A woman has been jailed after police found two stolen 12 gauge shotguns, stolen from a Forest Reefs property in September 16 2021, buried in pvc pipes in a back yard.
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Jodie Biles, 34, of Algona Crescent, has launched a severity appeal after being sentenced to jail in Orange Local Court for failing to notify police that her former partner hid the guns in the yard, as well as for possession of an unauthorsied and unregistered pistol.
Magistrate David Day said both were serious offences.
"They were 12 gauge shotguns, I don't need to have any imagination on what 12 gauge shotguns do because I own one," Mr Day said.
"Both matters are appalling, the pistol is particularly appalling."
According to police, officers attended an Orange address on November 22, 2021, after receiving information that Biles, who had been a guest at the property, had been seen digging in a garden bed four days earlier.
Police found a pvc pipe just below the surface in one of the garden beds.
The pipe was capped at both ends and when it was opened at Orange Police Station police found a Winchester pump action shot gun and a sawn-off Sterling shotgun.
They also found a number of 12 gauge shotgun rounds wrapped in plastic and a tea towel.
Biles fingerprint was also found on tape that was used to secure the shotgun shells.
The shotguns were stolen from a property at Forest Reefs on September 16, 2021, and neither of the firearms had visible serial numbers.
Biles was arrested on December 24 and admitted she knew her ex-partner, who is known to police, had buried them in the yard.
Biles' DNA was also found on the handgrip of a pistol that was found hidden in a cupboard at an Orange AirBnB property in 2021.
Police were responding to a break and enter at the house on June 6 when they found the antique six shooter revolver wrapped in a singlet in the garage of the property.
Mr Day said he needed to have regard for community safety and general deterrence. "This criminal behaviour requires punishment," he said.
He sentenced Biles to a total of three years and six months of jail with a two year and six month non-parole period, back-dated to December 24, 2021.
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