Man threw sawn-off shotgun out bedroom window

The court was told police went to Forrester’s Shepparton house on July 10, 2023, looking for another person.

When they arrived, they heard something being thrown against the fence in the yard, and found a bag on the ground.

Forrester was hanging out his bedroom window, yelling “give me my bag, you can’t search that”.

Police opened the bag and found a .410 calibre Bolito sawn-off shotgun with the serial number removed.

Also in the bag were two cartridges of ammunition, as well as 6.4g of cocaine.

The court was told that in a police interview, Forrester denied owning the gun.

The court also heard he was a prohibited person when it came to owning firearms, and was on a community corrections order for possessing an imitation firearm.

Forrester’s solicitor Shana McDonald conceded the charges were serious but said Forrester had thrown the gun out the window “in a moment of panic” when the police came looking for someone else.

Ms McDonald also told the court there had been no further offending since her client was bailed.

Magistrate Alexandra Burt sentenced Forrester to 60 days in prison – with the time already served in pre-sentence detention.

She also placed him on a nine-month community corrections order to run simultaneously with another community corrections order he was already on.

This order will run only three months longer than the current order.

It will also include 30 hours of community work.

In sentencing Forrester, Ms Burt said she was not impressed that she had placed him on a community corrections order in June last year and that he had further offended a month later.

However, she also noted that since he was bailed, he was complying with that community corrections order and prioritising his rehabilitation.

Ms Burt said two recent drug screens had shown Forrester was clean of drugs.

“It shows you are trying to address your substance abuse issues,” she said.