A PAXTON man who shot a stranger over a drug debt owed to his sister's boyfriend has been jailed for a maximum of eight years, a judge lamenting his "inexplicable" decision to pull the trigger and painting a "bleak" picture of his future.
He had no connection to the victim and the debt he was helping recoup was only $1900, but on Australia Day last year Darcy Morgan armed himself with a loaded rifle and went to a remote property on the mid-north coast to back up his sister's partner, Mathew Llewellyn, and confront the victim.
But even after Llewellyn had left the property empty handed, Darcy "inexplicably" remained, eventually shooting the victim in the arm at close range.
Being shot made Darcy even more hypervigilant and impulsive and was linked directly to his decision to pull out the gun and shoot the victim on Australia Day, the court heard.
"It was either me or him," Darcy told a psychiatrist. "I didn't know if he had a gun or not and I grabbed my gun and I shot him."
But Judge Girdham said she struggled to accept Darcy truly believed he was in danger, and his decision was to either "shoot or be shot", noting the victim was not behaving aggressively and was simply telling him to get off his property.
She found there was a connection between the shooting and his PTSD diagnosis and drug addiction, which combined to produce a "disproportionate response".
Darcy, who was on parole at the time of the shooting for another shooting, this one a 2018 conviction for firing at a house, had pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
While his sister, Tessa Morgan, had admitted to being an accessory after the fact to the shooting for burning parts of the rifle in a backyard fire pit at Cessnock.
Judge Girdham on Thursday jailed Darcy Morgan for a maximum of eight years, with a non-parole period of five years and three months, making him eligible for parole in 2028.
He has a long history of drug addiction, mental health issues and is in danger of becoming institutionalised and Judge Girdham painted a sad picture of his future if he didn't rehabilitate.
"Unless he embraces every opportunity he can then his future is bleak," Judge Girdham said. "He will reoffend and given his propensity to arm himself with loaded firearms the consequences for himself and the community could be catastrophic."
Tessa Morgan was serving an intensive corrections order for supplying drugs on an ongoing basis and hindering an investigation at the time she helped cover up her brother's involvement in the shooting.
She has since had her ICO revoked and been jailed for perverting the course of justice.
And on Thursday, she was jailed for a maximum of two years, with a non-parole period of 15 months after pleading guilty to being an accessory after the fact to the shooting.
She will not be eligible for parole until May, 2025.
Llewellyn was in February jailed for a maximum of two years and three months, with a non-parole period of 15 months for charges relating to an armed confrontation before the shooting.
