A Windang man found with two pistols in his home acquired the illegal weapons while suffering from drug-induced paranoia, a court has heard.
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Joel Terrence Charnock-Budd fronted Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday via video link from jail where he was on remand, having previously been refused bail on a host of firearm charges.
Police documents said officers attached to Strike Force Raptor entered Charnock-Budd's Kurrajong Street home on the morning of November 29 to carry out a search under the provisions of firearms and weapons prohibition orders, which Charnock-Budd had been subject to since 2019.
You're skating on thin ice in a 40 degree heatwave.
Inside the home, officers uncovered a Sig Sauer P226 .22 calibre pistol and a Glock 17 .45 calibre pistol, both of which were found in a cardboard box inside the master bedroom.
Charnock-Budd was arrested and taken to Lake Illawarra Police Station where he was charged.
Charnock-Budd's home is less than 100 metres from the scene of an unrelated public place shooting incident that occurred 24 hours prior to the discovery.
Magistrate Susan McGowan cited the incident during Charnock-Budd's subsequent bail application later that day, saying although the matters were unrelated and she had not taken it into account in determining whether to release Charnock-Budd, it was "a lesson for the community of what can happen when people are in possession of firearms".
In court on Tuesday, Charnock-Budd pleaded guilty to gun possession charges.
The court heard Charnock-Budd told a Community Corrections officer preparing a background report for the proceedings that he had obtained the guns while in the grips of paranoia fuelled by drug use.
Defence lawyer Jonathan Kearney confirmed Charnock-Budd had previously had a problem with methylamphetamine but had been clean for five months.
Magistrate Michael O'Brien said it was a matter "of grave concern" for people to possess pistols without a legitimate reason.
He sentenced Charnock-Budd to a three-year community-based intensive correction order and warned him he would find himself in jail if he committed further crimes or breached the order in any way.
"You're skating on thin ice in a 40 degree heatwave," Magistrate O'Brien said.
Read more Illawarra court and crime stories here.
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