A 20-year-old Penniston man has been jailed for firearm and ammunition despite his plea that incarceration would negatively affect his young children.
On Monday, at the Serious Offences Court, Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne jailed Shemar Adams for one year and four months for possession of a homemade firearm without a license.
The defendant asked the magistrate not to send him to prison, saying he has two children, aged 3 years and 2 months old and that he is “the only supplier in the home”.
Adams had the firearm and one round of 12 gauge ammunition in his possession at Penniston on June 27.
For the ammunition, the chief magistrate ordered him to pay a fine of EC$300 forthwith or spend one month in prison.
Adams pleaded guilty to the firearm and ammunition charges when he was arraigned before the Kingstown Magistrate Court on June 28.
He was remanded in prison until his sentencing.
In presenting the fact, Sergeant Atnel Ash said that on June 27, at 5:30 a.m., acting on information, officers from the Vermont and Barrouallie Police Stations, headed by Corporal 615 Williams, executed a search warrant at Adams’ home.
Williams met one Soso at the home and identified herself and the officers. Soso took the officers to the defendant’s room and Williams woke him.
The defendant consented to the search of the bedroom and told Williams he did not have anything illegal in the bedroom.
He, however, told the officer that if she finds anything illegal in the bedroom, it belongs to him.
Williams found the 12 gauge ammunition in a grey tub containing clothes.
“Ah mines, officer,” Adams said when cautioned.
Williams continued the search and found the homemade firearm in a multicoloured book bag.
Adams again told the officer that it belonged to him.
A police firearm and ballistic expert found the weapon to be “capable of firing” and the ammunition live.
In mitigation, Adams told the court that he was awoken by two police officers standing outside his bedroom window with guns, saying, “Don’t move!”
The defendant said an officer held a red knife to his throat and beat and threatened him saying, he would “do the same thing he did a civilian in Layou”.
Adams said he told Corporal Williams of that incident and she told him to report the matter to the Police Public Relations and Complaints Department.
The magistrate asked Adams if he had made the report?
The defendant said no.
The magistrate also directed Adams to the Police Public Relations and Complaints Department, if he wished to lodge the complaint.