An antiques dealer fired a 12-bore shotgun at builders after they destroyed a barn on his farm, it’s alleged.
Jonathan Braganza, 62, a master silversmith and engraver who runs York Minster Antiques, fired his shotgun twice at a group of builders during a squabble about renovation work they were carrying out on the roof of his outbuilding at High Eggborough Farm near Selby, a court heard.
Mr Braganza is charged with two counts of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. He denies both counts. His trial at York Crown Court began yesterday (Monday).
Prosecutor Nadim Bashir said that Mr Braganza fired two shots – one at a roofer and the other which was fired into the air.
He said that Mr Braganza, who lives with his wife on the farm in High Eggborough, held a legitimate shotgun certificate and also kept a rifle inside a gun cabinet at his farmhouse.
Mr Bashir said that before the incident in January 2021, Mr Braganza had been told by a “trusted” long-time customer of his antiques business that he knew “some guys” who could carry out the work on his barn roof and that they “wanted £10,000 up front”.
Mr Braganza – who had been keeping a close eye on the renovation work and instructed the builders “not to leave the yard in a mess” – later complained to his friend about the type of structural support used by the roofers to buttress a rotting wall plate, said Mr Bashir.
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One of the named roofers allegedly interrupted the conversation, came down from the scaffolding and got into an argument with Mr Braganza’s friend.
The roofer threatened to damage Mr Braganza’s farmhouse and “put all your windows in”. He is also said to have “squared up” to Mr Braganza’s friend.
Called the police
Mr Braganza – whose antiques business was formerly based in College Street, York, but has since relocated to a shop in Pontefract – told the roofer that “if he couldn’t do the job properly, he should leave” the farm and called police.
Mr Braganza, who claimed he feared that one of his dogs had attacked the men, then got out his shotgun and left the house.
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When he returned to the yard, he saw the builders on the barn roof taking timbers down and allegedly “destroying” the gable end of the building.
Mr Braganza admitted firing the 12-bore “vertically” into the air but claimed there was no intent to aim the shots anywhere near the men and that he only wanted to get them off the barn.
He and his wife called police and waited in the farmhouse until officers arrived. Mr Braganza was arrested and police searched his home.
They found two spent cartridges inside the property and a live cartridge inside his pocket. Inside the open gun cabinet, police found a double-barrel and single-barrel shotgun and a rifle with a telescopic sight.
The single-barrel shotgun was “loaded and live and ready to fire”, said Mr Bashir.
Taken for questioning
Mr Braganza was taken in for questioning and told officers he had used pension money to restore the old barn.
He claimed the roofers were “going berserk” and that it was like a “feeding frenzy – like a party gone wrong”.
He said he saw the roofers “hauling all the timber down (from the barn roof) and pulling down the gable end”.
He said he asked them to get down and then fired two shots into the air, but at least one of the roofers stayed put.
Mr Braganza claimed he had “no intention” of aiming at any of the men and didn’t point his gun at any of them.
“He said he just wanted to get their attention,” said Mr Bashir.
However, the prosecutor asserted that Mr Braganza’s firing of the shotgun was an “act of revenge or retaliation” against the roofer with whom he had had the initial spat and who had allegedly refused to leave the barn.
He claimed that Mr Braganza’s actions were “wholly unreasonable and disproportionate and not in defence of himself or his property”.
The roofer in question was arrested on suspicion of affray and given a police caution. The trial continues.