By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A BERWICK ice-addict has been found by police with a sawn-off shotgun under his car seat and live cartridges in his underpants – a situation described by a judge as “chilling”.
Dandenong-based magistrate Barry Schultz, in jailing Adam Rouget for 12 months, said the firearm used at close range was the “most potent deadly weapon”.
“It’s a weapon to kill.
“In the hands of someone on ice, it’s utterly chilling.”
Rouget pleaded guilty to possessing the weapon and cartridges, as well as to offences including theft of a motor vehicle, stealing petrol, assault and breaching a community corrections order.
Police had discovered the shotgun and cartridges when they pulled over a stolen Mitsubishi Magna in Narre Warren in August last year.
The driver told police that his mother had bought the car from “an Indian male in Burwood”, police prosecutor Senior Constable Fiona Davis told Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Rouget was in the passenger seat, under which the shotgun was discovered during a police search.
When asked by police why he had the weapon and cartridges, Rouget said he was being “enthusiastic”.
“I wanted to see what it was like.”
The court was told that some of Rouget’s offending occurred five weeks into a 12-month community corrections order.
The CCO had been handed down in December 2013 for two counts of unlawful assault, possessing prohibited weapons such as long arms, theft of a motor vehicle, driving while suspended and retention of stolen goods.
Rouget had not completed any community work or “any condition” of the order, the court was told.
Defence lawyer Rachel Hopkins said Rouget had shown a willingness to engage in a rehabilitation program to overcome his ice addiction.
“We’re not shying away from the compliance not being acceptable but positive steps have been undertaken.”
Ms Hopkins said Rouget’s drug use became an obvious issue in late 2013 when he lost his business.
The court was told that Rouget tried to assault Hampton Park service-station attendants with a screwdriver after they confronted him over a suspected petrol drive-off in June 2014.
During the altercation, he drove a silver Ford Territory at one of the attendants, stopping one metre short.
He also pleaded guilty to stealing petrol from a Scoresby servo in December, and failing to return a hired van in August.
The van was found abandoned in Mt Waverley the following month.
He was also charged with assault and breaching an intervention order protecting his estranged wife at a Hallam servo in January.
Magistrate Barry Schultz said it was a “tragic circumstance” that ice had destroyed Rouget’s life and his family relationships but was concerned by the combination of drugs and firearms.
“When a man’s found with a sawn-off shotgun and two live cartridges in his underwear, you don’t have to be a Rhode’s Scholar to join the dots.”
He set a non-parole period of six months, including 84 days already spent remanded in custody.
Rouget next appears on another matter at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 13 August.
