An Australian Federal Police deputy commissioner allegedly took his service weapon kangaroo shooting while on leave, and allowed a relative to fire the gun before returning it to his office in the early hours of the morning "to avoid scrutiny".
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Ramzi Jabbour, who has since resigned from the force, is also accused of exercising his influence over a more junior colleague and lying to gain information for a relative to use in a legal studies assignment.
Mr Jabbour appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday for the start of a hearing in which he is defending abuse of public office and unauthorised gun possession charges.
Prosecution barrister David Jordan, opening the case, said Mr Jabbour took his police-issue Glock pistol and two relatives, whose identities are suppressed, to an AFP range in Majura on October 2, 2018.
Mr Jordan said Mr Jabbour was on recreational leave at the time and that he had arranged for one of his relatives to receive "familiarisation training" relating to an assault rifle and submachine gun.
The prosecutor conceded he could not prove that Mr Jabbour had possessed his service-issue handgun illegally at the range.
However, Mr Jordan said Mr Jabbour should not have had the weapon when he left the range with it in a bag and took it the next day to a location that cannot be identified for legal reasons.
Mr Jabbour is said to have also taken his relatives to this location, where there was allegedly a demonstration of sniper shooting.
At least one of Mr Jabbour's relatives allegedly fired his service weapon at this location on October 3, 2018, and Mr Jordan told the court that "kangaroos were shot that day" with Mr Jabbour's gun.
Mr Jordan said the court would hear from other police officers who were present, while there would also be forensic evidence relating to spent shells that were recovered at the scene.
There would also be evidence that Mr Jabbour had spoken of organising a "hunt" on that date, the court heard, and that he had bought beer and gift cards for officers who had helped to arrange the outing.
Mr Jabbour eventually returned his service weapon to a safe in his AFP office about 4.30am on October 4, 2018, according to Mr Jordan.
"He did this [so early] to avoid somebody saying something to the effect of, 'Hi sir, what are you doing here? I thought you were on leave," the prosecutor said.
The court heard that another point during during Mr Jabbour's time as a deputy commissioner, he allegedly emailed AFP lawyer Thomas McBride with questions purported to be relevant to his own further studies.
Mr Jabbour allegedly told Mr McBride words to the effect of: "It's urgent. I need [the answers] because the assignment is due next week".
Mr Jordan said Mr Jabbour had received prompt answers, and "within two or three minutes" forwarded them from his AFP account to his personal email address.
"Large parts" of the answers were subsequently "copied and pasted, or at least closely paraphrased", in a relative's legal studies assignment, the prosecutor said.
Mr Jordan said this amounted to abuse of public office because Mr Jabbour had acted dishonestly and used his seniority within the AFP to obtain an advantage for his relative.
Defence barrister Ken Archer said the allegations had come to light after Mr Jabbour's phone records and emails were examined as part of a corruption investigation, in which Mr Jabbour was exonerated.
Mr Archer told the court that during that investigation: "People were saying things and were being led to say things to ... cover their own arse ... and to further advance the ultimate criminal investigation in relation to my client".
He said the prosecution's case in relation to the alleged firearms offence was "missing seeds", and the defence would say the events of October 3, 2018, were part of Mr Jabbour's AFP duties.
In relation to the abuse of public office charge, Mr Archer said the court would ultimately not be satisfied that there had been dishonesty on the part of Mr Jabbour, who worked for the AFP for nearly 30 years.
Later on Monday, Mr McBride told the court he would not have provided the assistance sought by Mr Jabbour had he believed the information was for another person.
Mr McBride said he had perceived Mr Jabbour's email as a personal request, but one that had "arisen for a work reason".
The hearing, which is expected to finish on Wednesday, continues before Magistrate James Stewart.
