Illawarra man Jason Rees is facing up to five years in prison after a jury on Wednesday found him guilty of drawing an imitation gun on a family at Woonona last year.
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Rees was charged with armed trespassing, property damage and assault over the March 2 incident amid allegations he swung a motorbike helmet at a woman and punched her 13-year-old son in the face before threatening them with a gun during a dispute outside the house.
Rees pleaded not guilty to the charges, with his lawyers arguing it had been a friend of the woman’s older son that had produced the gun and that Rees had simply wrestled in away from him.
Jurors ultimately rejected Rees’ version of events, taking less than half a day to find that he had been responsible for bringing the gun to the house and had pulled it out when the confrontation got heated.
They also found him responsible for damaging a colourbond fence as he left the property.
However, Rees was found not guilty of each assault account, with jurors unable to determine beyond reasonable doubt that Rees had punched the boy or swung the helmet at the mother.
The woman, who along with her son cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court during the two-day trial that she had never seen Rees before he pulled up on a motorbike outside her home on March 2 and asked her if she wanted to buy a bike.
The woman said she declined and asked Rees to leave, however says he became “agitated and aggressive”, prompting her to tell him “get off my f—king property”.
“He said ‘do you want to play games’, then put his hand down his pants and pulled out a gun,” the woman said tearfully in court.
“He pointed it at me and was waving it around.”
The gun was left on the ground at some stage during the incident and was later seized by police and found to be an imitation pistol.
Meantime, the woman claimed Rees told her “I will be your worst nightmare….remember Jack Rees” as he left the property, kicking the colourbond fence as he walked off.
The woman denied during cross examination from Rees’ lawyer that his client had been her drug dealer and that he was at the property to collect a debt.
Rees was remanded in custody to face sentencing on August 7.