Witnesses saw Daniel Joseph Tate, 23, holding what appeared to be a sawn-off shotgun, similar to this image. It was, however, a gun-shaped cigarette lighter.
A WARRNAMBOOL man will serve extra jail time after being spotted with an imitation gun at a service station.
Daniel Joseph Tate, 23, of Wooles Avenue, appeared via videolink from prison at a hearing in Warrnambool Magistrates Court yesterday.
He pleaded guilty to counts of driving while disqualified, possessing an imitation firearm, and unlawful assault.
The firearm charge related to an incident on March 24 this year, when Tate and a group of friends pulled into the Apco service station in Warrnambool around 3.10am.
The court heard a witness saw Tate sitting in the passenger seat with what they thought was a sawn-off shotgun and called police.
When Tate and his friends were stopped by police, it was found the firearm was in fact a gun-shaped cigarette lighter.
The other charges stemmed from an incident in April this year when Tate had a verbal altercation with a victim over a missing cat before Tate then grabbed a baseball bat from his car and threatened the victim.
The police said Tate drove off soon after despite being disqualified from driving at the time.
Magistrate Ron Saines sentenced Tate to 28 days in jail for the imitation firearm charge, with 14 days to be served concurrently with his present sentence and the other 14 days to be cumulative.
Tate was jailed in July for a range of offences, including breaching a community corrections order, and was due for release on December 9.
Mr Saines indicated he would like to have Tate assessed for a community corrections order that would begin upon Tate’s release, despite corrections staff and Tate’s own defence counsel suggesting that Tate would likely be deemed unsuitable for such an order due to an excessive number of breaches and displays of aggression towards corrections staff.
Tate’s sentencing will continue on November 7.