Desmond Fowler jailed for three years after pointing a handgun at his neighbour

A man with bikie links has been jailed after he told his neighbour he was going to shoot him in an “total over-reaction” to a escalating feud.

A man with bikie links pointed a handgun at his neighbour and told him he was going to shoot him in a “total and utter over-reaction”.
Desmond Fowler, 48, was jailed for over three years for his “unacceptably thuggish” violence while motivated to protect his wife.

During sentencing, the District Court heard Fowler and his wife were having problems with their next-door neighbour while living in the Mid North.

On October 11, 2023 the neighbour was having breakfast with his wife in their backyard when he heard Fowler mumbling to himself.

“(The victim) asked if you were talking to him, to which you responded ‘Yeah, I’m f***ing talking to you. You have caused me enough trouble’,” Judge Carmen Matteo said.

Desmond Fowler has been jailed for three years after pointing a handgun at his neighbour.

“You approached the fence line, pointed a handgun at (the victim) over the fence and said, ‘I’m going to shoot you’.”

The court heard CCTV footage showed the victim cowering and recoiling in the face of the firearm which Fowler pointed directly at him.

“Your action was brief, but still objectively terrifying,” Judge Matteo said.

The victim and his wife ran inside and called the police.

Fowler pleaded guilty to multiple offences, including possessing a firearm and threatening to cause harm.

In his victim impact statement, the victim said Fowler’s conduct caused him to experience an extreme level of fear and terror.

“He has lost the feeling of safety and security in his own home and lives with a constant level of anxiety,” Judge Matteo said.

The court heard in the months prior to the offending the victim’s mental health had been in decline, manifesting in him rambling to Fowler’s wife about a cult which was attempting to harm him.

Fowler asked the victim to stop speaking to his wife because she was frightened, however the interactions continued.

Judge Matteo said while she accepted Fowler’s conduct was motivated by an overzealous instinct to protect his wife it was a “total and utter over-reaction”.

The court heard Fowler showed some talent as a boxer before he turned to a life of drugs and crime, including previously been jailed for a violent home invasion.

The court heard Fowler told a psychologist that his involvement with an outlaw motorcycle gangs and attempts on his life led to him having to live life on the run.

Judge Matteo sentenced Fowler to three years and six months jail, with a non-parole period of two years and nine months.

“The offences which you committed were very serious indeed and while they may have been justified to you in the moment, they involved you in engaging in behaviour which was inherently dangerous and unacceptably thuggish,” she said.

The sentence was backdated to November 4, 2023.

Originally published as Desmond Fowler jailed for three years after pointing a handgun at his neighbour