Man's meth-fuelled firearms offending caused order to arm police

Man jailed at Christchurch District Court for random firearms offences. Photo / Herald

An out-of-control meth addict whose random firearm offences caused police to be armed all over Canterbury three years ago, has been jailed for two years and six months.

Jed Mathew Waghorn, 28, had already been held in custody for 842 days ahead of his Christchurch District Court sentencing - so he has effectively served the whole sentence without parole. He also spent time on electronically monitored bail.

He will go before the Parole Board but he can probably expect a rapid release.

Judge Raoul Neave told him: "There is an increasing use of firearms generally in the community. It is a matter about which the courts and the community are rightly concerned. Those who use firearms in public places can expect little sympathy from the courts."

Waghorn was arrested in June 2019 and charged with 18 offences over an 18-day period. He was described at the time as a plasterer, of no fixed abode.

Judge Neave made an allowance at the sentencing for the methamphetamine addiction which held Waghorn in its grip at the time.

"It is abundantly plain that for quite some considerable time you suffered from severe addiction to methamphetamine and that has led you to behave in ways that are disordered and irrational.

"Until you were free of the drug during the trial process, you really weren't able to be dealt with rationally. The way in which you present, and deal with the court and the authorities, has now changed significantly."

Waghorn's firearms offending took place a few months after the Christchurch mosque terror attacks. His offending triggered an order for police to be armed across the district.

In the end, he pleaded guilty to all the charges.

He tried to steal a car from a yard, and when a resident and the owner investigated, he presented a .22 pistol.

He fired several shots at a park in Avonside including one shot that hit close to where someone was walking. Waghorn took that charge to trial - causing a long delay in the resolution of his offending - but pleaded guilty when it was accepted that he had been firing random shots and did not know someone was there.

He pointed a pistol at another vehicle he was overtaking.

He also faced multiple charges of driving while disqualified, resisting arrest, breach of prison release conditions and failing to stop for the police. He was disqualified from driving for a total of 15 months from when he originally admitted those charges, but the term has already expired.

Judge Neave imposed the two year and six month jail sentence on charges of presenting a firearm, and unlawful possession of the firearm and ammunition.