By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Narre Warren North man has been jailed after a gun silencer, a paintball gun and an assortment of other weapons were discovered during a police raid of his home on 27 July.
Nathan Lowson, 34, who was prohibited from possessing such weapons due to being on a corrections order, faced Dandenong Magistrates’ Court for sentencing on 7 May.
Among the items discovered during the raid were two Tasers, capsicum spray, double-edged throwing knives, a knuckleduster, a samurai sword and a stolen motorcycle.
A defence lawyer argued the accused was simply interested in weapons and hunting, with the swords and knives displayed on a wall at the time of the raid.
“It sounds disturbing. He’s someone who needs to mature in his interests,” the lawyer said.
“He’s someone who thinks it’s cool, if I can put it that way.”
The lawyer argued for Lowson to be given another chance for drug rehabilitation and up to 600 hours of community work on a CCO.
The tiler and landscaper had been “taken and ran with” a similar chance that was offered by the County Court.
On that occasion, he successfully appealed against a jail term. Instead the terms of his existing CCO were varied.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen said he could understand a collector’s interest in a samurai sword, but there was “no reason” to possess a silencer.
“You were a prohibited person, which you would have well known given you were on a County Court corrections order for similar offending.”
Lowson had to serve time in jail due to his previous prohibited weapons convictions in 2003, 2015 and 2016 as well as to deter others, Mr Vandersteen said.
He was jailed for six months followed by a 12-month supervised corrections order with drug and mental health treatment.
Lowson also pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified and while the drug ‘ice’ was in his system in January 2017.
He was disqualified from driving for nine months.
