An Oliver man who tried to mislead police by reporting gunshots down the street from his home received a time-served sentence on Feb. 3.

Rahim. Z Bhanji, 34, appeared in Penticton Supreme Court to plead guilty to several charges and receive his sentence.

The court heard that Bhanji had made a call to police at around 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 8, 2023, after an acquaintance of his had come over to his apartment in Oliver with a 3D-printed handgun.

His friend had then fired the weapon, ostensibly to prove that it was real and worked, and fearing that a neighbour had heard the shots, Bhanji called the police and claimed shots had been fired down the street from a truck. 

Officers from the Oliver RCMP detachment arrived, spoke with Bhanji, and then began speaking with residents in the area where the shots were claimed to have come from. 

The other residents instead said the shots had come from the direction of Bhanji's apartment, and while searching through the alley on the way back to talk with him, officers found two spent casings on the stoop of his apartment. 

The officers asked Bhanji about the cartridges, and getting no explanation, felt that they had a public safety prerogative to enter his home and make sure there was no one injured inside. 

While inside, one officer spotted a pair of jeans with a suspicious bulge turned out to be the handgun. 

As part of the joint submission, Bhanji pleaded guilty to public mischief by making the false report to the police, to possessing a firearm while under a lifetime ban, and to possessing a prohibited or restricted firearm. 

In his explanation to the court, Bhanji said an acquaintance had come over and the two were consuming cocaine when the other man decided to show off the firearm.  

Bhanji has spent all but five days since being arrested on Sept. 8 in custody, which added up to two-years of time effectively served. 

The court heard that Bhanji had a very troubled childhood and a lengthy criminal record in Alberta, where he grew up, and from Ontario.

Among his previous convictions, which were largely breaches of conditions, were a youth conviction for assault with a weapon, an adult conviction in 2010 for possessing a loaded handgun, a conviction in 2019 for assaulting an officer and a second 2019 conviction for assault with a weapon. 

Since coming to B.C., Bhanji had received a single conviction for shoplifting and possession of brass knuckles prior to the 2023 incident. 

The joint submission was accepted by the court and means no voir dire, which had been scheduled to occur the next week, and no April jury trial.