A Warrawong teen charged with brandishing a gun at Kanhooka High School students was sentenced to an 18-month Community Corrections Order and fined $1000 on Monday.
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Dylan James Lewis had not long turned 18 when, in October 2019, he and two friends drove past Kanahooka High School "laughing and beeping" while they aimed a firearm out of the drivers' window at students.
"We looked at each other and said 'was that real?'," one of the students told Wollongong Local Court.
"I felt shocked."
The students told the nearest teacher, and the school was put into lockdown.
Snapchat videos and messages about the incident - including images taken from inside the car - flew around the school.
In a group chat members were encouraged to bash a student for being a "snitch".
In the interview, Lewis admitted he was in the car with two friends, who cannot be identified due to their age. He said they had pointed the firearm - a gel blaster Lewis purchased online - at the school.
"I was yelling and screaming at them like 'don't, you need to stop, we're right next to the school it's f***ing dumb'," Lewis is recorded saying.
He was charged with possesing an unauthorised firearm, which he pled guilty to, and being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence, which he pled not guilty to.
However, Magistrate Gabriel Fleming said she was satisfied by the eyewitness accounts that Lewis was part of an agreement with the passengers in his car to commit an offence.
"It was his motor vehicle, the horn was beeping, there was a change in speed and the drivers window was down," she said.
"He was in control of the vehicle and laughter was coming from the vehicle.
"He wore some kind of face cover which suggests an attempt to conceal his identity, and there is evidence changes were made to the interior of the vehicle after the fact.
"The only inference is that he was very much in agreement with the other people in the vehicle, and there was a degree of planning."
Magistrate Fleming was not able to determine whether Lewis held the firearm, however, in a joint criminal enterprise each person is found responsible for the acts of the group, regardless of which acts they personally carried out.
Lewis now has full-time work as an apprentice chef, and no longer resides in Warrawong.
In her sentencing remarks Magistrate Fleming urged Lewis to confront the underlying reasons for his offending.
"We're very glad to hear you have a job, but working 'til you drop is not a solution," she said.
The charge of being armed with intent to commit and indictable offence carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail and an $11,000 fine.
Lewis received an 18-month Community Corrections Order and a $1000 fine.
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