Mark Dale Dunham, 41, sentenced for shooting towards man over ‘stolen’ car

A victim was almost killed when a man high on meth unleashed a round of shotgun pellets into the doorway of a caravan that he was standing in, a court has heard.

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A victim was almost killed when a man high on meth unleashed a round of shotgun pellets into the doorway of a caravan that he was standing in, a court has heard.

Mark Dale Dunham, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of threatening violence in the night after he fired a shotgun “in the direction” of a man in a Koah caravan park in Far North Queensland last year.

Prosecutor David Jenkins told the court Ryan Harper was woken by the headlights of Dunham’s car shining through the window of the caravan he lived in around 3am on April 7.

Mr Jenkins said the men were known to each other with Mr Harper previously in a relationship with a woman who accompanied Dunham that night who was also charged.

“Straight away the defendant is yelling at him and there is an argument about a car,” he said.
“The defendant can be seen holding a 12 gauge shotgun.”

Mr Harper pulled out his phone to record the conversation which captured the man firing the shotgun in his direction.

In the recording Mr Harper denies taking anybody’s car before telling Dunham, “Go on c**t shoot at me then, go on”.

Immediately after Mr Harper said this Dunham fired the shotgun spraying the doorway the man was standing in with shotgun pellets narrowly missing Mr Harper.

The court heard Dunham and the woman then moved to the doorway confronting Mr Harper who kicks Dunham to force him back before they continue arguing with Denham heard yelling “I don't wanna play stupid games bro.”

Mr Jenkins said the confrontation only ends when the owner of the property wakes and tells Dunham to leave the property.

He said Dunham was “no stranger to the courts”, and was a mature aged defendant with numerous convictions of property, drug and weapons offences emblematic of “hard-nosed recidivism”.

Defence counsel Aaron Dunkerton conceded Dunham was under the influence of methylamphetamine at the time of the offence and had long suffered from drug addiction, but was now on a suboxone medication program.

He told the court Dunham was under the belief that Mr Harper had stolen two cars from himself and the other woman and the woman had received a provocative message 15 minutes before the confrontation.

“He is grateful no one was hurt,” Mr Dunkerton said.

He pressed that Dunham was being sentenced on “intent to alarm not intent to harm”.

Judge Tracy Fantin said it would have been “a frightening and shocking experience, you can hear it in the recording”.

“There was a very high risk of injuring the man, the pellets hit the door very close to where he was standing,” she said.

Dunham was sentenced to three years and three months imprisonment.

Originally published as Mark Dale Dunham, 41, sentenced for shooting towards man over ‘stolen’ car