A man pointed a gun at the driver of a bin lorry after losing his temper over what he thought was the mess the refuse team had left behind. Liam James pointed the weapon at the binman for some 15 seconds before going back inside his house.
Police later recovered a black air rifle from James’ house. A judge at Swansea Crown Court described the 30-year-old’s actions as “grossly stupid” and as part of the sentence imposed a mental health treatment requirements on the defendant.
Georgia Donohue, prosecuting, said on the morning of June 9 last year a team of men were collecting recycling from the kerbside in Maes-y-Glyn in Lower Brynamman, Carmarthenshire, when they became aware of a male outside a property on the street “shouting and screaming” at them. She said the driver of the refuse lorry got out of the cab and approached the man – later identified as the defendant James – who began shouting about them leaving plastic items on his drive. The defendant then shouted “You think it’s funny? I’ll fetch my gun and shoot you” and with that he went back inside. The driver of the bin lorry returned to his vehicle and the men resumed collecting the recycling.
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The court heard shortly afterwards the driver of the lorry heard more shouting and saw James standing in his garden holding a “black rife” which he “slowly lowered” and pointed in his direction. The defendant then looked through the scope of the weapon and “took aim” at the driver, keeping the gun trained on him for around 15 seconds. The driver responded by calling on the defendant to fire but instead he retreated inside the house. The driver phoned his supervisor and the police before continuing on his rounds.
The court heard the police arrived 20 minutes later and arrested James and retrieved an air rifle from the property. The defendant was also found with a small amount of cannabis. A subsequent examination of the weapon found it to be in working order but unloaded. The court heard the driver of the recycling lorry had not provided a victim impact statement.
Liam James, now of Heol Twrch, Lower Cwmtwrch, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and to possession of cannabis when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has one previous conviction for three offences of harassment and sending threatening messages from 2020 for which he was given a community order. For the latest court reports, sign up to our crime newsletter here.
Judge Paul Thomas KC said on the day in question the defendant had lost his temper over what he considered the mess the refuse workers had made outside his house. He said whatever the rights or wrongs of that belief James’ reaction had been “grossly stupid”. The judge said the driver of the lorry was clearly “a man of some fortitude” who had called the defendant’s bluff and he said the lack of a victim impact statement meant he was not able to gauge the level of fear the victim had felt over and above that which was inherent in the offence.
With a one-third discount for his guilty plea James was sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for 18 months and was ordered to complete a mental health treatment requirement and rehabilitation course which will include the ‘Managing my emotions’ programme. No separate penalty was imposed for the cannabis matter. Judge Thomas said the community-based interventions which had been suggested in the pre-sentence were the best outcome for the public and for the defendant himself.
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