A 23-year-old, who was caught with a handful of live ammunition, has received four months in prison.

Alec Campbell appeared before the Serious Offences Court yesterday, pleading guilty to possession of one round of 5.56mm, .38mm, 9mm and 7.62 mm ammunition, each without a licence.

The Calder Ridge resident was caught at Villa, last Friday, November 3, by an officer whose attention was drawn to the defendant, when he appeared to drop one round of ammunition. Campbell consented to a search of his person by the officer, who subsequently found three rounds of ammunition in Campbell’s right hand. The defendant then told the officer, “Officer, I find them on Villa beach.”

A later examination by a ballistics expert at the Ottley Hall Police Station determined that the rounds of ammunition were, in fact, live.

The only statement Campbell made in his plea before Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne-Matthias was, “I am very sorry, your Honour.”

Prosecutor Adolphus Delplesche, in his submission before the sentencing of Campbell, stated that the only concerns he had were the different types of ammunition that were in the defendant’s possession and the current climate of the country.

In delivering her judgement, Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne-Matthias said she could not ignore the “aggravating nature of the offence” and that some of the rounds of ammunition were ‘serious rounds’.

Taking into account the fact that Campbell had no previous offences before the court, Browne-Matthias sentenced him to three months in prison for each of the 5.56 mm and .38mm rounds; two months for the 9mm round and four months for the round of 7.62 mm, to run concurrently.(KR)