Police executed a search warrant at a Hennessy Street home on October 8.

David Young, 30, was at home. He is prohibited from possessing a firearm because he has served jail time in the past. 

Officers found a double-barrel shotgun and a samurai sword. 

The shotgun was broken into three pieces and stored in a walk-in robe. 

The gun, believed to be well over 100 years old, was a family heirloom and belonged to Young’s father, who was overseas at the time. Police also found cannabis seeds and three seedlings.

Young pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court to being a prohibited person possessing a firearm, possessing a prohibited weapon and cultivating, possessing and using cannabis.

He was convicted and fined $1250 and the gun was forfeited. Defence counsel Alex McCulloch said the gun originally belonged to Young’s grandfather.

He said there had been some debate about whether it fitted the definition of a firearm under the Firearms Act but it was capable of taking a cartridge and therefore