Man convicted of breaching domestic violence order has guns returned by SAT despite police objections

A shooting enthusiast who admitted to breaching a violence restraining order — and to taking pictures of his children alongside guns, ammunition and a bayonet — has had his firearms licence returned, despite objections from WA Police. The man, whose identity was kept secret by the State Administrative Tribunal, challenged a decision by Commissioner of Police Col Blanch that he was not a fit and proper person to legally own guns. And in a ruling that could be seen as a setback to the police crackdown on family violence offenders being permitted to keep their guns, SAT member Naomi Eagling ruled that police had gone too far and the man should have his gun license restored. Ms Eagling was counsel to the Commissioner of Police from January 2020 to August 2022. SAT hearings were told that the man and his former partner had been in an intimate relationship for nine years up until 2017, and had two children together. In 2022, after an acrimonious break-up with allegations of violence on both sides, the man was charged with five domestic violence offences, including one allegation of hitting the woman on the buttock with a beer bottle. The woman also applied for a family violence restraining order, which led to a Conduct Agreement Order — an order made with the consent of both sides. Four of the criminal charges were eventually dropped, and the fifth resulted in an acquittal after a trial. But in 2023, the man did admit to breaching the conduct order after sending a message to the woman via a parenting app. “Picked up your traits 100 per cent. Showing that she has already developed borderline personality disorder like you. You should be ashamed about what you have done to her. Absolute child abuse at its most,” the man wrote. He was fined $300 by a court. And in the days before that fine, the man applied to the SAT to have his firearms licence handed back — after it had been revoked by WA Police. That application was finally heard in July this year. During the hearing, lawyers for the police relied on photographs of the man’s children close to his guns. One showed his former stepdaughter holding a gun. Another showed the same girl sitting in front of a Ruger charger pistol, and also stacking ammunition. Another showed the man’s young son standing near a couch with multiple firearms nearby. The man was also pictured holding a bayonet rifle and other guns — which WA Police argued showed he “had a lax attitude to firearms safety” — and could be “prima facie evidence” of an offence. The man said it was quite the opposite. “The evidence of the applicant was that he was showing his children how to stand to attention in the photo of the bayonet as he used to do at army cadets,” the SAT stated. “In relation to the storage of his firearms more generally, the applicant’s evidence was that the firearms were only out of their secure storage whilst they were being cleaned and that he did not leave them at any point. “The applicant gave evidence that it was not uncommon for children to be around firearms if they are ‘in that world’.” “For example, the applicant spoke about his son B who went on to become the youngest member of a sporting shooters club at the age of 8 years old, due to his maturity and responsibility around firearms. “The applicant gave evidence that his exposure of the children to the firearms was to ensure they knew how to manage firearms safely, that they were always operated around adults and were never loaded.” In reaching her decision, Ms Eagling ruled that there was “no evidence that the photographs were taken in order to threaten or intimidate (the woman)“. And she concluded the breach of the order “did not arise in circumstances where there was any allegation of threatening behaviour or violent conduct.” “The correct and preferable decision is that the respondent’s decision to revoke the applicant’s licence should be set aside,” she said.