US woman who wanted to be clown jailed for entering Australia with 24-carat golden gun
Liliana Goodson told the court she brought the pistol for her protection
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Your support makes all the difference.An Australian court sentenced an American woman to 12 months in jail for sneaking in a gold-plated gun in her luggage last year.
Liliana Goodson, 30, pleaded guilty to charges of illegally importing an unauthorised firearm and ammunition into Australia.
Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court sentenced her to a year in jail, of which four months will be served in full-time custody.
The woman arrived at Sydney airport in April 2023 from Florida to attend clown school and was arrested at the airport after customs recovered the 24-carat gold-plated pistol in her bag.
Goodson told the court that she brought the pistol worth $3,000 (£2353) for her protection.
She was charged with violating customs laws that prevent weapons from being brought into the country.
When asked by the customs officers at the airport if she was carrying any prohibited items with her, she said she was not and when asked about the gun she claimed she forgot about it, the court was told during a previous hearing.
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” Goodson responded when officers asked: “What about the gun in your bag?”
However, her phone’s search history revealed she had researched on the internet about “can I have a gun in my suitcase?” and even set a calendar prompt in her phone to remind her to “put gun in suitcase”.
She told the court that she brought the gun into the country for her protection but claimed that she was “scared” to use it and would have just “pistol whip” in case of emergency.
“If that didn’t do it I would probably just pistol whip,” Goodson told the court.
She said that she planned to keep it under her vehicle’s passenger seat and that its permit was back in Alabama.
The court was told that she had used banned substances in recent years, such as psychedelic drugs, synthetic cannabis, and crystal meth.
After the hearing, Goodson was taken into custody and was asked to remove all her jewellery before she was handcuffed.
She was also fined $1,000 and ordered to get drug counselling following her release from prison.
Magistrate Susan Horan on Monday highlighted Australia’s strong control laws and said there was a need to deter similar offences in the future.
“Australia has a strong stance against firearms,” she said.
Australia has some of the world’s toughest gun laws that were introduced after a shooting in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur in April 1996 killed 35 people and wounded another 23.
The new laws banned the sale and importation of all automatic and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, forced most buyers to present a legitimate reason for ownership, and wait 28 days to complete the purchase.
It also resulted in a mandatory gun buyback with the Australian government confiscating and destroying nearly 700,000 weapons. That move alone cut the number of gun-owning households in the country by half.
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