Troy Baptiste will lose his freedom for the next two and a-half years for offences under the Firearms Act and the Misuse of Drugs Act, both of which were amended in recent months.
The Bendals man was sentenced this week on conviction for unlawful possession of a gun and ammunition and possession of marijuana plants as well as the cured, compressed version of the plant.
The offences were committed in April and Baptiste had pleaded guilty since that month, but he was remanded to prison pending trial against Daiquan Martin who was jointly accused of the offences since he was present at the home when the police carried out the operation.
However, Martin was never prosecuted after he pleaded not guilty – in fact, the prosecution withdrew the charges this week and the immigration officer was allowed to go.
For the gun, his friend Baptiste was sentenced to one year in jail, and for the ammunition he is to serve another year, while for the drugs – 149 cannabis plants and 310 grammes of compressed cannabis — the sentence is six months.
Magistrate Ngaio Emanuel, who dealt with the case in the All Saints Magistrate’s Court, ordered that the sentences run consecutively.
She noted that following the recent amendments to the Firearms Act, the punishment of a fine is no longer an option, thus the jail sentence for Baptiste was inevitable.
Baptiste and Martin were at Baptiste’s home in Bendals when officers from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and K-9 Unit searched the place and found a .380 pistol and eight matching rounds of ammunition.
The police also found cannabis plants growing on the property and uprooted them. A further 310 grammes of weed was found inside.
The illegal items were seized and taken to the station while the men were detained. Martin was represented by Dane Hamilton Sr; Baptiste did not have a lawyer.
Over two years in jail for gun, ammo and weed
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