A MAN who shot and nearly killed Scott Papworth while he was being bashed outside his home at Aberglasslyn in 2021 claims he thought the career crook and drug dealer was "going for a weapon" and "blacked out" before pulling the trigger.
Papworth was copping a "good hiding" from two men in the driveway of his home in Golden Whistler Avenue on the night of March 9, 2021 when Dylan Gee suddenly appeared with a rifle.
Gee had driven the two men - Jak Farmer and Dane Simms - from the Rutherford Hotel to Papworth's place about 9.40pm to confront him over Papworth intimidating a woman over a drug debt.
Papworth had been punched and kicked on the ground, but regained his feet and was attempting to flee back inside when Gee shot him 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.
"I felt like he was going for a weapon," Gee gave evidence in Newcastle District Court on Monday. "I was worried he was going to return with a weapon of his own and then either me or my mates would be shot."
Gee said he had tagged along with the other two men to "chat" to Papworth and there was no plan "for any serious violence".
"It just got out of hand," Gee said. "In the moment it happened I wasn't thinking clearly, before I realised what I had done I'd already shot Mr Papworth. "The adrenaline was pumping, I was fuelled by alcohol and drugs and it just happened. "And then I thought: 'shit what have I done'."
Gee, who is now 31 and institutionalised after spending ten of the last 11 years behind bars, was on Monday jailed for a maximum of five years and six months, with a non-parole period of two years and nine months.
With time served, including concurrently with a jail term Gee received for possession of other firearms, he will be eligible for parole in March, 2025.
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 pleaded guilty in November to firing a firearm in a public place and recklessly causing grievous bodily harm after prosecutors agreed to withdraw the more serious charges.
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.
Meanwhile, Papworth, who has survived being shot and set on fire, was earlier this year jailed for a maximum of four years for bashing another drug dealer in the head with a crowbar.
