A Tasmanian man found with a hoard of stolen firearms and $150,000 worth of vehicles has been given a 15-month suspended prison sentence.
Terry Carter pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property, possession of stolen firearms and various summary charges, including theft, unlicensed firearm possession and drug-related offences in the Supreme Court on Friday.
During a 2021 raid on his Pipers River property, Carter was found with several stolen vehicles, including a Toyota Hilux and an excavator, along with five stolen firearms, stolen ammunition, 650g of cannabis, cannabis oil and drug paraphernalia.
The firearms included a Winchester shotgun stolen in 2010, a Beretta twelve-gauge shotgun stolen in April 2021, a .22 Magnum rifle stolen in April 2019, a shortened Baikai twelve-gauge double-barrel shotgun stolen in October 2016 and an unregistered Winchester 94 model.
Justice Robert Pearce, when delivering the sentence, considered Carter’s personal circumstances, including his employment history in forestry and manufacturing – which ended in 2020 due to drug-related offences.
Carter had no prior record of dishonesty or firearm offences and claimed that his associates had left most of the stolen items on his property.
“Your property became a remote storage location for your criminal associates which you permitted through loyalty to them,” Justice Pearce said.
“You did not steal those items but you realised that they were all stolen.”
While Carter argued he used the firearms for vermin control, the court found this explanation insufficient and highlighted the serious legal consequences of possessing stolen firearms.
“That is quite an insufficient explanation for possession of stolen firearms,” Justice Pearce said.
“It does not explain how you came to be in possession of stolen firearms and conflicts with what you told the author of the pre-sentence report, which was that you had them because you agreed to requests by your criminal friends for the firearms to be left at your property.”
“You had no firearms licence and so you should not have been in possession of any firearms, parts or ammunition, still less six stolen guns.”
“It does not appear that you were using the firearms, or making them available for use, for any criminal purpose, but by allowing your associates to take advantage of you and your property for storage you again encouraged the potential for the criminal use of those guns to that extent.”
Carter’s property was subsequently sold after defaulting on the mortgage and he has been largely homeless since, with unstable accommodation arrangements.
Justice Pearce said while Carter owes “thousands of dollars in fines” he can not pay, he has reduced his drug use and has not been in further serious trouble since the crimes were committed.
The court imposed a 15-month prison sentence, wholly suspended for two years, with strict conditions, including probation officer supervision, mandatory substance abuse programs and compliance with probation officer directions.
If Carter commits another imprisonable offense during the two-year suspended sentence, he may serve the original prison term.
