Josie Murray, the grandmother of four-year-old Gus Lamont, who has been missing for eight months, has been fined approximately £5,500 (10,500 Australian dollars) after pleading guilty to an aggravated firearms charge. The 75-year-old was penalised for possessing a sound moderator, commonly known as a gun silencer, following a hearing at Adelaide Magistrates' Court on Friday. She has also been disqualified from holding a firearms licence for five years.
The charge stemmed from a search conducted on 15th January at the family's Oak Park station homestead in South Australia's far north. Prosecutors informed the court that the silencer was discovered in a passcode-protected strongroom, alongside several firearms, one of which had been modified to accommodate the device. The court heard that Ms Murray had a previous conviction in 2010 for failing to securely store firearms, an incident that saw an unsecured weapon stolen by a trespasser who subsequently committed serious offences before taking his own life.
Defence lawyer Andy Ey acknowledged the profound distress the family has endured, particularly referencing the disappearance of Gus Lamont. He described the situation as an "extremely difficult time" for his client, highlighting the significant media and police attention surrounding the case. Mr Ey urged the magistrate to reject a custodial sentence, emphasising that the offence was not indicative of malicious intent, stating, "This isn't some James Bond movie where you've had a villain or an assassin walking around the corners taking out targets with little more than a whisper of a gun – that is not what the court is dealing with."
Gus Lamont was last seen on 27th September last year, playing at the Oak Park station. His disappearance triggered extensive searches across nearly 500 square kilometres, involving hundreds of police officers and volunteers, as well as aerial and mounted units. Despite these efforts, neither the boy nor any of his belongings have been found.
In February, South Australia police reclassified Gus's disappearance as a major crime, stating that someone residing at the station was considered a suspect in his likely death, though they explicitly stated his parents were not suspects. The grandmothers subsequently released a statement affirming their full cooperation with the investigation and expressing their deep desire to find Gus and reunite him with his parents.
This latest legal development, while unrelated to Gus's disappearance, adds another layer of complexity to the family's ongoing ordeal and underscores the strict regulations surrounding firearm ownership.
Source: The Guardian