A man who fired a gun outside Lake Illawarra Police Station because he wanted to go back to prison has been dealt a lesson in being "careful what you wish for".
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Richard Dutton will spend two years behind bars no non-parole period for firing a shotgun outside the Oak Flats station the night of January 4. On parole for armed robbery, he knew the act would send him back to jail.
He left the gun with a friend who drove away, then walked into the foyer of the station and told police what he had done.
"Im not armed, I'm not armed, I want to be arrested, I just had a gun. I just shot a gun," he told them.
Though he sought a return to prison, the two-year term he was given at Wollongong Local Court on Friday was apparently too much.
In parting words to Magistrate Michael Stoddart, Dutton asked what happened to the 25 per cent? referring to the 25 per cent sentencing discount that typically applies for those who enter a guilty plea at an early stage of court proceedings.
Magistrate Stoddart replied that the crime attracted a maximum 10-year prison sentence [on indictment].
According to the police version of events, Dutton admitted he was a high-ranking member of Brothers 4 Life.
On Friday the court heard he suffered from schizophrenia, and had combined his medication with the drug ice in the lead-up to firing the shot.
The reason for him ingesting the ice is that he suffers from paranoia its a very real fear that he feels people are after him, said Duttons lawyer, Tyrone Phillips.
He [acted] out of the belief that there were people were pursuing him because of his knowledge of other [criminal] activities.
Mr Phillips said his client had endured a difficult upbringing and a difficult life, with the first entry in his criminal record penned when he was 11 years old.
But police prosecutor Ben Bragger urged against leniency, calling on the magistrate to sentence towards the maximum jurisdictional limit of two years. Mr Dutton is lucky he wasnt shot, he said. In this age of terrorism our police are extremely vigilant. Its a miracle it wasnt more serious than it actually was. Id suggest the strongest possible message needs to be sent to the community that this type of behavior, in this day and age, is intolerable.
With time already served, Dutton will be released on January 3, 2020.