A Tasmanian father who carjacked a teenager at gunpoint and fired shots at a residential unit – despite his own son begging him not to retaliate – has been jailed for more than four years.
Jason Paul Fitzpatrick, 39, was sentenced in the Supreme Court after pleading guilty to aggravated carjacking and two counts of recklessly discharging a firearm over the August 2023 incident.
The court heard Fitzpatrick was seeking revenge after his son was assaulted during a home invasion.
Messages on his phone revealed his son pleaded with him not to take action, reminding him his children needed him. But Fitzpatrick ignored the plea.
Armed with a sawn-off shotgun and high on ice, he approached a 19-year-old man sitting in his parked car, pointed the weapon through the windscreen and ordered him out.
When the terrified teenager complied, Fitzpatrick struck him in the head with the gun.
“He thought he was going to die,” Justice Michael Brett said.
Fitzpatrick then drove the stolen car to a Latrobe unit block and fired two shots at a residence he believed was connected to his son’s assault.
Justice Brett said the shooting showed a “complete lack of concern and care for the consequences on others”.
“It is clear that you showed no real concern whatsoever for your children, for the innocent victim of the carjacking or for anyone who may have been in the vicinity of the residential premises when you fired shots towards it,” he said.
The victim has suffered ongoing psychological trauma, delaying his university studies and causing financial hardship.
His pre-existing neck pain was also aggravated by the assault, the court was told.
“It would be surprising if he had not suffered the type of psychological and emotional consequences he has described in his impact statement,” Justice Brett said.
Fitzpatrick, who has a lengthy criminal history including previous violent offences, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison, backdated to November 2023.
He will be eligible for parole after serving two and a half years.
Justice Brett said the sentence would have been five years without Fitzpatrick’s early guilty plea.
