By Tahna Weston
A man who took responsibility for having a police-issued firearm has been sentenced and fined for several offences under the Firearms Act.
Carlton Albert Jr, who was charged by the police on January 6, appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Dexter Wason in the St John’s Magistrates’ Court yesterday to answer to six charges under the Act.
He pleaded guilty on all counts, namely possession of a Glock pistol, possession of three magazines, possession of 59 rounds of 9mm ammunition and possession of a single .38 bullet.
Based on recent amendments to the Act, the penalty for gun and ammunition possession carries automatic jail time; with a maximum penalty of five years on summary conviction – up from two years previously.
Taking several factors into account, including Albert’s guilty plea and other mitigating factors, the sentence was reduced by two-thirds, resulting in him getting a one-year prison sentence for possession of the pistol and two of the magazines.
On the charge of possession of the 59 rounds of 9mm ammunition, the 35-year-old Potters resident was fined $10,000 payable in 12 months or he faces an additional six months in prison.
Magistrate Wason opted to reprimand and discharge him for the single .38 bullet and one of the magazines.
In his mitigating plea, Albert’s attorney Sherfield Bowen told the court that the Potters villager, who is an air conditioning technician, was expecting his first child in a few months. Bowen mentioned that as a good citizen Albert decided to surrender himself to the police and gave a candid and forthright statement, for which he should be given credit.
At about 5:20 am on January 4, the police – acting on information – went to Albert’s mother’s home in Potters 20 where they executed a search warrant.
His mother, Hyacinth Charles, was at home at the time and was told the reason that the officers were at the home before they searched the middle bedroom, where one bullet was found under a mattress.
Charles was questioned about the ammunition to which she responded that she did not know anything about it nor did she have a licence for its use.
While continuing to search the three-bedroom concrete dwelling, the officer went to a front bedroom where a purple shopping bag was found containing a magazine and the Glock pistol. Another bag which was found inside the shopping bag also contained a magazine.
Charles reportedly denied knowing who the illegal items belonged to, and she – along with other individuals at the residence – was taken into custody.
However, out of concern for his family, Albert, in the company of his lawyer, went to the police station the following day, January 5, where he admitted and took responsibility for the firearm, the magazine and ammunition. He was subsequently arrested and charged.
Before the sentence was passed yesterday, the court was told that the pistol was a police-issued weapon assigned to Solomon Lawrence, who had reported it stolen two years ago.
Some time between September 22 and 23, 2022, Lawrence reportedly discovered that the pistol along with a magazine had been stolen, and he subsequently made a report to the Gray’s Farm Police Station.
The prosecution made a submission for the gun, ammunition and magazines to be handed over to the police’s armory, which the court granted.
