A Wodonga man who lied to get a border permit then was found with a fake pistol in his car has been given one last chance to avoid jail.
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Jaydan Waihaki Nuku initially failed to front Albury Local Court, leading to his lawyer withdrawing.
He eventually made contact and turned up in the afternoon, when magistrate Richard Funston demanded to know why he hadn't answered bail.
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Nuku claimed he was waiting outside the courthouse.
But defence lawyer Bronte Winn, after dropping him as a client, said that just wasn't the case.
Earlier, the court was told a charge of possessing an unregistered firearm or pistol had been withdrawn.
He previously pleaded guilty to charges including not provide or give false information at a COVID-19 border checkpoint, custody of an offensive weapon in a public place and possess an unauthorised pistol.
Nuku's blue Ford Focus was pulled over at the checkpoint on Wodonga Place in South Albury on September 18 about 8.30am.
Nuku, 27, produced a permit in the category of "child access and child arrangement" that named two dependents.
He claimed he had just dropped-off his two children at a Wodonga address and was returning home to Griffith.
Nuku was directed to a secondary site in Ebden Street so his permit could be further investigated.
When asked to name the children, he came up with a name different to the two on the permit.
He couldn't recall his second child's name, then came up with yet another different name to that listed on the permit.
Nuku also couldn't remember their dates of birth, though said they were aged five and three.
No child seats in the back of the car made police suspicious, as did his increasingly nervous behaviour including "fidgeting with his clothing and crotch".
Police found an imitation "Glock 17" pistol, a butterfly knife, a wooden mace with fixed screws at the end and a folding knife, along with illicit drug paraphernalia.
Nuku will be sentenced on April 14.
