Farmer wins court fight over stolen rifle to keep his record clean

Well-known farmer Ian Jenkin’s rifle was stolen – but he was charged and convicted for not securing it. He took his fight all the way to the Supreme Court.

Mallala farmer Ian Jenkin.

A well-known Adelaide Plains farmer has won a Supreme Court fight to have a conviction for an inadvertent firearms offence quashed.

Respected Mallala community leader Ian Jenkin said it had cost him “a considerable sum of money’’ to ensure his unblemished record was retained.

“I told them the truth from the outset and I got slammed for it,’’ he said on Monday.

“This should not have happened and I hope no-one else in my situation has to go through this.’’

Mr Jenkin was charged by police for not securing a rifle on his property after he reported it stolen during a break-in last year. He had been using the registered .22 rifle to control vermin and had placed it next to his gun safe, intending to secure it after he had finished using it.

However, he had left his property on business for several hours and when he returned found the shed, which he had locked, had been broken into and the unloaded rifle and numerous power tools stolen.

Mr Jenkin, who has an unblemished criminal history, immediately reported the break-in and while the culprits for that have not been apprehended, he was subsequently charged with breaching the Firearms Act for not securing his rifle.

In Elizabeth Magistrates Court last November Mr Jenkin was fined $600 and $751 court costs after pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity to one count of contravening the Firearms Act.

In sentencing, lawyers acting for Mr Jenkin, 55, asked Magistrate Christopher Smolicz to use his discretionary powers under the Sentencing Act to impose a penalty without recording a conviction, but Magistrate Smolicz declined.

Mr Jenkin’s lawyers then launched a Supreme Court appeal against that decision, with the only ground that Magistrate Smolicz erred in declining to exercise his discretion.

Supreme Court Justice Julie McIntyre.

In granting Mr Jenkin’s appeal and quashing his recorded conviction, Justice Julie McIntyre said “a combination of all of the factors’’ provided a good reason for not recording a conviction.

“The circumstances pointed to in this matter were extenuating. Whether they warranted the exercise of the discretion is another issue but, plainly, the discretion was enlivened,’’ Justice McIntrye said.

“The question is whether the appellant’s age; his unblemished criminal record; his otherwise good character and the circumstances of the offending provide a good reason for not recording a conviction.

“The discretion not to impose a conviction will be infrequently exercised in regulatory offences such as this.’’

Mr Jenkin on Monday said he felt he had been harshly treated simply for being honest to police when the rifle was stolen.

“It was a .22 rifle, not an assault rifle but that isn’t the way it was looked at. They were more interested in pinching me for an innocent mistake than finding out who stole the rifle and my tools,’’ he said.

“There is some sort of disconnect between the city and country when this can happen. I don’t think this type of thing would have happened 40 years ago.’’

Mr Jenkin said he was still attempting to recover four other firearms use on his farm – a shotgun, another .22 rifle, an air rifle and a .243 calibre rifle – that were seized by police when he was charged.

“I am still waiting to get them back. I need them,’’ he said.