Westmead: Lesley Hawkins kept drugs, weapons in home

A mum of three kept drugs and weapons, including a Taser and firearms, in her western Sydney home.

Lesley Hawkins has been sentenced for multiple drug and weapon charges.

Mum-of-three Lesley Hawkins kept drugs and weapons, including explosives and a Taser, strewn around her former Westmead home, court documents reveal.

The 29-year-old stay-at-home mum was charged after police seized weapons including a genuine firearm, imitation pistol, Taser and cartridges, flip knives, 54g of cannabis from the Great Western Highway home on November 19 last year.

On Wednesday, Hawkins appeared in Parramatta Local Court where she pleaded guilty to a raft of offences including five counts of possessing or using a prohibited weapon without a permit, possessing an unauthorised pistol, two counts of possessing a prohibited drug and possessing ammunition, and concealing a serious indictable offence.

Court papers reveal police swooped on the property as part of a separate strike force investigation.

No one was initially home when police started the search but Hawkins pulled up at the address during the raid in a rebirthed blue Subaru WRX — which police later revealed was stolen.

Police facts tendered to the court reveal a Taser was found inside the driver’s door, which Hawkins told police she bought for $30.

“It’s mine, I had it there in case I got scared,’’ she said.

Lesley Hawkins with her lawyer Anthony Shaw at a court hearing last month.

During the search, investigators seized 0.39g of methylamphetamine in a Louis Vuitton shoulder bag in the main bedroom, and small amounts of heroin and MDMA.

The replica gun that contained five ammunition rounds in the magazine was found in the bedroom’s TV unit, while a firearm application and St Marys Pistol Club membership card were found under Hawkins’s name.

Express post packages containing two Tasers and cartridges in the back shed, and identification cards in other people’s names were also found.

Hawkins, who now lives at Auburn, admitted to owning the cannabis on the TV unit and bedside table in the main bedroom but not cannabis found elsewhere in the house or other drugs in the bedroom.

On Wednesday, Hawkins’s lawyer Anthony Shaw told Parramatta Local Court that she suffered low self esteem after being subjected to family and domestic violence most of her life, which made her submissive and led to her involvement in criminal activity to avoid confrontation.

He told the court there was no evidence to suggest his client used or planned to use the firearms or weapons.

Magistrate Jennifer Price warned her that despite the pistol being a replica, it could have posed a serious threat.

“Even though it was an imitation firearm, there’s always the capacity to use these items improperly and, bearing in mind it wasn’t secured, there’s always a degree that even if you don’t use the firearm, someone else might,’’ she said.

Magistrate Price told Hawkins she came close to going to jail and was concerned the drugs and weapons were easily accessible to family members.

“What you have hanging on your head now is effectively a suspended prison sentence,’’ she said.

“There’s a lot hanging on it. These children need you and need a very present, involved, committed mother.’’

Hawkins was convicted and sentenced to a 12-month intensive correction order for the offences. She must abstain from drugs and participate in a rehabilitation program.

MORE NEWS

Merrylands: Extra units at Dressler Court rejected, Hilltop Rd childcare centre on hold

Sydney bikie gangs: Underworld turf wars claim lives on Sydney streets