A remorseful rural resident who shot down a commercial drone said to be worth nearly $500,000 has avoided a criminal conviction after explaining that he thought a thief was flying the expensive gadget.
Naas Valley man James Angus, 29, appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday for sentence on one charge of unauthorised use of a firearm.
Agreed facts tendered to the court reveal that on February 14 last year, Angus was preparing for his kangaroo cull licence marksmanship test at his home on a property in the territory's south.
Initially unbeknownst to him as he stood out the front with a bolt action rifle, three men were operating a pair of drones from a van parked out of sight near the property.
The men were working for Applus and using the gadgets to conduct routine inspections of powerlines as part of an Evoenergy contract.
The agreed facts say local landholders are ordinarily given prior warning before the drones are sent into the sky, but on this occasion there was no such notification.
Angus eventually heard the drones and spotted one hovering near a shed, leading him to believe someone was surveilling the property in an effort to find valuables that could later be stolen.
He had only just been burgled and police were actively warning landholders about criminals using drones to scope out rural properties.
Officers had encouraged Angus to report any suspicious drones, but with a loaded rifle already in hand he decided to take aim.
He fired a single bullet and knocked the drone out of the sky, "destroying [it] and damaging sensitive equipment attached to it".
Court documents do not place a monetary value on the drone and its associated equipment, but a well-placed source told The Canberra Times shortly after the incident that it was worth nearly $500,000.
According to an Evoenergy planning report from around the time in question, the company was trialling the use of drones equipped with advanced light detection and ranging technology.
"The level of detail and data that is captured by the LIDAR scan and photography of a drone flying at 30 metres above the ground is far greater than that of a helicopter flying at 300 metres above the ground," the report says.
Once the drone had been shot down, the Applus employees who had been operating it contacted police.
When interviewed at the Tuggeranong Police Station the next day, Angus "showed a significant amount of remorse and expressed a desire to make amends", according to the agreed facts.
His firearms licence was cancelled shortly after the incident, and in November last year Angus took part in restorative justice with Applus and Evoenergy.
As a result of his participation in the conference, a charge of damaging property was dropped.
At Angus' sentencing on the remaining charge on Thursday, his barrister Jason Moffett asked Magistrate Bernadette Boss not to record a conviction.
Mr Moffett tendered to the court an extensive bundle of character references and a letter written by Angus himself.
In the letter, Angus admitted that while he feared a thief was piloting the drone, he had made "an extreme error" in shooting it down.
He conceded that his actions had shown "blatant disrespect for the privilege of holding a firearms licence".
Prosecutor Michael Gemmell did not oppose the application for a non-conviction order, and Dr Boss agreed to make one.
The magistrate said having read through the material before the court, she could see the extent of Angus' contrition.
She also believed the episode had brought home to Angus the seriousness of his "error of judgment".
"Having a weapon is a privilege," Dr Boss told the 29-year-old, noting the necessity of guns in rural life.
"You can't just go shooting at anything and everything.
"As it happens, you've done a fair bit of damage."
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