Tia Webber from Port Macquarie sentenced for gun and drug offences

A Mid-North Coast woman who was found with a trove of guns, ammunition and drugs, while heavily pregnant, has learnt her fate.

Tia Webber was sentenced at Port Macquarie Courthouse.

A Mid-North Coast woman who helped conceal a serious indictable offence while heavily pregnant, and dealt with the proceeds of crime, has avoided time behind bars.

Tia Webber appeared before Port Macquarie Local Court on January 11 to be sentenced on charges of possessshortened firearm (not pistol) without authority, possess unauthorised pistol, possess ammunition without holding licence, deal with property proceeds of crime less than $100,000, conceal serious indictable offence, drive vehicle with an illicit drug present in blood and possess a prohibited drug.

Webber had pleaded guilty to driving with illicit drugs in her system as well as possession of two grams of cocaine.

She was found guilty of the remaining charges during a hearing in November 2022.

CCTV footage, shown in court during her hearing, showed Webber pointing a blunt object into the chest of a man during a verbal altercation outside her Dahlsford Dr home in Port Macquarie on November 17, 2021.

The charges concerning weapons and crime proceeds relate to a police raid at the same share house on November 30.

When police arrived at the home Webber didn’t answer, calling out to officers claiming she was showering.

Tia Webber leaving court last year.

Officers entered the home through the unlocked front door and found Webber standing near the laundry.

“It was obvious Webber had not been showering as previously stated,” Sen Cons Ulherr said in a statement.

A systematic room-by-room search followed, with police finding two .22 calibre rounds of ammunition and a Tupperware container holding the two grams of cocaine.

Webber confessed the drugs were hers but claimed to have no knowledge of the ammunition.

“Police located a number of items of great interest immediately over the low fence outside the laundry … the located items appeared dry, clean and not affected by recent wet weather,” Detective Sergeant Lonita Shaw said in a statement tendered to court during the hearing.

Phones, SIM cards, documents, a handbag, a carry bag with multiple .22 calibre rounds of ammunition, a large amount of needles, a vial of steroids, scales, fake IDs, and other drug paraphernalia were discovered in the scrub.

A green Everlast duffel bag containing a pistol and a sawn-off semiautomatic .22 calibre rifle was also found nearby, strategically hidden under a roll of garden mesh fencing.

Webber has avoided jail over drug and weapons offences.

Other items including cash and a diary were also located.

Magistrate Georgina Darcy said the “facts as a whole”, and Webber’s lies to police, meant her version of events would “carry little weight” in determining the ultimate truth.

For possessing a shortened firearm (not pistol), possess an unauthorised pistol and concealing a serious indictable offence, Webber was convicted and given a two-year community corrections order starting on January 11.

For possessing ammunition without holding a licence/permit/authority and possessing a prohibited drug she was convicted but no penalty imposed.

For dealing with property proceeds of crime less than $100,000 and drive vehicle, illicit drug present in blood etc she was ordered to serve a 12-month community corrections order.