An American backpacker, Liliana Goodson, has admitted to smuggling a 24-carat gold-plated gun into Sydney Airport last year, reversing her initial claim that it was an accident during her court appearance today.
Liliana Goodson travelled all the way from Florida to attend clown school in Sydney, but landed in court instead after she was caught with a handgun in her luggage at Sydney International Airport in May 2023. (Nine)
Goodson had journeyed from Florida with the intent to attend clown school in Sydney but ended up in court when she was apprehended with a handgun in her luggage at Sydney International Airport in May 2023.
In the video, she also told Border Force investigators that she intended to carry the pistol for protection in Australia, as she did in the US. (Nine)
She initially pleaded not guilty and contested the charges in court this morning, over a year after the incident. During her interview with Australian Border Force (ABF) officials, captured on video, Goodson claimed she had forgotten about the gun, stating, “When I got over here the gun was not even in the back of my mind at all. I did not remember… my memory failed me.”
Liliana Goodson travelled all the way from Florida to attend clown school in Sydney, but landed in court instead after she was caught with a handgun in her luggage at Sydney International Airport in May 2023. (Nine)
Although she declared carrying parts of animals like cat, squirrel, and rabbit on her incoming passenger card, she neglected to mention the firearm.
Her phone records revealed a Google search for “Can I carry a gun in my suitcase?” prior to her departure. She explained to ABF, “When I looked on Google, it’s because I was trying to figure out how to get the gun from America to Australia. The Google advice was as long as I kept the gun inside my case, there would be no issues.”
Goodson acknowledged her limited life experience, saying, “I have very limited life experience, a lot of things that would be common sense to people would not be common to me.”
She admitted to intending to use the pistol for protection in Australia, similar to her practices in the US, stating, “I am scared of shooting it… I would probably just pistol whip until I got training again.” The court learned she had previously owned two other firearms in the US but had inadvertently donated them.
Confronted with her own statements from the ABF interview, Goodson changed her plea to guilty for importing the handgun and ammunition. Now 29, she faces up to two years in prison. At her sentencing in November, she plans to argue her actions were influenced by mental health issues.