Judge worried about maddening use of guns

High Court judge Justice Frederick Bruce-Lyle is concerned about the use of firearms in this country.

“My worry is about the maddening use of firearms in this country. I can’t understand it,” Bruce-Lyle commented.{{more}}

Bruce-Lyle was at the time handing down a 12-year prison sentence to Agiea Nigel Hazelwood on a count of manslaughter. On Monday, February 8, 2010, at the High Court, Hazelwood, 26, of Layou, pleaded not guilty to the murder of Rayford Browne, but instead pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Browne, 26, of Carierre, was shot and killed on May 21 in the Bellwood Mountains of Layou.

Hazelwood’s Lawyer Arthur Williams said that his client only accompanied some other men in the mountains in search of a goat. Williams said he went in one direction while the others went their way.

Williams said that Hazelwood saw a shanty and just fired a shot. People near the shanty ran and Hazelwood fired another shot, mortally wounding Browne.

The judge told Hazelwood that he couldn’t give a sentence that sends the wrong signal. “It’s a stupid thing you did. When you fire a gun, what you think will happen? If you play with fire then you will get burned,” Bruce-Lyle added.