Dallas Davy-Netto: South Grafton man on firearm charges in bizarre legal stoush with police

A Clarence Valley man charged over an alleged collection of firearms will have his legal bills picked up by police after a bizarre chain of events which derailed his day in court.

A Clarence Valley man accused of possessing more than a dozen firearms will have his legal bills picked up by police after a bizarre double backflip on his charges derailed his day in court.

Dallas Davy-Netto, 25, was first charged with 18 counts of possessing prohibited firearms in August 2021 after police allegedly found 18 gel blasters at his South Grafton address while investigating a separate offence.

Gel blasters are legal in other parts of Australia but are classed as prohibited firearms in NSW.

Mr Davy-Netto was set to fight the charges at a hearing in June – before police backflipped, withdrawing the 18 charges and charging him with one all-encompassing offence.

In an extraordinary turn of events, police backflipped yet again – withdrawing the more serious singular charge, and once more laying 18 offences to proceed in the local court.

NSW Police will now have to pay Mr Davy-Netto’s legal bills after a magistrate found he had proved it was “reasonable” to award him costs owing to the exceptional circumstances.

Dallas Davy-Netto.

The court heard Mr Davy-Netto had pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of possessing prohibited firearms related to the alleged collection of gel blasters at Grafton Local Court on December 13 last year.

His local court hearing was scheduled that day to proceed at the same court on June 15 this year before a NSW Police prosecutor withdrew all 18 offences on June 1, and instead laid a charge of possessing more than three unregistered firearms, of which one was prohibited.

That all-encompassing charge is a strictly indictable offence that can only proceed in the NSW District Court, rendering the local court hearing futile.

But in recent weeks, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has withdrawn the strictly indictable charge, with NSW Police once again electing to proceed on 18 individual charges.

The new charges include 11 counts of possessing a prohibited firearm, six counts of possessing a prohibited pistol, and one count of possessing ammunition without a licence.

In court, Mr Davy-Netto’s counsel had argued he was entitled to costs because the prosecution was conducted improperly, that they had failed to adequately investigate the matters and the circumstances of his prosecution were exceptional.

Magistrate Kathy Crittenden dismissed claims the prosecution was conducted improperly or inadequately but found the bizarre circumstances of the prosecution in which the charges were laid, withdrawn, and laid again were sufficiently exceptional to warrant costs being awarded.

“It would be expected, noting that the hearing was booked on December 13 last year, that arrangements would be made to instruct legal representatives long before June 1 this year (when the charges were withdrawn),” Ms Crittenden said.

“There’s been no clear explanation as to why consideration was only given to the laying of an additional charge which encompasses the 18 charges on June 1 this year.”

Mr Davy-Netto had initially sought for legal costs of $10,969 to be paid by NSW Police.

The itemised accounts will be reviewed by his solicitor Brett Marshall and NSW Police before an amount is determined by Ms Crittenden at Grafton Local Court on October 11.