Jack Bailey Bennett charged with going armed to cause fear after pointing gel blaster at neighbour

A traumatised teen has faced court for threatening to shoot his neighbour with a gelblaster after hearing a woman scream for help. Find out what happened here.

A troubled teen who attempted to intervene in an alleged erupting domestic violence situation in a neighbouring unit has faced court after threatening to shoot the man with a gelblaster.

At 5.20pm on June 17, 2022, Jack Bailey Bennett pointed a black and silver handgun at a Kearney Springs man he believed was committing domestic violence against a woman, after Bennett heard her screaming for help.

The man hid behind a bin fearing for life, while a neighbour witnessed Bennett threatening to shoot the victim, with the barrel pointed at the person, and Bennett’s finger on the trigger, the Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

Police prosecutor Bettina Trenear told the court the witness, who claimed Bennett did not know the person he was threatening, yelled ‘I’ll shoot ya’.

The firearm was determined to be a gel blaster handgun, which Bennett’s solicitor Chelsea Saldumbide told the court her client grabbed after hearing the altercation.

Jack Bennett has been charged with going armed to cause fear after hearing a woman scream for help.

Bennett, a full time tree lopper, pleaded guilty at the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on December 5 to one count of going armed to cause fear.

The now 20-year-old, who was 19 at the time, told police he had grown up in a violent household, where his mother was a victim of his father, and the situation had triggered a protective instinct.

Ms Saldumbide told the court her client suffered from bipolar, PTSD, anxiety, depression and ADD as a result of his traumatising childhood, which he was receiving professional help and medication for.

“While his reaction was very disproportionate, he accepts he would have caused grave fear to those involved in the incident,” she said.

“Unfortunately due to those triggers in terms of his childhood and violence, he said in the heat of the moment his protective instincts took place and he said he tried to do what he couldn’t do when he was a child and try to protect another person.”

Ms Saldumbide told the court her client was incredibly remorseful for his actions, and understands he should have responded another way.

Magistrate Louise Shephard told Bennett she was considering imprisonment for the threat of violence, however understood there were many parts at play.

“I was terribly concerned, I still am, but there is a real context to this which does give it a different flavour which I accept,” she said.

Ms Shephard told Bennett a reasonable reaction was to call triple-0 and he made a horrible decision, but was glad he was seeking support to address his past.

“You have a history of trauma, very relevant trauma and it could be just triggered,” she said.

“You snapped and in the spare of the moment, all you wanted to do was intervene and help this woman, because in the past, your mum was a victim of violence within the house and you weren’t able to help her. A very significant mitigating factor here.”

Bennett was given 12 months probation in an effort to help him stay on track to accessing professional help, with no conviction recorded.

In an emergency, call triple-0.