Woman (24) who pointed air rifle in the air 'during brouhaha' is ordered to do Community Service
A 24-year-old woman who pointed a .22 air rifle in the air and pulled the trigger during a "brouhaha" has been ordered to do 80 hours of Community Service.
At Ballymena Magistrates Court, Kelsie Marrable, with an address listed as Montague Park in Ballymena, pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing a firearm 'in suspicious circumstances' on May 20 last year.
She had no previous convictions. A defence solicitor told an earlier court it was a "highly technical offence".
He told that court: "There was a brouhaha. An individual came out of a building with a gun. There was a struggle with someone else. The gun was dropped. She picked it up and attempted to discharge it in the air to empty it and that is a technical possession of it."
A prosecutor told the earlier court the firearm had "nothing in it" and added: "She fired it, it wasn't loaded and then she put it down."
The prosecutor said the defendant admitted being in possession of the firearm "during the argument and to discharging it, albeit that nothing then comes out. It was into the air and not aimed at anyone. It was a technical discharge of a firearm".
Incident Happened
The defendant was in court for sentencing on Thursday where a prosecutor said an incident happened at 3.30pm on May 20 last year.
The prosecutor said the defendant arrived at an address. There was a "disturbance between a number of parties".
The prosecutor said there was "video footage" of the incident in which the defendant "handled a .22 air rifle during the altercation".
The prosecutor added: "There was an altercation between a number of people. She had a firearm and she holds it up in the air and she discharges it. There are no rounds in it. It was in the air and it wasn't aimed at anyone."
The prosecutor said she believed the air rifle belonged to a "landlord" and there had been "some issue with the property".
A defence solicitor said it had previously been "erroneously reported in the press that this was a shotgun". The solicitor said it was an "air rifle". District Judge Nigel Broderick said: "It is still a firearm."
The solicitor said the defendant got "caught up" in an "incident" and "reacted in an incidence of stress in a very impulsive way which she now deeply regrets".
The solicitor said it "seems highly unlikely that this is a woman who will ever come before any court again. As well as being assessed as a low likelihood of reoffending she has demonstrated remorse, full accountability".
Judge Broderick said: "Obviously any offence involving a firearm is a serious matter because the potential for injury, if not worse, is always there."
He said the defendant had expressed remorse and it "appears to have been a one-off incident".
The judge added: "It is described as 'a foolish decision made in a moment of fear and distress'."