A man charged over a child's unintentional shooting death might fight his firearms offences, a lawyer revealed outside court.
Zafer Halwani has been charged with allowing an unauthorised person to possess a firearm and unsafe gun keeping after a nine-year-old boy was accidentally shot in the neck at a property in Windellama, south of the NSW town of Goulburn.
Halwani, 33, appeared at Goulburn Local Court on Wednesday morning for his first appearance.
Dressed in a brown collared shirt and black slacks, he kept his eyes on the court floor as the legal proceedings played out.
Police have indicated to his lawyers there could be further investigations over more charges, which made his legal team reluctant to enter an official plea, the court was told.
But Halwani would likely plead not guilty to both offences, his lawyer said as they left the courthouse.
Emergency services were called to the rural NSW property on April 13 to treat the nine-year-old but the boy died at the scene.
Police set up a strike force to investigate the incident and also charged a 14-year-old boy with possessing an unauthorised firearm.
The teenager has been granted conditional bail and will appear before a children's court on Friday.
Goulburn MP Wendy Tuckerman previously said the region was in pain after the boy's death.
"This is an unspeakable tragedy and my heart goes out to the family and loved ones affected - the entire Goulburn community will be feeling this loss," she said.
Halwani's case will return to court on July 9.
The rate of firearm-related injuries and deaths was four to six times higher in remote and very remote areas, according to a 2017 fact sheet from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
