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Corio man Shaun Hutchinson pleads guilty to involvement in firearm scheme

A Corio man said he was trying to clear his drug debt when he signed on to a plot to traffic firearms.

Shaun Hutchinson was found to be in possession of stolen firearms. Picture: Facebook.
Shaun Hutchinson was found to be in possession of stolen firearms. Picture: Facebook.

A Corio man who was caught up in a plot to traffic and sell firearms has told a court he was trying to clear his drug debt.

Days after associates stole a gun safe full of firearms from a Shepparton house, they arrived on Shaun Hutchinson’s doorstep with a plan to sell them onto other criminals.

Hutchinson, 36, met two men at the front of his Halliwell Crt home in August last year and moved cardboard boxes containing four firearms, including a handgun and a rifle, from a stolen car.

The guns, which are still missing, were later moved to his wife’s car and then to a Norlane address before disappearing.

Hutchinson pleaded guilty to possessing the firearms and handling stolen goods in the Geelong Magistrates Court on Tuesday and will have his matter heard and sentenced in the County Court next year.

When police arrested Hutchinson and seized his phone, they found two videos of him discharging a handgun in a Norlane backyard.

During police questioning, Hutchinson said a man involved in the initial burglary of the guns had been in his home and was “asking for $10,000, $15,000 or a bag of methamphetamine” as payment, but was becoming upset this had not happened yet.

Following a text from his wife that the man was “hanging around” their home, Hutchinson said “he’s getting a bag, that’s it” and to “tell him I’ve got the bag for him and that’s all I can get”.

Hutchinson’s lawyer, Adrian Paull, said he “made no personal gain” from possessing the firearms and had only become involved in the scheme “because he had a drug debt” he needed cleared.

Mr Paull added while Hutchinson has an extensive criminal history, none of those priors were firearm related.

He asked Magistrate Ann McGarvie to grant a summary jurisdiction application that would keep the matter in the magistrates court.

However, Ms McGarvie said it was an “incredibly serious” offence and would need to be “heard and denounced in a higher jurisdiction”.

“The stealing of lawful guns from lawful owners is a common offence and those guns are stolen for one reason: to be sold to other criminals to be used to commit crimes,” Ms McGarvie said.

“The four guns are still at large and no doubt they are in criminal hands and may well turn up at the commission of a crime.”

Originally published as Corio man Shaun Hutchinson pleads guilty to involvement in firearm scheme

Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/corio-man-shaun-hutchinson-pleads-guilty-to-involvement-in-firearm-scheme/news-story/61afeb10e91682f2faf9b776c49e7272