Stun guns bought online and imported from abroad are classed as prohibited firearms, High Court prosecutors have reminded the public.
Anyone owning one runs the risk of a lengthy prison sentence.
The warning came after a 35-year-old man was jailed for five years at the High Court in Edinburgh after being convicted of discharging a stun gun in a children’s skatepark.
Jamie Garrity, of Prestonpans, East Lothian, was sentenced after being found guilty of discharging a devise disguised as a small torch in June 2020.
His conviction came amid a rash of such offences in Tayside and Fife.
Local people sentenced.
Stun guns are deemed illegal firearms under the Firearms Act 1968 section 5, which deals with weapons capable of the “discharge of any noxious liquid, gas or other thing” – in this instance, an electric discharge.
Possessing a disguised illegal stun gun attracts a mandatory five-year sentence, although there are exceptional circumstances which can see this reduced.
The Courier’s court-reporting team has covered numerous cases in the last couple of years in which stun gun possession has featured prominently
In April 2021, Angus man Thomas Scott was caught hoarding “police” stun guns and given the mandatory five-year prison sentence.
Scott bought the weapons – disguised as torches – from an online shop and told police he did not know they were illegal.
In June of the same year, former footballer Terry Connell was given the same sentence after being spotted in Dundee with a similar device.
Receiving a lesser sentence – 22 months – was Dundee taxi driver Scott Cuthill, who was found with a stun gun, which was not disguised, in August this year.
Even luckier was Suzanne Neave, a convicted drug dealer from Montrose.
She readily admitted having a stun gun disguised as a mobile phone when police visited her flat for another reason and the sheriff in her case said a jail term would be “disproportionate”.
Imposing a home curfew, Sheriff Alistair Carmichael said: “The accused… volunteered information about the weapon to police and took them to her home to allow them to recover the weapon.
“A custodial sentence would likely lead to the loss of her flat and the new-found stability in her life.
“Five years would be an arbitrary and disproportionate sentence.”
Another fortunate weapon owner was 33-year-old Rosyth man John Daly who bought two stun guns disguised as torches for his parents from Wish.com.
They were intercepted by Border Force officers and Daly’s lawyer told Dunfermline Sheriff Court this month how surprised he was by their ready availability online.
He was given unpaid work.
One-time YouTube music star Brendan MacFarlane escaped the five-year term due to his personal circumstances but was jailed for 30 months at the High Court in Edinburgh earlier in December.
In the Garrity case, the court heard he was “showing off” and had been witnessed sparking the taser “twenty or thirty times”.
Prosecutor’s warning
Ruth McQuaid, Procurator Fiscal for High Court, welcomed the sentence and said it should send out a strong public message over the use of stuns guns disguised as everyday items.
She said: “It’s important that people who shop online for these items realise that under the law, they are regarded as prohibited firearms.
“They are dangerous and carry a severe risk of serious injury if discharged in public places.
“This sentence reflects the gravity of the offence and we would urge people to be aware of the legal implications of buying them.
“The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service will continue to apply the law in this area to ensure that communities are properly safeguarded and that individuals are kept free from potential harm.”
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