Donna Sell pleads guilty to discharging a firearm after northern suburbs brawl

A mother who learnt during her brutal kidnapping that firing a gun is the best way to scare someone decided to take the same approach during a violent feud.

A mother-of-two who fired a gun after a violent brawl said she was “sending a message” to leave her and her partner alone.

Donna Maree Sell, 38, took the law into her own hands after believing shooting a gun was the best way to diffuse a feud.

A violent brawl kicked off between two groups at an Elizabeth Vale house on January 21, 2022.

Sell’s partner at the time, Andrew Goulding entered the property yelling “come on, you fat f***,” before using a baseball bat to smash windows of a car in the driveway.

Another man then smashed the car windscreen with a paver, while Sell and two other people also walked onto the property.

Three people then exited the house, holding a hammer and metal pole.

Andrew Goulding and Donna Sell. Picture: Facebook

Sell threw a can at a person during the affray, which didn’t hit him.

Goulding was struck with a pole in the brawl, which broke his arm and he was taken to hospital.

Police allege some of the group reattended the Elizabeth Vale house shortly after they left.

Sell can then be seen on CCTV holding a shotgun which she fired into the garage door.

A daylight shootout between speeding cars on heavily populated Main North Rd followed – which Sell isn’t charged with.

Sell pleaded guilty to aggravated affray, discharging a firearm intending to damage property and possessing a prescribed firearm, namely a loaded sawn off shotgun.

Goulding, of Smithfield, pleaded guilty to property damage and affray and was handed a suspended sentence.

Andrew Goulding dodged immediate jail for the northern suburbs brawl. Photo: Facebook

Donna Sell will be sentenced at a later date. Photo: Facebook

Chris Pouras, for Sell, told the court there was a home invasion at his client’s home in 2021.

“In that home invasion incident Mr Goulding had sustained multiple stab wounds to his chest,” he said.

Mr Pouras said Goulding required emergency surgery and he was pronounced clinically dead at one point.

The court heard the same person Sell believed was responsible for the home invasion then allegedly ran Goulding off the road on the day of the offending.

Mr Pouras said Sell and Goulding then rounded up a crew to retaliate, with Sell firing the gun at the garage to “send a message”.

The court heard Sell was a heavy user of methamphetamine at the time and in a highly emotional state.

Mr Pouras told the court Sell was kidnapped and held captive for eight days in 2013 over a drug her former partner owned.

Her partner who was in custody organised outlaw motorcycle gang members to attend where Sell was being held captive to “shoot the house up” so she could be released.

“Following that shooting, Ms Sell’s captors released her and she discerned from this that her captors had been frightened off by the shooting,” Mr Pouras said.

“What Ms Sell took from this incident is that the discharge of a firearm can sometimes have the desired effect of sending a strong message.”

Mr Pouras pushed for a home detention sentence, saying Sell was extremely remorseful for the offending and had since ended her relationship with Goulding and stopped using drugs.

Sell will be sentenced at a later date.

Originally published as Donna Sell pleads guilty to discharging a firearm after northern suburbs brawl