A young man who decided to spend $20 on a toy gun has told a magistrate he had "no idea" about the trouble it would land him in.
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Zachary Kirby, 18, appeared in Wagga Local Court after pleading guilty to possessing an unauthorised pistol, not keeping a firearm safely and acquire a firearm without a licence or permit.
On November 25, the Glenfield Park man was at residential home walking behind a friend when he produced a manual gel blaster gun in his right hand.
He pointed the muzzle towards the back of the other man's head before pointing it towards the home's CCTV camera. His friend turned around to face him but was not startled, documents tendered to the court said.
The incident was later reported to police.
Officers got hold of the footage and identified Kirby, and met with him on December 4, where he told them that the firearm was a "fake gun" and showed it to them.
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Kirby told police that he didn't think to make the family concerned and that his friend "even knew I was joking around".
When police questioned Kirby about how a witness would perceive his actions, he stated, "they'd think I'm holding a real gun, I guess", and "they'd feel unsafe".
Kirby's solicitor said it was a case of "extreme immaturity rather than malevolence".
"My client has now developed some insights into the effect it would have had on any witnesses," they said.
"Certainly on the lower end of offending ... no risk of it happening again
"He handed it over to them [police] and made full admissions."
Magistrate Christopher Halburd said this "$20 toy is going to cost him a lot of money".
"You had no idea this could land you in jail for 14 years, did you," he asked Kirby.
"I had no idea," he replied.
In handing down his sentence, Magistrate Halburd said Kirby thought it "was all a game", and the friend knew it was a toy.
"People have gone to jail for this," he said.
"Clearly, you were just using it as a toy ... we need to get the message out there that if people have these things, they're going to get fines or maybe go to prison."
Kirby has been placed on a six-month community corrections order and has to pay $1000 in fines.
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