Man jailed for firearm offence

A man has been jailed for unlawful possession of a firearm.

People who use a firearm in public to diffuse a violent situation should expect jail, a Whangarei judge told a man arrested after an armed offenders squad callout in Maunu.

The incident closed part of Maunu for several hours.

Judge Greg Davis sounded the warning in the Whangarei District Court last week while jailing a Whangarei man for 18 months on a charge of unlawful possession of a pistol in a residential area. Liam Lomas, 20, earlier pleaded guilty. He appeared for sentencing on Friday.

Lomas was arrested in relation to the call-out at Willow Place, Maunu, on December 3 last year. Also arrested was Harley Whaanga, 26, who faces charges of attempted murder, vehicle theft and arson.

Lomas handed over a pistol to a man who was allegedly run over by a car driven by Whaanga. The man then allegedly fired three shots towards Whaanga.

Lomas' lawyer, Wiremu Puriri, submitted home detention was an appropriate sentence because his client gave the man who was allegedly run over a chance to defend himself with the pistol.

The pistol had been in Lomas' possession for a "fleeting" amount of time when there was a lot of tension in Willow Place, he said.

Mr Puriri said Lomas succumbed to the injured man's screams for the firearm so he could defend himself.

Judge Davis said any person who took a loaded firearm to a volatile situation should expect jail.

"This is use of a firearm in an urban setting where the potential for members of the public to be harmed or even get killed cannot be overstated."