May 14, 2008

Former Epitaph Rider on weapons charge

By David Clarkson

A former member of the Epitaph Riders ? now a businessman owning two companies ? has got home detention and community work after police found a cache of illegal and stolen firearms and a tazer at his home.

Judge Michael Crosbie voiced scepticism about Aaron David Thayer?s activities, wondering whether his companies provided a ?cloak of respectability? for offending.

Thayer had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful possession of the weapons, and receiving stolen property ? the firearms had been stolen in the burglary of a Halswell house in April last year.

In 1998, he served 18 months for unlawful possession of a restricted weapon, and his last offending was in 2001.

But defence counsel Hamish Evans described him as ?a man of remarkable diligence and intelligence? who had left his Epitaph Riders associations behind and had set up two companies which employed six people.

He urged that home detention be granted in place of jail so that the companies and the jobs would not be put at risk, and Thayer could continue with the full-time custody of his 11-year-old son and the shared custody of his daughters.

He asked the judge to accept that the tazer was a low-powered stun gun, in poor condition, and would have been of little use.

Crown prosecutor Kathy Bell said there was concern about home detention being allowed because the offending had occurred at home.

Judge Crosbie said police had searched Thayer?s Kaiapoi address on August 28 and found a PVC tube full of weapons in his garage. The weapons were:

A 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol used by police and the military and worth about $1000. The box for the pistol was found in Thayer?s bedroom.
A high-powered .347 Ruger Magnum revolver worth $1000.
A .223 calibre bolt-action rifle with scope, worth $4400.
A lever action Winchester rifle worth $900.
A tazer found in a wine rack in the house.
Two .22 calibre rifles and ammunition which were not in the package.

A $1400 flat screen television stolen in a Christchurch burglary in 2007 was also found in the house.

Thayer told police he had reluctantly agreed to look after the PVC container overnight for an acquaintance. He worried about it, looked inside it and found the guns.

But the judge said: ?The circumstances surrounding this offending don?t paint an innocent picture.?

By receiving the weapons and holding them for someone, Thayer had become part of an illegitimate industry in which restricted weapons were stolen, hidden, and shifted around.

He said home detention alone would not be sufficient deterrent and denunciation for Thayer?s offending. He imposed 10 months of home detention, 260 hours of community work, and granted the police request for the weapons to be destroyed.