A pile of imitation guns – including a lifelike AK-47 – has failed to rouse the art snob in a Wollongong magistrate who was asked to let the owner off serious weapons charges, on creative grounds.
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Police found the “arsenal” during a search of Brett Jason Lilley’s Mangerton home on June 28 last year.
The five fake machine guns and single mock air rifle had been piled on top of a cabinet when police came calling, not far from other illicit finds – ammunition, a can of “mace” spray, cannabis seeds, bags of the drug totaling 16 grams and a pen gun that was operational and capable of firing a .22 bullet.
On Thursday Lilley’s lawyer told Wollongong Local Court her 41-year-old client, himself an artist and a self-described hoarder, considered the “firearms” art.
“He purchased the guns as art from somebody named Yuri who gets rubbish from the side of the road and forms them into what Your Honour’s seeing today,” lawyer Alyce Fisher said.
“One part of the ‘AK-47’ is made from a children’s matchbox car part.”
Magistrate Douglass, who inspected several of the replicas from the bench, including the AK-47, replied: “I’m struggling with accepting that.”
Prosecutor Amelia Wall noted the replicas were not being displayed on Lilley’s walls – as art traditionally would be – when they were found.
“Your Honour has seen the firearms in question,” she said. “The concern for the prosecution is that these types of imitation firearms in the community can be quite easily mistaken for real firearms. As a police officer, you see one of these: you’re going to think it’s real.”
“Anyone would think it’s real,” the magistrate said.
Lilley claimed the artist, Yuri, had since moved to Berkeley, and couldn’t be found to vouch for his story.
But Magistrate Douglass ultimately did not accept the creative tale, instead finding Lilley “relied on these [imitation weapons] to provide his own protection, which is alarming”.
“I don’t necessary accept that he got them off an acquaintance after this acquaintance made them,” the magistrate said.
Lilley pleaded guilty to 13 charges stemming from the police search, including charges relating to protected fauna – two diamond pythons and a bearded dragon lizard – found in tanks in his lounge room.
The creatures were seized by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
On Thursday afternoon Lilley, supported in court by his partner and mother – was taken into custody.
He was ordered to serve two years behind bars, with a non-parole period of one year.
He was also ordered to pay fines totaling $1100.
Angela Thompson
Proudly Illawarra Mercury since 2008; these days covering crime and justice issues. UOW alum. Thrilled by the chase and sobered by some of the things I see and hear when I stand still - sometimes in the same day. ang.thompson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Proudly Illawarra Mercury since 2008; these days covering crime and justice issues. UOW alum. Thrilled by the chase and sobered by some of the things I see and hear when I stand still - sometimes in the same day. ang.thompson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
