An Uber driver has been blasted by a judge as ‘incredibly stupid’ after allegedly waving around a water pistol that looked like a gun outside Parliament House.
Dozens of officers converged on the building in Sydney‘s CBD on Thursday afternoon after Waqar Hassan Virk, 28, allegedly produced a ‘Glock’ imitation water pistol and fired it from inside his car.
Virk appeared in Downing Centre Local Court via video link on Friday morning where the court heard he allegedly drove behind Parliament House, stuck his arm out of the window with the faux pistol and shot a substance from it, believed to be water.
The entire alleged incident was captured on the parliament’s CCTV.
His alleged actions were heavily condemned by Magistrate Greg Grogan who said it was lucky Virk wasn’t Tasered or even shot by police.
‘I have no idea why a person would take such an object to such a high-profile place and wave it around … it is beyond me as to why he would do it and think it was OK,’ Magistrate Grogan said, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
‘If there were an offence of committing a very stupid act in public, Virk no doubt would be pleading guilty at the first available opportunity.’
Virk had bought the gun on Tuesday as a present for his nephew in Pakistan, where he sends money home to his family.
The 28-year-old had driven away from Parliament House before officers arrived.
He was arrested four hours later near Sydney Airport and charged with possessing an unauthorised firearm.
Virk was granted bail on the condition he forfeit his passport to police, doesn’t travel domestically, and remains more than one kilometre’s distance between himself and Hospital Road or NSW Parliament House.
He faces a maximum sentence of five years behind bars and will face court again on November 29.
Virk’s Toyota Camry has custom number plates and a sticker of his own face on one of the back windows.
Another car he owns has ‘VIRK…!’ written inside a window.
