Golden gun smuggler backflips, pleads guilty after admitting ‘dumb mistake’

An American woman who told officers she “made a dumb mistake” by importing a gold-plated gun has made a shock backflip in court.

Liliana Goodson is fighting allegations she smuggled a gold-plated gun into Sydney airport. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

An American backpacker who landed at Australia’s busiest international airport with a 24-karat gold-plated handgun worth $2000 has made a shock last-minute move after telling a court she “made a dumb mistake”.

Liliana Goodson appeared before Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday for a special fixture hearing after pleading not guilty to two charges of intentionally importing prohibited goods, being both a firearm and ammunition.

The already heavily tattooed joint American-Peruvian citizen entered the courthouse clutching a stuffed dachshund dog toy and with new markings on her cheeks and chin, including large red colourings around her lips and chin.

The Florida woman was arrested at Sydney’s bustling Kingsford Smith International Airport in April 2023 after officers attached to the Australian Border Force allegedly discovered the Colt-45-style pistol in her luggage.

Police allege they detected the garish pistol, which was not loaded, as it passed through the X-ray machine in luggage belonging to the 29-year-old, who had recently arrived on an international flight from Los Angeles.

Liliana Goodson is fighting allegations she smuggled a gold-plated gun into Sydney airport. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

After almost two hours of video evidence from an interview between ABF investigators and Ms Goodson before her arrest and oral evidence from those officers, the American woman backflipped and instead pleaded guilty.

She will instead return before the court in October for sentencing, with a range of material expected to be tendered, including in relation to any mental health treatment. Outside court, she dodged members of the media.

After she was taken into custody by ABF officers, Ms Goodson told investigators in a recorded interview, played in court, that she was a student and had come to Australia to try to “get into the clown institute in Sydney”.

Questioned about the pistol, Ms Goodson said the firearm was “not even in the back of my mind at all” when she packed it for her move to Australia, and she had googled that it was OK as long as it was in her case.

“I had very little life experience because I was very sheltered, so a lot of things that are common sense to some people are not common sense to me. It skipped my mind that something could happen,” Ms Goodson said.

The American admitted carrying the pistol into another country could be serious because “it’s deemed a weapon somewhere else” but claimed she had no understanding of Australian firearms laws and did little research.

The court was told Ms Goodson had not declared the weapon on her incoming passenger card, and despite seeing that weapons were prohibited when shipping the rest of her belongings, she also packed her ammunition inside.

Ms Goodson told the investigators that she once had three firearms and the other two had been accidentally donated, with the weapon in question formerly stowed under the passenger seat of her car for protection.

Asked about its use in Australia, she said: “I'm going to be honest, I’m scared of shooting it, but in LA if you just brandish a weapon people will like scatter … I would probably just pistol whip until I got training again.”

The interview played in court canvassed Ms Goodson’s extensive history with firearms, including that she had a concealed carry permit in the US but she could not load the gun as the magazine was stuck.

The US woman has been stranded in Australia since the charges were laid. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

The American woman told investigators that she believed she could apply for a permit once she was an Australian citizen, which she believed would take just six months, and in the meantime the gun would “lie around”.

Ms Goodson, when told she was being placed under arrest, said “it was a dumb mistake and there was no intention to harm”. She also earlier admitted to having in her bag a “cat spine, squirrel feet and rabbit pee”.

If she failed to get into clown school, Ms Goodson earlier said she would “try going through the acting route” and also went by the name River and Clover. Before leaving the US, she said she was living in her truck.

One of the interviewers, ABF investigator Hannah Ditirech gave evidence that investigators located the gun in a small blue, plastic case, and inside it were markings bearing the name Colt and a receipt for the pistol.

In her opening, the police prosecutor told magistrate Susan Horan she would allege Ms Goodson had searched on Google “can I have a gun in a suitcase” and made notes in an app on her phone to a similar effect.

The court was told Ms Goodson had intended to stay in Australia for a year and had allegedly told ABF officers upon arrival that ammunition would arrive in Australia with further belongings coming from the United States.

In his brief, one sentence opening, Ms Goodson’s lawyer told the court the “issue in dispute” in the hearing would be that she “never intended to import a firearm”, stating she was suffering from drug and mental health issues.