The grandmother of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont has been fined $10,500 after admitting to a firearms offence unrelated to the boy\u2019s disappearance eight months ago.<\/p>\n
Josie Murray was fined $10,500 after a hearing in Adelaide magistrates court on Friday, where she pleaded guilty to one aggravated charge of possessing a sound moderator \u2013 a device better known as a gun silencer.<\/p>\n
The 75-year-old was charged after a search of the family\u2019s Oak Park station homestead, in South Australia\u2019s far north, on 15 January.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Tania Stevens told the court the silencer was located inside a passcode-protected strongroom alongside several firearms, including one that was modified to fit it.<\/p>\n
She said Murray was previously convicted in 2010 for falling to securely store firearms, after a fugitive trespassed on to the property and stole an unsecured firearm.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat person then went on to commit serious offending with the firearm before taking his own life,\u201d Stevens said.<\/p>\n
Josie Murray leaves the Adelaide magistrates court on Friday. Photograph: Michael Errery\/AAP<\/p>\n
Defence lawyer Andy Ey said two non-working firearms had been taken, while a third one was taken from Murray\u2019s aunt\u2019s property later that day. He said the trespasser used that third firearm to take his own life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was an extremely traumatic incident for the entire family, with my client\u2019s aunty being held hostage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ey also addressed what he described as \u201cthe elephant in the room\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been an extremely difficult time for my client. A grandchild went missing on the property late last year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see the media attention and number of police here \u2013 this has been a very, very difficult time for the family, trying to get through as best they can.\u201d<\/p>\n
He urged the magistrate Roderick Jensen to reject the prosecution\u2019s call for a custodial sentence for the offence, which carried a maximum penalty of $75,000 or up to 10 years in jail.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t some James Bond movie where you\u2019ve had a villain or an assassin walking around the corners taking out targets with little more than a whisper of a gun \u2013 that is not what the court is dealing with,\u201d Ey said.<\/p>\n
Jensen imposed a fine of $10,500 and disqualified Murray from holding a firearms licence for five years.<\/p>\n
Gus was last seen by one of his grandmothers playing at the family\u2019s Oak Park station on 27 September.<\/p>\n
On 5 February, South Australia police declared the boy\u2019s disappearance a major crime and said someone living at the station was a suspect in the case and his likely death. But they stressed his parents were not suspects.<\/p>\n