Simon Russell: Eastwood man caught with homemade taser at Parramatta

When a father-of-four spotted police near a western Sydney shopping centre, he hastily tried to walk away. When he was stopped and his searched, police uncovered a 25cm homemade taser.

Just months after being busted with drugs, police stopped a father-of-four with a history of being sprung with “strange and odd” weapons and noticed a large heavy object tucked away in his backpack — an object which turned out to be a 25cm homemade taser.

Eastwood man Simon Russell, 48, appeared before Hornsby Local Court on Wednesday where he was convicted of drug possession, possessing a prohibited weapon without permit and having goods in personal custody suspected of being stolen.

These convictions arose from two separate incidents where Russell’s actions aroused the suspicion of the police, court documents reveal.

The first stemmed from a night out at Hornsby Inn’s gaming lounge, in late 2021.

According to documents tendered to Hornsby Local Court, Russell asked the inn’s staff a series of questions, including “what time are the police coming?”, “have the police come through here yet?”, “how often do the police come through” and “do the police bring a sniffer dog through here?”.

Simon Russell leaving Hornsby Local Court. Picture: Odessa Blain.

Police arrived at the inn just after 11pm when staff alerted them to Russell’s barrage of questions, a court heard.

After searching Russell’s bag, police found 2.5g of marijuana and a small brown ice pipe, the court heard.

Months later, on February 3, Russell came to the attention of police on patrol again when he was walking through Parramatta's Centenary Square, a court heard.

“Looking in the police direction, Russell exhibited a noticeable increase in the pace he was walking,” agreed police facts state.

After stopping Russell outside Parramatta Westfield, police searched his large backpack, discovering a Samsung protective case and adaptor, a court heard.

Simon Russell.

“Police continued the search and could feel a large heavy object in a separate pocket … (here they) located a 25cm object with electrical devices tapped to it which appeared to be a homemade taser device,” agreed police facts state.

A court heard Russell “rolled his eyes” when police located the taser, and later testing of the power button revealed it was a fully functioning electrical device.

“Once arrested, Russell denied any knowledge of the device stating he borrowed the backpack from a friend,” court documents state.

But in Hornsby Local Court, Russell’s lawyer Ms Meredith said her client would now plead guilty to possessing the taser.

The court also heard the 48-year-old had a lengthy criminal history dating back to the early 1990s and had served a number of custodial sentences in the past.

Russell has been sprung with “strange and odd” weapons in the past, especially knives, the court heard.

But Ms Meredith told the court her client also suffered significant childhood trauma and, around the time of these offences, both his wife and mother passed away.

Magistrate Leanne Robinson said although Russell “has a really lengthy criminal history in a number of states”, there were extenuating circumstances in these matters and the birth of his first grandchild should give him something to look forward to.

For his offences, Russell was convicted and sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order.