Shepparton man Nathan Evans pleads guilty to drug, firearm charges

A Shepparton man who was husted selling drugs from a bus at a local caravan park was found to have a stash of firearms under his bed.

Police discovered a rifle and a shotgun under a Shepparton man’s bed during an investigation into firearm and drug offences.

A Shepparton man has been busted with a collection of guns under his bed after a police investigation into drug trafficking.

Nathan Evans, 50, pleaded guilty to trafficking and possessing drugs and possessing firearms in Shepparton County Court on Tuesday.

In March last year police began an investigation into drug trafficking from a bus at a local caravan park.

In April they conducted a search of the bus and found more than 120g of methylamphetamine, two plastic bottles of oxandrolone and two vials of oxandrolone, as well as a shotgun and rifle under a bed.

The methylamphetamine was separated into a bag of about 55g and 40 bags with 2g each stored in an M&Ms container.

Evans’ partner Heidi Evans provided a statement to police that at 3am on the day of the police search she woke to Evans banging on the window of the bus and handing her objects covered in towels to put under the bed which she believed to be firearms.

Nathan Evans appeared in Shepparton County Court to plead guilty to drug and firearm charges.

Evans had a bag of methylamphetamine which he got from Sydney and directed Ms Evans to weigh and separate it, the court heard.

Ms Evans told police she was too scared to tell anybody what happened.

Evans requested a second interview were he told police he was a heavy ice user and detailed how he sold drugs.

He told police he did not realise it was trafficking but he needed money after leaving his job and wanted it for personal use.

Evans said he bought the guns for protection.

Prosecuting lawyer David O’Doherty said the firearms and drug trafficking werer “all too often a lethal combination”.

Defence lawyer Stacey Stanley said Evans knew he was “staring down the barrel of a significant term of imprisonment”.

She said there was no evidence Evans had ammunition or that the guns were loaded.

Evans read a letter to the court, stating he apologised for the decisions that led to his incarceration.

“It is with a heavy heart and sense of shame I come before you today,” he said.

Evans has served 386 days in prison and will be sentenced on May 28.