Gun in alleged murder attempt had ‘dangerously light’ trigger, court hears
Expert testimony has revealed the “dangerously light” trigger and poor construction of a homemade gun that left a man paralysed and wheelchair-bound.
A forensic firearms investigator pulled the trigger in front of a Supreme Court Jury on Wednesday of a “crudely constructed” handgun involved in the alleged attempted murder of a man at a Gagebrook home in 2022.
Retired Tasmania Police Sergeant Gerard Dutton showed off the homemade steel gun allegedly used by Joshua Michael Murtagh to shoot Jade Devine in the neck while he was seated on a couch in a mutual friend’s unit in April three years ago.
Mr Murtagh is standing trial after he pleaded not guilty to one count each of attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm in the incident which left Mr Devine paralysed and using a wheelchair.
Mr Dutton, with over 37 years of experience in forensic firearms investigation, showed the handgun off to the jury and pulled the trigger of the unloaded weapon while aiming at the ceiling, telling Crown prosecutor Mick Allen and Justice Stephen Estcourt of his findings.
“The firearm is made entirely of steel and a homemade, single-shot gun which is very crudely constructed but in working order,” he said.
Mr Dutton conducted numerous tests on the weapon, including test firing and analysis of cartridges and aim, telling the court it was a “dangerous weapon”.
“The barrel of the gun is not rifled, that is it does not have the helix grooves inside the barrel to assist a bullet in becoming aerodynamic.
“Instead, the bullet comes out and tumbles end over end rather than spinning.
“When testing the weapon with firing, I can see that the barrel does not have a sight and has been attached to the rest of the gun at an upper angle, meaning the gun has to be aimed using the line of the gun, which is also inaccurate.
“I found the bullet was hitting much higher above where I was aiming … it was around 29cm above and 4.5 cm to the right from the aim.”
Defence counsel Rochelle Mainwaring asked Mr Dutton if the weapon misfired during testing, with Mr Dutton stating other methods of discharge were tested and the gun only misfired in one of three ways – by hitting the back of the gun slide, hitting around the gun or dropping it from a low height.
He also said he poor construction of the handgun had left the weapon with a trigger pressure of just 1.05lbs or just under 500g.
A police-issued Glock has a trigger pressure of around 5lbs or 2.2kg.
“The trigger pressure is dangerously light and as the homemade gun does not have a security device, it is a dangerous weapon,” Mr Dutton said.
Jury members and Mr Dutton were also shown a photo of Mr Devine’s bullet wound, with Ms Mainwaring asking Mr Dutton to interpret whether the wound pattern was consistent with a tumbling bullet like that fired from the weapon allegedly used by Mr Murtagh.
“The wound is slightly irregular – normally if a .22 bullet hits straight on at 90 degrees it will leave a neat round hole,” Mr Dutton said.
“The wound shape tells me the bullet has hit in a slightly tilted direction, This is a bullet spinning randomly.
“In this case, the bullet wasn’t point on into the target, it was side on but not fully.
“The bullet has impacted the skin – you can see the skin is abraded which is a consequence of the projectile hitting the skin.”
The trial continues tomorrow.
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Originally published as Gun in alleged murder attempt had ‘dangerously light’ trigger, court hears
