Junming Zhou enters plea after allegedly carrying guns in Bundeena

A man dressed in camouflage was allegedly carrying fake guns in the Royal National Park to practice his fighting skills in military exercises before heading to the Ukrainian war.

A man claims he was suffering from mental illness when he allegedly carried fake guns to do “military exercises” in a Royal National Park town earlier this year.

Junming Zhou, 32, was dressed in camouflage when he was arrested in August after police were called to Bundeena after reports he was carrying guns in the street about 3.50pm.

Zhou faced Sutherland Local Court on Monday, where he entered pleas of not guilty to a series of charges related to the incident.

The Kensington man applied to have the charges dealt with under the Mental Health Act rather than criminal law.

The police statement of facts detailed in court during a previous bail application indicated Zhou was in the Royal National Park about 3.50pm, allegedly conducting military exercises with gel blasters before he jumped out in front of a woman.

Junming Zhou was released on bail after he allegedly had gel blaster guns in Bundeena in the Royal National Park on August and was doing "military exercises". Picture: Ashleigh Tullis

The court heard that Zhou allegedly said, “it was a drill” to a woman. It is understood he told police he was training to fight in the Ukraine war.

A video of Zhou being arrested and posted to social media shows he was dressed in a camouflage jacket.

A witness in the video said she saw him with a military helmet and taking photos of himself, and the firearm “looked pretty real to me”.

The court heard Zhou made “full admissions” to possessing the firearms, the court previously heard.

Zhou was charged with not keeping a firearm safely; possessing an unregistered firearm; possessing a prohibited weapon in a nature reserve, and possessing ammunition for a firearm without holding a licence or permit for a firearm or ammunition.

He was also charged with possessing a loaded firearm in a public place and possessing an unregistered firearm.

In charge sheet documents tendered to the court, the firearms were specified to be gel blasters.

In NSW, possessing or using gel blasters without a valid permit is illegal. However, they are legal in Queensland.

On Monday, the court heard imitation firearms Zhou had were accepted to fall under the legislation and would not be an issue at the hearing.

Junming Zhou has pleaded not guilty to all the firearms charges. Picture: Ashleigh Tullis

Following his arrest, a psychiatrist assessed Zhou and determined he had no mental health issues. He was released from the hospital as he was not considered a risk to the community, the court previously heard.

He successfully applied for bail.

The court previously heard Zhou was a highly educated man who was in Australia on a student visa and was studying for his masters at the University of New South Wales.

Magistrate Stewart said Zhou had no criminal history and was seeing a psychologist for depression and a sleep disorder, the court previously heard.

Magistrate Phillip Stewart agreed to grant bail imposing the condition that Zhou must live at his home in Kensington, report to police once a week, attend psychologist appointments and surrender his passport within 48 hours of being released.

Zhou cannot possess any real, replica, gel blaster or toy firearm.

However, on Monday, he appeared via audiovisual link from custody after he was arrested on the weekend and charged with resisting an officer in the execution of their duty, intimidating a police officer and assaulting a police officer.

Zhou will appear in Waverley Local Court on Tuesday for those matters.

His mental health application will be heard on March 8. Zhou will undergo a mental health assessment for a report to be prepared.