Dylan Gee sentenced over shooting of Scott Papworth at Aberglasslyn

It was a chance meeting inside a pub which led to three men deciding it was time to have a talk with a fellow crook. What happened next led to one man in intensive care and his three attackers facing serious charges.

The crime scene the morning after Scott Papworth was shot at Aberglasslyn on March 8, 2021. Picture Amy Ziniak

A man who pulled a rifle and shot a rival criminal in his own driveway has been jailed for five-and-a-half years after a court heard that the now 31-year-old was already institutionalised after spending much of the past decade behind bars.

Dylan Gee told Newcastle District Court on Monday that he had shot Scott Papworth in the stomach on the driveway of Papworth’s Aberglasslyn home in 2021 when he thought the convicted criminal was going to grab a weapon after he had been bashed by Gee’s associates Jake Farmer and Dane Frederick Simms.

Gee, Farmer and Simms had travelled to Papworth’s home after a conversation inside the poker machine room of the Rutherford Hotel where they discussed a complaint from a woman that Papworth was intimidating her over an unpaid drug debt.

Gee told the court on Monday that he had found a rifle inside a car as the trio travelled to Papworth’s home, and watched on as Farmer and Simms bashed and kicked Papworth after a short argument.

It was as Papworth, a man with a significant criminal history, got back to his feet that Gee, who was on parole at the time, shot him once in the stomach, the bullet perforating his bowel and damaging his liver, stomach and a kidney.

Dylan Gee (bottom right with black shirt) during a conversation in the poker machine room of the Rutherford Hotel before the shooting. Picture: NSW Police.

Papworth spent two weeks in hospital and underwent three surgeries for the injuries before being released to recuperate.

Gee had initially denied any involvement in the shooting and was expected to face a trial on a number of serious firearm and assault charges.

Scott Papworth was shot in the stomach. Picture: Supplied.

But, after negotiations with prosecutors, Gee later pleaded guilty to firing a firearm near a public place and recklessly causing grievous bodily harm.

Farmer and Simms were jailed for a maximum of two years and 10 months with non-parole periods that equated to time already served on remand, with Judge Roy Ellis stating at the time of sentencing the pair last year that they had concealed the identity of the shooter despite not having any idea Papworth was going to be shot.

The pair had pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company and concealing a serious indictable offence.

On Monday, Judge Ellis warned Gee that he needed to lean on his family before any relapses into drug abuse after sending him back to jail for the shooting.

The judge had found special circumstances, including Gee’s traumatic childhood and drug addiction as well as his continued incarceration for other serious offences.

Jak Farmer (left) and Dane Simms were jailed for their role when convicted criminal Scott Papworth was bashed and shot in the stomach at his Aberglasslyn home in March, 2021.

Judge Ellis said Gee had only spent two stints outside jail since he was aged 20 – both of about seven months each – and that “there is no doubt he is institutionalised”.

Gee briefly gave evidence on Monday, telling the court that the gun he had used to shoot Papworth was already in the car as they travelled from the pub to Papworth’s home.

“I am [sorry]. I wish it never happened. It wasn’t meant to happen. It got out of control and it happened,” Gee said.

The court heard Gee had made inroads to his drug addictions and his mother told the court she had seen positive steps since his arrest in 2022.

Judge Ellis sentenced Gee to a maximum of five-and-a-half years in jail, backdated to June 28, 2022, with a non-parole period of two years and nine months.

With time already served, Gee will be eligible for parole on March 27 next year.