr McPherson.
“The difference is this man supplied drugs to the youth, and the youth supplied the weapons to his dealer,” he said.
“They both went about stealing the collection, but Schloithe was the one who supplied some 29 of the firearms to the broader community.
“Of those, 15 were recovered by 18 still remain in the community, which is a very serious matter.”
Martin Anders, SC, for Schloithe, said there “was no denying” the similarities between the cases but insisted they were actually “readily distinguishable”.
“Cullen was a supplier of guns on an ongoing basis, not someone who opportunistically accessed a collection,” he said.
“Cullen was aware that the person to whom he was supplying the firearms was very aggressive, violent and ‘off the rails’ — that’s not the circumstances that attend this matter.”
Judge Michael Boylan remanded Schloithe on continuing bail for sentencing next month.