A man threatened to slit his elderly mother’s throat and was hiding weapons — including a hand grenade — in his bedroom.
Deon Bryan Gorton, 49, appeared in the Invercargill District Court this week on charges of possessing a firearm, speaking threateningly, trespass and breaching bail.
On July 16, last year, the defendant got into an argument with his mother.
She locked him out of the house, at which they were both living, and he threatened to slit her throat.
The next day, Gorton was trespassed from his mother’s house, and the day after that he returned and refused to leave.
That afternoon, the defendant’s mother went to the Invercargill Police Station and reported she had found a shotgun and nearly 50 cartridges in her son’s bedroom.
Later, she also found a hand grenade and a sawn-off shotgun.
The court heard Gorton had never held a firearms licence.
He said he had taken the weapons from a friend who had ill-intentions.
"I view that somewhat cynically," Judge Duncan Harvey said.
He was particularly concerned the defendant had a sawn-off shotgun.
"They are vicious weapons and they are for no use other than criminal offences," he said.
At a previous hearing, counsel Jono Ross described the incident as a "one-off".
He said the offending had happened more than a year ago, and the defendant had not done anything similar since.
He acknowledged the potential menace of a firearm, but said imprisonment would be "a step too far".
The court heard Gorton’s mother was concerned about the people with whom he had been mixing.
Judge Harvey sentenced the defendant to four months’ community detention and 12 months’ supervision.
He also ordered the destruction of the firearms and ammunition.
felicity.dear@odt.co.nz , PIJF court reporter
