Mark and Adam Barford face the District Court over gun wrapped as Christmas present and hidden in a toilet
A loaded weapon wrapped as a Christmas present was not exactly a convenient way of defending a drug stash, a court has heard.
Police & Courts
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A loaded handgun wrapped in a sock, stored in a tupperware container, placed in a box and encassed in Christmas wrapping paper was not exactly a convenient way of defending a drug stash, a court has heard.
Descendants bikie Mark Barford told his son Adam to hide the gun after police came knocking at their front door On December 14, 2019.
Adam Barford, then 19, was found trying to stuff the firearm, still wrapped in a sock in the S-bend of a toilet.
Adam Barford was charged with assisting an offender after trying to hid the gun at his father’s command while Mark Barford was charged with possessing the firearm as well as trafficking in 67g of methylamphetamine.
Both pleaded guilty to the charges.
Nick Vadasz, acting for both father and son, said Mark Barford had been using a spoonful of methamphetamine in his tea along with sugar each morning in an attempt to address his health issues.
The firearm, Mr Vadasz said, had not been used in connection with the drugs and had been stored under the family Christmas tree for a completely separate reason.
“The gun was triple wrapped under the Christmas tree and the drugs were found in a completely different place,” he told Judge Joanne Tracey.
“I find it difficult to imagine that the firearm was to be used in the course of trafficking.
“It would have to be a situation where there is a knock on the front door by some customers with machetes and they want the drugs and Mark Barford says ‘hang on a minute, I’ll just check under the Christmas tree and see if Santa left me a firearm to shoot you with’.”
The court previously heard that both Barfords had been in a serious accident while on their motorbikes.
The pair had been riding near Alice Springs when Adam Barford crashed off the road and down a slope trying to avoid a cow on the road.
Mark Barford witnessed the crash and thought his son had died.
In his haste to get down the slope to his son, he fell and seriously injured his knee.
The court heard that in the aftermath of the crash Mark Barford’s physical and mental health had suffered.
Prosecutor Taryn Amos said Adam Barford had no criminal history but that the serious offending carried a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.
She told the court the crime warranted imprisonment but that there was no opposition to suspending the sentence.
Mr Vadasz asked the court to show mercy to his client whose “only crime was that he obeyed his father”.
“He took 20 steps from his bedroom to the Christmas tree to do what he was told,” he said.
Adam Barford will be sentenced in December while negotiations continue about the nature of Mark Barford’s ownership of the firearm.
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