Man faces court over pointing a laser at a police aircraft

Prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Deryn Boote told the court Crichton had been at a friend’s house in Kialla when he shone a laser pointer at an aircraft flying overhead several times at 12.20am on December 4 last year.

The police aircraft had been flying at 10,000 feet and the laser pointer “whited out” the aircraft’s night vision, with the crew unable to navigate for several seconds at a time.

Police on the aircraft sent police to the house, where they found Crichton standing in the driveway with a friend.

He admitted shining the green laser at police.

Crichton’s solicitor Ric Sofra told the court his client was “not in the business of shining lasers at aircraft”.

Instead, he said Crichton lived in a tight-knit semi-rural community with a community Facebook site where, in the weeks leading up to the incident, he had seen talk about a drone that had been flying over properties in the area.

“There is no doubt there was a concern in that community and a reason for that concern,” Mr Sofra said.

He said Crichton had seen the drone two hours before the incident.

When he saw something flying overhead, he shone his laser, which was a scope for a firearm, at it.

“I think the intent was to locate where the drone may move,” Mr Sofra said.

“The suspicion was that it was scoping out properties for theft.”

Mr Sofra told the court Crichton quickly realised it was not a drone he was pointing at.

Magistrate Victoria Campbell seemed sceptical of this explanation.

“A drone and a police aircraft are very different things,” she said.

“You can tell it’s a drone. A police aircraft makes a different sound.”

Mr Sofra handed up character references for Crichton, with Leading Sen Constable Boote conceding that he was otherwise a person of good character.

However, Leading Sen Constable Boote said the consequences of the laser being pointed at the aircraft could be “catastrophic”.

She also noted that the Facebook reasoning was a “vigilante approach”.

“What would be more appropriate is to call 000 if there are any concerns,” she said.

Ms Campbell adjourned her sentence until later in September, saying she wanted to look at case law before making a decision.

“I cannot state enough how serious this is,” she said.

“This could have had catastrophic consequences and police were just doing their job.”