Matthew Koch pleaded guilty to dangerous conduct with a weapon and possessing dangerous drugs

Police interviewed the driver who was visibly shaking after his ordeal at a caravan park.

Matthew Koch, 46, pleaded guilty to dangerous conduct with a weapon after waving a pistol-shaped gel blaster in the direction of a horrified pizza delivery driver.

A man who left a pizza delivery driver visibly shaken after threatening him with a gel blaster appeared in Gladstone Magistrates Court on Friday.

Matthew Koch, 46, pleaded guilty to dangerous conduct with a weapon and possessing dangerous drugs.

Prosecutor Senior Constable Carl Spargo outlined the facts of Koch’s case to Magistrate Bevan Manthey.

On June 4, around 7.10pm, the informant, a pizza delivery driver, attended a site at the Discovery Caravan Park, Tannum Sands to deliver an order.

Upon his arrival the driver observed a small tent near the front of the site and detected movement from within it.

He crouched down in the entrance of the tent in order to deliver the pizza and observed Koch and another man inside the tent.

The driver observed Koch, who appeared to be drunk, waving and pointing a gel blaster in the shape of a semiautomatic pistol in his direction.

A court heard Koch’s conduct with the object made the driver fearful Koch may shoot him, as the muzzle was pointed directly at him.

Koch was pushed to one side by the second man in the tent, who then paid for the pizza before the driver returned to the Domino’s store and contacted police.

The driver told police the weapon looked realistic and he could not tell if it was a replica or functioning firearm.

Police attended Koch’s site at the park and spoke with him and other occupants of the camp site.

He initially claimed no responsibility for the police response, placing all the blame on a foreign national that had been sharing the site with them.

Further questioning revealed Koch admitted to attempting to remove a screw in the firearm when the driver attended.

Police subsequently located and seized a gel blaster in a caravan on the site.

The gel blaster was observed to be shaped like a large semiautomatic pistol. It also appeared to be extremely similar to a firearm capable of firing actual bullets.

Magistrate Bevan Manthey convicted and sentenced Koch to four months prison, wholly suspended for one year. Convictions were recorded.