Geraldton dad Daniel John Prunster pointed gun at daughter and posted picture of baby with ammunition belt

A Geraldton father in the running for dumbest dad of the year took a picture of himself pointing a shotgun at his young daughter as well as posting another with an ammunition belt placed across his infant son inside a cot. The reckless idiocy of Daniel John Prunster, 25, came to light when he pleaded guilty in Geraldton Magistrate’s Court to a string of charges, including failing to adequately store firearms, pointing a firearm at another person and possessing cannabis. In a case which police described as a “disaster just waiting to happen”, Prunster’s cavalier attitude to firearm safety was uncovered after officers found 68 rounds of ammunition and 14g of cannabis in his partner’s car. Officers then searched his home where they discovered 10 rounds of .223 ammunition, a single shotgun round, and .223 rounds near the gun safe in the main bedroom wardrobe, which did not have a separate compartment for ammunition, as required under law. A belt containing 25 rounds of shotgun ammunition, a .22 and .223 magazine containing live ammunition, were also found under furniture around the room, along with 40g of cannabis. A mobile phone was also seized, on which a photo was uncovered showing Prunster pointing a shotgun at a child, with the girl holding a rifle. The photo was timestamped April 2020. Prunster’s lawyer Amy Bowlay said the child was his young daughter, just 15 months old at the time, and he was showing her the proper way to hold a firearm while he had taken it out to clean and had removed the bolts and ammunition. In February, a photograph posted to Prunster’s Facebook page, left, showed a baby with a belt of ammunition draped across it, with the caption: “My nugget trying to be a Russian.” The father of two, below, is a licensed firearm holder of a .22-calibre and a .223-calibre rifle, as well as a 12-gauge shotgun, and faces having his licence revoked by the court. Police prosecutor Sgt Troy Gildersleeve said the photograph tendered in court clearly displayed irresponsible behaviour. “The rule is to treat all firearms as dangerous and he has (not done this),” he said. “The gun cabinet key was in the vehicle and ammunition was scattered around. It was a recipe for disaster just waiting to happen. His negligence could have resulted in a fatal accident.” Police have requested the destruction of the firearms, ammunition and cannabis and applied to have Prunster’s firearms licence revoked. Ms Bowlay told the court Prunster used the firearms to go hunting and for “cultural reasons”, as well as for controlling vermin around his home and other properties, for which he was paid. She said Prunster acknowledged there were safety issues with how he had failed to store the ammunition and firearms, but it was not an ongoing habit as he had come home at 1.30am that day and did not put them away properly “because it was so early”. Ms Bowlay said Prunster admitted the photo appeared to be dangerous, but argued it was not. She said Prunster was the sole provider for his family, which included his two-year-old and five-month-old children. Magistrate Chris Miocevich will sentence Prunster on April 19. After his arrest, Prunster admitted online he “needed a wake-up call”. “I’m ready for a change in my life,” he said.