Shooter no-show triggers warrant

Tyra Allen.

A WOMAN who used a sawn-off shotgun to shoot up her ex-partner's rival's car at Neath has again failed to appear in court, with a magistrate issuing another warrant for her arrest.

Tyra Allen, 22, was wanted for a number of months in 2020 after she failed to appear in court on charges of firing a firearm in a manner likely to injure, possession of a shortened firearm and firing a firearm into a building or inclosed lands. And despite her failure to appear in court and the months she spent avoiding police, when Allen was finally arrested she was granted conditional bail. She pleaded guilty in January to firing a firearm into a building or inclosed lands after the DPP agreed to withdraw the more serious charges. The charge carries a maximum of 14 years in jail in the district court, but the DPP had agreed to prosecute the matter in the local court, where Allen faces a lesser maximum penalty.

But when it came time for her to be sentenced in Newcastle Local Court on Friday, Allen was a no-show, with Magistrate Janine Lacy waiting until 11.30am for her to appear before convicting her in her absence and issuing a warrant for her arrest.

Allen had admitted to discharging the firearm into her ex-partner's rival's car in the driveway of a home at Cessnock Road at Neath on August 25, 2019.

Allen had allegedly been provided the weapon by her ex-partner, Hayden Waters, who had allegedly instructed her to "shoot up" the man's house over an ongoing feud between the pair.

Allen told police she decided against shooting up the 23-year-old man's house and fired into a silver Holden Commodore instead, smashing the windows.

Strike Force Agist detectives say they launched an investigation in August, 2019, after a man at home in Neath heard a loud bang and went outside to find a vehicle badly damaged and bullet holes in the passenger side door. Detectives arrested Allen in January last year.

Mr Waters has pleaded not guilty to giving the shortened firearm to Allen and the matter is listed in Newcastle District Court on Wednesday.