Voicemail embroiled young man in ‘evil, terrifying’ drive-by shooting

A young man charged with being an accessory after the fact of a Brisbane drive-by shooting has been ordered to take a drug test before a judge will sentence him.

Caleb Dennis Foote leaves Brisbane District Court. Picture, John Gass

A single voicemail message landed a young man in a whole heap of trouble, charged as an accessory to an “evil and terrifying” drive-by shooting in suburban Brisbane, a court heard.

But on what was supposed to be the man’s day of reckoning, the sentencing judge deferred the case for a week and ordered the man get a fresh drug test to show he is still clean.

Caleb Dennis Foote pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to acts intended to maim and was due to be sentenced in Brisbane District Court on Thursday.

He was connected to a drive-by shooting on Ray St in Carseldine on Brisbane’s northside which occurred just after midnight on April 27, 2022.

Crown Prosecutor Hamish McIntyre said several shots were fired from a ute into a two-storey house, using a sawn-off double-barrelled shotgun.

At least one shot was aimed at and hit an upstairs bedroom. The house’s occupants – including children – were home at the time.

“Thankfully no one was physically harmed, but it is really through luck rather than any by any sort of design,” Mr McIntyre told the court on Thursday.

A home was sprayed with bullets in a dramatic drive-by shooting in Carseldine. Pics Tara Croser.

The shooter was Trent Leonard John Kunde and he was sentenced to five-and-a-half-years’ jail. The unnamed getaway driver has also since been sentenced to five years behind bars.

Foote, who was 23 at the time, became entangled in the crime several hours after the fact.

The shooter, getaway driver and several other men – including Foote – met and during this meeting the full details of the shooting were disclosed.

Later that day, the driver messaged Foote on Facebook saying he was worried that the police were coming for him. Fifteen minutes later, Foote left the driver a voicemail.

“It is that voicemail that forms the subject of the charge,” Mr McIntyre told the court.

“He gave him effectively advice on strategy to employ to avoid the police locating him, which had to do with saying a false version – that a man of Sudanese appearance had taken the ute that was used in the offence some weeks ago.

“He [Foote] then tells him to delete the message once he has listened to it.”

Mr McIntyre conceded that the assistance Foote gave the getaway driver was “relatively minor”, but emphasised that Foote did so “knowing the full details” of the shooting.

Defence barrister Matt Jackson, representing Foote, conceded the shooting was an “evil” and “terrifying” act.

“I accept without reservation that the primary offending was no doubt evil and no doubt terrifying for the owners of the house,” he told the court.

Bullet holes in the home. Pics Tara Croser.

Mr Jackson described Foote’s decision to respond to the driver’s message as “utterly foolish”.

But Mr Jackson said his client had no prior knowledge of the shooting and said there was no evidence that Foote’s advice to the getaway driver made any difference.

“What he [Foote] simply does is give the most obvious response [to the driver] in the circumstances – how about you tell police that the car you used was stolen and that it was stolen sometime before the offending?” Mr Jackson said.

“There were no grave consequences and no detrimental impact on the police investigation … it can’t be said that [the driver] actually acted upon the advice.

“[The driver] had actually already taken steps to dispose of the gun before he messaged my client on Facebook.”

Mr Jackson said his client had been on strict bail conditions ever since, including submitting to a drug test whenever police asked.

He added that Foote had completed a four-month rehab program for drug and alcohol use last year, and otherwise had no previous recorded criminal convictions.

Judge Nathan Jarro ordered Foote to get a fresh drug test done to show he remains methamphetamine free. The sentencing was adjourned to October 4.