Two Prints on a Shotgun

The same convenience store was robbed twice within a fortnight, and on both occasions the robber was said to have used a shotgun. Nine counts were laid against the Accused, including possession of a firearm whose serial number had been altered or removed, and possession while subject to a prohibition order. The strongest evidence against him was forensic: his fingerprints were found at two separate locations on the metal frame of the shotgun. His answer was that he may have touched the gun once, while packing up his belongings as he was being evicted from a house where the gun happened to be, and that he did not take it with him when he left. The eyewitness descriptions of the robber given by the two store employees varied between the two dates, and other men had been in and around the house.