January 18, 2013
A 37-year-old man distressed over a failed property deal was contemplating suicide when he presented himself to the Emergency Department at Kingaroy Hospital with a loaded, shortened rifle, Kingaroy Magistrates Court was told on Thursday.
Mathew Marchant pleaded guilty to carrying a loaded weapon in a public place, possessing a shortened firearm, two counts of unlawful possession of weapons (including a flick knife police found in his car), and one count of fraud.
The fraud charge was connected with the property deal, which both the Prosecution and Defence agreed was a complex matter with elements better pursued in a civil court.
Solicitor Mark Werner, for Marchant, said his client was on a disability pension after suffering a broken back.
He had sunk into despair over the deal and was living in his car.
All the charges arose out of a single event after Werner had gone to a hotel in Kingaroy to have a few drinks.
“He was contemplating suicide so he thought he would go to the hospital and seek help, and surrender the rifle that was in his car,” Mr Werner said.
“What he really wanted was help with his mental health issues and suicidal ideation.”
Mr Werner said Marchant handed the the rifle over to a staff member and no threats of any kind were made.
He said the weapon had been altered as Marchant had originally found it at a dump with its stock cracked and barrel damaged. He had removed the damaged areas in a bid to make the rifle useable again.
Magistrate Mr Mark Bucknall said the presentation of a shortened firearm at a hospital emergency unit was “alarming”, especially for the hospital staff as it was loaded and no safety catch was secured.
At first blush charges of this type would inevitably mean an actual term of imprisonment, he said, but he accepted the unusual nature of the incidents and the fact Marchant was “calling out for help”.
On the fraud charge and unlawful possession charge, Marchant was convicted and placed on 12 months probation.
On the charges of possessing a shortened firearm, carrying a loaded weapon in a public place and unlawful possession of a flick knife, he was sentenced to six months’ jail, wholly suspended for 18 months.
All the weapons were forfeited to the Crown.
“The only reason the sentence was totally suspended was because of the somewhat mitigating circumstances in this case,” Mr Bucknall said.
“You should be very grateful that you’ll be walking out the back door today rather than out the side door into a cell.”
Mr Bucknall said if Marchant had wanted to surrender the weapon, he should have handed it over to police.
