False firearm threat results in spent conviction for Narrogin man

A Narrogin man has been fined after falsely claiming to have a firearm and threatening to shoot his neighbour. Presley Tatenda Chihuri, 30, pleaded guilty in Narrogin Magistrates Court on April 18 to one charge of wilfully misleading a member of the police force. Police prosecutor Sergeant Peter Yuswak claimed that on the morning of Saturday, February 25, Chihuri was at his home address with a group of people after drinking through the night. About 10am, Chihuri called 000 claiming he was going to get a firearm out of his safe and shoot his neighbour. Narrogin police attended and Chihuri repeated the claim, telling police that he would “shoot his neighbour in the face”. Due to the claims and the discovery that Chihuri is not a licensed firearm holder, police conducted a search of the home. No firearms were found and Chihuri retracted his claims, making an admission to police on March 1 that he had no firearms, had no access to firearms and that he had made the claim to ensure a quick police response and to then keep the officers at his house. In a statement read to the court, Chihuri claimed that about 30 people who he did not know had arrived at his house on the night of February 24. He further stated that there were a large number of people with weapons, that his neighbour had threatened him and that being unable to leave his house he made the firearm claim to keep the police at the premises on February 25. Magistrate Dianne Scadden told Chihuri that his actions were selfish. “You may have felt under threat but it’s a lie, you lied to the police to get them to do what you wanted them to do,” she said. “There may have been other jobs that police weren’t able to attend to. “What you’ve done is you’ve diverted police resources to keep them there.” Magistrate Scadden told Chihuri that he was fortunate that he had not been charged with creating a false belief, which could have resulted in a term of imprisonment. Chihuri was fined $700, ordered to pay court costs and was granted a spent conviction.