West Gosford: Alex Green faces court over loaded pistol, drug offences

A 19-year-old said he was so paranoid about selling drugs to pay off a $40,000 debt he taped up power points in his house because he thought they were listening devices, a court has heard.

A baby-faced drug dealer, who was found with cash, drugs and a loaded pistol under the seat of his car during a vehicle stop at West Gosford, has told a court he was so paranoid he thought he was going to be kidnapped any day.

Alex Green, now aged 21, of Umina Beach, took the witness stand to give evidence in his sentence hearing at Gosford District Court on Friday after pleading guilty to possessing more than three firearms, two counts of failing to keep guns safely, possessing ammunition and the ongoing supply of prohibited drugs.

The court heard Green was driving a Subaru Impreza when he was stopped shortly before 2am on February 11 last year on Moore St, West Gosford.

During a subsequent search of the vehicle police located a loaded pistol underneath the driver’s seat, along with cannabis, MDMA and cash.

Alex Green, then aged 19, of Umina Beach was stopped by police on Moore St at West Gosford and allegedly had a loaded pistol under the seat of his car. Picture: Google

The court heard just three weeks earlier Green had been sentenced to a community corrections order for supplying drugs and being in custody of a knife in public.

Green told his sentence hearing he grew up surrounded by drugs and violence before starting to smoke cannabis aged 13.

“I started smoking pot after school,” he said. “Then it was every day, before school. It was my escape from my troubled learning. Drugs became a daily thing for me.”

In Year 8 he started using MDMA and was kicked out of home by 16 before he “graduated” to cocaine and speed at the age of 17 and 18.

“It got to a point where I couldn’t afford drugs and I ended up in debt,” he said.

Green told the court he owed one man $40,000 and another $8000. He said he started to supply drugs as a way to pay off his debt.

“I would promise them the world … I would keep running the bills up,” he said.

The loaded pistol Green had stashed under the driver’s seat of his car. Picture: NSW Police

Green told the court he was given “a bag of guns” and ordered to rent a self storage shed in exchange for paying off a further $200 a week off his debts.

Green said he was using a lot of drugs at the time and was “so paranoid” he began taping up the power points in his house because he thought people were putting listening devices in them.

When asked why he had a pistol in his car on the night of his arrest, he said he was given it by the man he was supplying drugs for.

“I was told someone else I owed money to was coming after me and the pistol was to scare them off. It was over an $8000 drug debt and I was told I was going to get kidnapped.”

However Green told the court he believed his debt would be wiped by the time he got out of prison because he never “gave up” the man he owed despite having plenty of opportunity while in custody.

His solicitor told the court Green would ultimately be seeking an intensive corrections order, an alternative to full-time custody.

However the Crown prosecutor told the court Green’s claims he was given a bag of four guns to look after “was so unlikely” it could not be believed and he had actively sought out a pistol for his own protection.

The Crown prosecutor said Green never bothered to check if it was loaded and had he pulled it on someone it “could have been a different case altogether”.

Green was adjourned to July 8.