What she did not know was that he had 16 other unregistered guns hidden in the shed of their West Wodonga home, where they were raising their five-year-old daughter.

Spengler, 36, has spent the past month in jail since his arrest on September 30, but was this week released on a community corrections order, with the condition to complete 200 hours of unpaid community work.

He pleaded guilty to 11 charges including possessing a traffickable quantity of firearms and handling stolen goods.

Detectives previously alleged he ran a safehouse for criminals to store and service their weapons, but barrister Brendan Murphy QC told Wodonga Magistrates Court that was not the case.

Police seized sawn-off rifles, stolen .22-calibre firearms, a semi-automatic handgun and the chassis of a military rifle stolen from the army in Queensland, which were all stored in a shed at Spengler’s home.

They also found 1.5 ounces of pure cannabis head, a taser, two knives and three daggers.

Serial numbers identified four of the guns as stolen from a Thurgoona property in June but Mr Murphy said they were given to Spengler by an old friend.

“He’s been asked to take them, clean them, hang onto them, and he did,” he said.

“There is no evidence the guns were moved once they were there.”

Spengler’s wife Casey gave evidence in court that her husband was never aggressive when it came to having firearms. “It’s something I never really liked, but he’s been so good with them for 10 years,” she said.

But she did tell the court Spengler smoked cannabis and drank everyday, spending $50 to $70 per day on alcohol, which occasionally led him to blackout and forget conversations.

Mr Murphy said Spengler had otherwise led a blameless life.

Magistrate Fran Medina said she accepted Spengler was remorseful and the offending was committed in the context of substance abuse.

”Your client has made very poor judgement in terms of his decision-making, taking these guns without much thought,” she said.

“I regard the offending as significant without any explanation.”

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