Magistrate Bertie Pompey on Tuesday signalled the approach he would be taking when dealing with gun and ammunition offences this year.
Sitting at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court, Pompey sentenced Ottley Hall resident Calvert Buntin to two years imprisonment for possession of one round of .45-calibre ammunition.
The court heard that on Jan. 1. 2017, officers from the Special Patrol Unit were on patrol in Ottley Hall when they met Buntin at a shop.
Officers noticed that he was acting suspiciously and requested a search, to which he consented.
The officers found the round of ammunition in the rear left pocket of his pants.
In his defence, Buntin, who pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of ammunition without a licence, told the court that he was helping someone clean a house and he found the ammunition on the premises.
The magistrate, however, did not believe the defendant’s explanation.
In passing sentence, Pompey said he took the defendants’ early guilty plea into consideration.
He, however, noted that Buntin has a criminal record and his last conviction was in 2014.
He said that he was also mindful of the prevalence of the offence and the number of gun-related deaths last year, and sentenced the defendant to two years in prison.