St George man charged with firearm offence

Bristol Crown Court has given a St George man 13 months in prison, suspended for two years after he threatened a group of men with a firearm in Lawrence Hill.

Marius Czarnecki of Clouds Hill Avenue pulled a ball-bearing gun and pointed it at a man during an argument in a carpark off Ducie Road at around 10:40am on 14 March.

The incident was filmed on a mobile phone by a member of the public. Mr Czarnecki and his two white companions got into their car, while at about the same time three men of Somalian descent got into another car. Both groups of men then got out and began arguing and pushing each other – this is when the member of the public began filming on their phone.

The video shows Mr Czarnecki pull the firearm out and wave it and point it at the men. The police pulled the car over less than 30 minutes later. The police searched the car and found the ball-bearing gun as well as an empty bottle of vodka. The defendant was found to have twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system.

Mr Czarnecki has previous convictions for both drink driving and wielding an imitation firearm. The defence pointed out that the two groups of men had shaken hands after the incident.