An Horsley parolee who fired a gun into the air outside Lake Illawarra Police Station before immediately surrendering to officers is a high-ranking member of Brothers 4 Life who believed fellow gang members were after him, a court has heard.
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Court documents reveal a police officer was forced to draw his firearm on Richard Dutton and ordered him to put his hands above his head when the 29-year-old walked into the foyer of the station just after 9pm on January 4 and informed police he’d just fired a shot in the air.
“I’m not armed, I’m not armed, I want to be arrested, I just had a gun. I just shot a gun,” Dutton said matter-of-factly before his arrest.
Police said the visual aspect of incident was caught on the station’s CCTV cameras, while in a stroke of luck, the audio of Dutton’s confession was also picked up by a video camera recording a witness statement in an unrelated matter in a nearby room.
A woman sitting in the foyer also heard the confession.
Court documents said Dutton admitted to police he was a high-ranking member of Brothers 4 Life – a matter rejected by Dutton’s brother Mark when asked by the Mercury last week if Richard had any gang affiliations.
Mark claimed at the time that his brother was suffering from poor mental health and that had been the reason behind his bizarre behaviour that day. He also denied the incident was linked in any way to Dutton’s Islamic religion.
In court on Tuesday, defence lawyer Tyrone Philips enter a plea to guilty to two firearms charges on behalf of Dutton, who chose not to appear from jail via video link.
Mr Philips told the court his client suffered from mental health problems and shot at the police station for attention.
“He thought he was being chased by Brothers 4 Life,” Mr Philips said.
Court documents reveal Dutton was driven to the location by an unknown person, who waited in the car while Dutton got out holding a shortened .22 shotgun and fired it into the air.
Dutton then put the gun into the vehicle and it drove off while he went inside the confess to his crime.
Dutton was less than a month away from finishing his parole period on a six-year prison term for holding up a pharmacy in 2012.
Dutton will remain in custody while a background report is prepared ahead of his sentencing on February 23.