DRUG dealer and career crook Scott Papworth was copping a "good hiding" from two men in the driveway of his home at Aberglasslyn when Dylan Gee appeared with a rifle and did something no one expected.
Gee had tagged along with the two other men - Jak Farmer and Dane Simms - as they drove from the Rutherford Hotel to Papworth's place in Golden Whistler Avenue on the night of March 9, 2021 to confront him for intimidating a woman over a drug debt.
Papworth was being punched and kicked on the ground, but had now regained his feet and was attempting to flee back inside when Gee suddenly "popped up" behind a car armed with a firearm.
He pointed the gun at Papworth's partner, told her to move out of the way and then shot Papworth in the stomach, the bullet shattering in his abdomen and nearly claiming his life.
Papworth was treated at the scene by paramedics before being flown to John Hunter Hospital in a critical condition.
He spent several weeks in an induced coma undergoing emergency surgery to repair organs damaged by the shattered bullet.
Gee - who was the subject of a manhunt before his arrest - had denied any involvement in the shooting and was expected to face a trial in August, 2024 on a number of serious firearm and assault charges.
But, after negotiations as part of the Newcastle District Court super callover, Gee appeared in court late last week and pleaded guilty to firing a firearm in a public place and recklessly causing grievous bodily harm after prosecutors agreed to withdraw the more serious charges.
He remains behind bars and will be sentenced in March.
The confrontation at Aberglasslyn was triggered by a chance meeting and conversation at the Rutherford Hotel earlier that night, when a woman told Farmer she had been intimidated by Papworth over an unpaid drug debt.
After telling the woman he would "sort it out", Farmer, Simms and Gee drove to Aberglasslyn to confront Papworth.
Farmer knocked on Papworth's door and the pair argued before Papworth was bashed and unexpectedly shot.
Judge Roy Ellis said the pair had no idea Papworth was going to be shot, but after fleeing in a Magna, which was later found on fire in Telarah, they concealed from police the identity of the shooter.
The pair pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company and concealing a serious indictable offence and were sentenced to time served.
For Farmer that was 14 months and Simms served 10 months before they were both granted conditional bail to enter a residential rehabilitation centre.
Meanwhile, if you had searched the court list last week you would have seen Papworth's name alongside Gee's.
The career crook and human headline - he has nearly died from being shot and set on fire and made national news when he racially abused two Muslim women in 2014 - and Jacob Crowe have pleaded guilty to attacking a drug dealer with a crowbar inside a home at Telarah on August 27 last year.
The pair will be sentenced in February.
