Ice manufacturer and dealer jailed over weapons stash found in police raid at his Braeside office
Already behind bars for making and dealing ice, a drug dealer faced court in Moorabbin again following the discovery off swords, a gun, ammunition and batons in his office and shed.
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An ice-making, drug-dealing plumber has been jailed after a police raid of his Braeside office and storage shed uncovered a plethora of deadly weapons.
Yan Vyater has been given four months behind bars over the pistol, Samurai swords, ammunition and batons find that officers discovered when they searched his property for drugs.
But the 39-year-old, who is already in jail for the trafficking and manufacture of ice, will not do any extra time as the sentence will be served concurrently.
He pleaded guilty via video link to two weapons-related charges at Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
The court heard Vyater’s Braeside two-storey office and workshop was raided by cops about 6.30am on August 15, 2016.
Searches uncovered an array of ammunition rounds, a pellet gun, a laser pointer, a Taser, a bayonet, two batons and four Samurai swords.
They also found two laboratories containing drug-making equipment and precursor chemicals such as ephedrine, the drug ice, an instruction book for methylamphetamine manufacture as well as a how-to guide on his phone.
He was sentenced on the drugs offending in 2018 to seven-and-a-half years with a non-parole period of four years, but the weapons charges were not included.
Vyater appealed and last month he had his prison term knocked down to five years and six months, with a new minimum of three years.
He has already served 18 months behind bars and is eligible for parole in about 18 months.
His defence lawyer told the court many of the weapons were “ornamental”, locked away out of reach and not available to be used in any spontaneous criminal activity.
He said these weapons charges if included in the original drugs case would likely not have meant a longer term of imprisonment, and asked for any prison time to run concurrently and not interfere with his earliest release date.
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Magistrate Dr Michael King said weapons charges, especially alongside commercial drug offending, were extremely serious.
But he said Vyater was already serving a significant sentence which would likely not have been impacted if these matters had been heard at the same time.
“You had a range of weapons in your possession that posed a risk to yourself, and others,” Dr King said.
“But I take into account the totality of the sentence you are serving, and I don’t intend to add to that time.”