Frankston Magistrates’ Court: Timothy Osmond busted with guns in shed
A man who is well known in the Langwarrin community was busted with unregistered guns in his shed before telling a court he simply forgot to register them.
South East
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A well known Langwarrin man has not escaped a conviction for having guns lying around his house despite a court hearing he simply forgot to get them registered for more than three decades.
Timothy Osmond, 63, faced the Frankston Magistrates Court on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to possessing three unregistered firearms and ammunition.
Police found the guns, two shotguns and a “slug gun”, wrapped up in a sleeping bag in Osmond’s Langwarrin garage after they received a tip off
When police originally searched the property Osmond was not forthcoming on where the ammunition was kept and the boxes were not found until later by other residents at the home.
Mr Brody for Osmond told the court his client simply couldn’t remember where the ammunition was and it was his poor memory that was also blamed for not registering the guns.
The court heard one of the guns was given to Osmond way back for his 14th birthday by his mother and the other two were purchased in Albury by Osmond and hadn’t been used since the 1980s.
The court also heard the guns weren’t loaded and hadn’t been used in decades.
“There was no sinister intent,” Mr Brody said.
Mr Brody said the mechanical engineer was well known in the community, having been on school boards for schools his children once attended.
He was also a teacher at the Albury TAFE before moving with his family to Victoria.
The court heard he was also a member of the Albury gun club which is what led Magistrate Charles Tan to believe it wasn’t purely a matter of him forgetting about getting the guns registered.
“It is difficult for me to accept this is simply a matter of inadvertence,” he said.
Mr Brody asked Magistrate Tan to consider a fine and not recording a conviction however, he was not persuaded and instead Osmond was given an 18 month community corrections order with unpaid community work.
A conviction was also recorded.
