A Bendigo man who threatened to kill himself in front of his ex-partner and three of her friends has been fined nearly $10,000 for the drunken outburst.
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The man, who cannot be named to protect the identities of his victims, pleaded guilty in the Bendigo Magistrate's Court to multiple offences.
His crimes included threats to kill, carrying a firearm under the influence of alcohol and contravening a family violence intervention order.
The court heard on December 18, 2022 that the man was drinking at The Deck in Bendigo before he was asked to leave to leave for being drunk.
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After leaving the premises the man was then punched by another patron in the head.
After the fight he sent a photo via the Snapchat app to his ex-partner showing his own blood on his hands.
She told him to return to his Spring Gully home.
After arriving at the house walked around the house to the shed where he took a shotgun and ammunition out of a gun safe.
He then walked into the house where his ex-partner and three of her friends were spending the night, placed the gun on the kitchen counter and began loading it.
"I'm going to blow [his] head off," the man said.
The court heard the man's "ranting" lasted 20 minutes while the others in the house tried to calm him down.
After nearly half-an-hour of yelling the ex-partner told him she was leaving and taking their 14-year-old son with her, at which point the man threatened to kill himself.
"I'll shoot myself," the man said as he put the barrel of the weapon in his mouth.
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He was eventually calmed down at which point he unloaded and stored the shotgun back in its safe.
The incident was reported to police on December 26 and the man was then arrested and interviewed by police.
He told officers he was "pretty angry" and it was a "spur of the moment" incident.
Magistrate Ross Maxted said the episode was a "pretty significant act of violence" and given the man's drunk state the suicide attempt "could have well happened ... unintentionally."
Magistrate Maxted said a "simple" slip of the finger could have led to a "deeply traumatic" event for those in the room if the man had actually carried through with shooting himself in the head.
The man was fined $9750, ordered to undergo an adjourned undertaking which included six months of alcohol and drug counselling and 12 months of psychological counselling.
Magistrate Maxted told the man he must return to court in two years to show he has completed the professional help and he must have paid the fines by November 6.
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