Man advised drive-by shooters to falsely blame Sudanese person

A young man who advised the perpetrators of a drive-by shooting to falsely claim their vehicle was stolen by a Sudanese person will be drug-tested before sentencing.

Caleb Dennis Foote, 25, pleaded guilty on Thursday in Brisbane District Court to one count of accessory after the fact to malicious acts with intent.

Crown prosecutor Hamish McIntyre said Foote was an accessory to a serious offence of “essentially a drive-by shooting”.

Caleb Dennis Foote arrives at the Brisbane District Court.Credit: Darren England

Foote was not present when Trent Leonard John Kunde fired multiple rounds from a sawn-off shotgun at the front bedroom of a two-storey house at Carseldine, in Brisbane’s north, after midnight on April 27, 2022.

“Thankfully [none of the resident family] was physically harmed as a result of that shooting, but it was really by good luck rather than design,” McIntyre said.

The prosecutor said Foote received a Facebook message at 2pm that day from another of the men involved in the shooting after having earlier been told what happened.

Foote responded with a voice message that concluded by telling the man to delete the message after listening to it.

“[Foote] effectively gave him advice … that had to do with a false version that a man of Sudanese appearance had taken the ute that was used to commit the offence some weeks ago,” McIntyre said.

McIntyre said Foote had a history of drug offences and had been on probation at the time.

Kunde was later sentenced to five-and-a-half-years’ imprisonment over the shooting and his co-offender was sentenced to five years.

Defence barrister Matthew Jackson said Foote had done “not much at all” to help the shooters.

“The primary offending was no doubt evil and terrifying for people in the house. My client ... became aware of it afterwards,” Jackson said.

Jackson said Foote was now drug free but had been using half a gram a day of methamphetamine when he made the “clueless” decision to respond to the Facebook message.

Judge Nathan Jarro adjourned the sentencing for two weeks for Foote, who is on bail, to complete drug tests to prove he was taking steps towards rehabilitation.

AAP