Omar Chaouk accidentally shoots self reaching for a cigarette

WHEN you keep a loaded gun in your pocket, always use caution when reaching there for your cigarettes — as a Melbourne man discovered in a very painful way.

Omar Chaouk (pictured) pleaded guilty today to being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. Picture: Supplied

THE son of a murdered Melbourne identity shot himself in the testicle after he reached into his pocket for a cigarette, a court has heard.

Omar Chaouk, the son of Macchour Chaouk who was shot dead in his back yard in 2010, pleaded guilty today to being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm over the accidental shooting.

“He pulled down his pants to check the wound,” said prosecutor Catherine Parkes.

“He asked her if he was going to die and started crying.”

The woman friend drove him to hospital, where he told medical staff he had accidentally shot himself while playing with a pen gun in Caroline Springs in 2015.

Doctors found a five-millimetre bullet entry point near his navel, and abrasion and swelling on his right testicle.

Chaouk was discharged from hospital the next day and arrested by police. He has been in custody since March 2015.

The 25-year-old also pleaded guilty to theft of a sports car in January 2015. Two months later Chaouk drove off in an acquaintance’s car after brandishing a .22 silver handgun and telling the owner he believed Serbian gangsters were after him.

He tried to call a mutual friend as Chaouk became increasingly agitated and yelled at the man to get out of the car.

It was a week later on March 17 that Chaouk shot himself with the same gun while reaching into his pocket outside a friend’s house in Caroline Springs.

His defence say Chaouk has an intellectual disability, which could reduce his moral culpability over his offending.

He is the youngest in his family, and lost his father and brother in violent circumstances, said his barrister Grace Morgan.

His father Macchour, 65, was gunned down outside the family’s Brooklyn home in 2010.

His older brother, Mohamed, died after police shot the 29-year-old during raids at the family home in 2005.

Chaouk will return to court in December.