A man who bought a stun gun disguised as a mobile phone to play practical jokes on pals has been fined £1,500.
Callum Flood, 24, of Dundee, was ordered to pay the cash following a hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Flood, of Mossgiel Place, was facing a five-year jail term under tough firearms laws.
He pleaded guilty at the High Court in April last year to illegally possessing a firearm the previous May the offence under the Firearms Act carries a minimum mandatory five-year prison sentence as laid down by Parliament unless exceptional circumstances are established.
Judge Lord Brodie decided to spare him prison because he was convinced that there were exceptional circumstances in the case.
Lord Brodie ordered Flood to pay the fine at the rate of £50 per week.
The story emerged after a hearing which was held at the High Court last year.
Flood was detained by police after they were called to a house in Dundee following an altercation.
Flood was restrained and handcuffed and an officer asked him if he had anything which could cause harm and he replied: “No”.
He was searched and an item that appeared to be a mobile phone was found in a pocket of his jeans but an onlooker called out that it was a Taser.
At the earlier hearing, Lord Brodie said: “The policy here is that people are to be deterred from possessing firearms or any weapon which can be regarded as a firearm.
“In the current case, I have come to the conclusion that exceptional circumstances do exist. In particular, I have had regard to the fact that this was a non-lethal weapon. It is a harmful weapon but the harm it can achieve is limited.
“Your intention, which I accept, was to use it as a means of carrying out practical jokes and indeed you had tested it already on yourself.”
Lord Brodie said he also accepted that Flood did not understand that possessing the weapon was unlawful.
He said he took into account that there was no device for recharging the electric shock weapon and that Flood said he did not intend to use it for criminal purposes.”
The judge said he would defer sentence on Flood for a year and the accused was back in front of him yesterday for sentence.
The court heard that Flood, who had been drinking, was at a party at a friend’s house before heading to his girlfriend’s home.
He said that he had paid £10 for the mobile phone stun gun to a friend and said that they had been “zapping” each other.
He added: “I thought it was a toy. I just bought it from a friend as I was leaving the party. I thought it would be a good practical joke.”
Yesterday, defence solicitor advocate Iain Paterson urged Lord Brodie not to jail his client. Lord Brodie agreed and ordered the fine to be paid within the year.