Police have not been able to prove who fired a gun out of a car in Corryong’s main street, but one of the men linked to the crime has pleaded guilty.
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Giampietro Francioli was due to appear at a contested hearing on Wednesday over the May 4 incident, but instead entered a plea of guilty to reckless conduct by assisting, encouraging or directing to discharge a firearm.
The allegations against Francioli had been amended, as while police had text messages from the accused’s phone showing he had arranged to meet up with the victim who had a gun pointed at him, and that the car from which the firearm was produced was Francioli’s, prosecutors had no evidence proving who fired the gun.
The firearm itself was never found by police.
Barrister Peter Chadwick said credit needed to be given to Francioli for entering a guilty plea, and pointed out he had already served nearly five months in custody.
In arguing for no more than a community corrections order for his client, Mr Chadwick explained Francioli’s last priors were 13 years ago when he was a young man, which followed a difficult time in his life.
“His father was an Italian migrant who came to Australia in 1962 and his mother was born in Yackandandah,” he said.
“He grew up in Tawonga on a tobacco and cattle farm.
“When he was 13, his mother died – she had a heart attack – and he was the one who found her body.
“It threw the family into chaos.
“At the age of 16, his brother was murdered.
“Eight months later his father was killed ... in an industrial farming accident.”
Mr Chadwick said Francioli had then gone off the rails and became involved in activities that his “good, hard-working Italian father” would not have approved of.
“It had been 13 years since he had any contact with Corrections,” he said.
Francioli will not serve any more jail time, with his sentence being the 146 days already served in custody, but Magistrate John Murphy also imposed a two-year community corrections order with conditions including drug and alcohol testing.
“You’ve been assessed as high-risk, which is an indication to pull your head in,” Mr Murphy said.
The 34-year-old will return to Wodonga Court on May 23 for another matter in which his brother is the co-accused, regarding bullets allegedly found when police searched a car they were in not long after the incident in which a firearm was discharged.
They are both on bail until such time.
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