Brock Buchanan Watson sentenced for unauthorised firearms, ammunition in Caringbah apartment
An unemployed man had two firearms and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition stored in boxes labelled “GUNN” and “air blaster” inside his south Sydney home, a court has heard.
St George Shire Standard
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An unemployed south Sydney man had two firearms and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition stored in boxes labelled “GUNN” and “air blaster,” court has heard.
Brock Buchanan Watson, 43, was sentenced in Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to two counts of possessing an unauthorised firearm, two counts of not storing those firearms safely, and one count of possessing ammunition without a licence.
It comes after police visited Watson’s Caringbah apartment on June 16 for an entirely separate matter when they quickly turned on their body cams and established a crime scene.
The court heard Watson was asked if he had anything to declare before the search began, at which point he confessed to having two gel blaster firearms in his home.
Court documents state Watson pointed to the kitchen cupboard where a Glock replica 9x19 gel blaster was hidden above the kitchen sink, next to a magazine of ammunition.
On top of the Glock case, police found an Adidas shoebox with the words “air blaster” written on it in black pen.
Court documents state that the box contained ten bags of Tac Toys branded gel balls containing 10,000 rounds per bag.
Police also found two bags of hobby branded gel balls containing 90g of ammunition each and two cans of air rifle gas cans.
Watson then pointed to the bedroom where police found an unbranded, black assault style gel blaster rifle inside a box labelled “GUNN,” according to court documents.
Drug paraphernalia and drug implements were also located across his apartment. However, court documents state Watson has not been charged with these matters as they await investigation.
In court on Thursday, Watson’s defence lawyer submitted his client did not have the firearms and ammunition for “any suspicious reasons”.
His client, the court heard, was currently unemployed and receiving $400 fortnightly Centrelink payments which partly went towards child support.
The defence lawyer submitted Watson also made full admissions in a police interview to purchasing the gel blasters and ammo from Queensland.
Despite his guilty pleas, Magistrate Stewart Philip said he would not “underplay the seriousness” of gun ownership – even in cases when it is allegedly “not intended for use”.
He took particular issue with the fear Watson could have caused in the community given his gel blasters were designed to look “near identical” to genuine guns.
“These could have caused harm to the person (they were) pointed at, these could have caused harm in the community,” Mr Stewart said.
In delivering his Judgement, the magistrate warned Watson about how his firearm ownership “might be viewed by people in the community”.
He sentenced Watson to 10-months imprisonment to be served via intensive correction in the community.
He also ordered Watson to forfeit his weapons, abstain from drugs, and attend drug rehabilitation.
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