Diamond man jailed for possession of home-made gun and ammo

A resident of Diamond who the police found with a taped pipe home-made firearm and one 12-gauge bullet, has been sentenced to two years and two months in prison.  

 Roshurn Richards was sentenced at the Serious Offences Court(SOC) on Thursday, June 17, after the arresting officer appeared at the request of the court to expand on the circumstances surrounding his arrest.  The court had felt that this was necessary because of certain things that the defendant had said when he was taken before the SOC on Friday, June 11, when he pleaded guilty to the offences of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.  

 Therefore, the police constable, in taking the stand, explained that on June 10, in Stubbs, at around 9:40pm, they were on patrol duty.  

 On receipt of information, they headed to the Stubbs polyclinic where they met an individual who made a report that he had been shot by masked gunmen. He was observed to have a white vest wrapped around his right arm.    

 Following this, they proceeded to a shop in Lower Stubbs. Exiting the transport, the officer saw a group of men inside and outside the shop. They approached Richards and requested a search of his person.  

 Nothing illegal was found, but it was observed that Richards had his hand behind a three foot wall he was standing next to. Asking the youngster to remove his hand, the officer then looked behind the wall, where he saw a black t-shirt wrapped in a manner as if to conceal something. When the shirt was unwrapped, it revealed a taped pipe resembling that of a home-made firearm, and further, one 12-gauge bullet.  

“Officer is only weed I had” was the young man’s comment.  

However, after he was taken to the police transport, the defendant said it was a firearm he had got from someone he identified by a sobriquet; and that person had got it from someone else.

 The officer asked him to describe or identify the people he was speaking about. 

Richards pointed out one of the men there, and the officer spoke to this person. This person said Richards came and met them there that night, and upon hearing the other name, he said there was no one by that name there that night.
 
The officer asked the youngster to describe the person from where he said the gun came originally. He was told that this was someone in his mid 20s, and fair in complexion.  

 After the police searched those present, they left with Richards in the transport, and he took them to a house in Diamond where the person from whom he said the gun was originally obtained resided. The officers went in and came back out with a man in tow, who the defendant originally positively identified as the person he was speaking about.
 
 However, by the time they all arrived at the Central Police Station, he told them that was not the man and gave them a different description; this time, someone who was slim, dark and in his mid 20’s.  

 The policeman said that based on his memory there was no one who fit that description at the scene.  

“Based on your investigation, can you say what the defendant was doing at that shop” Prosecutor Sergeant Renrick Cato asked the officer. He revealed that Richards had said he was at the shop for one of his cousin’s birthdays and that they were just enjoying themselves.  

 The prosecution, among other things, noted that the court must ask itself “what was the defendant’s intentions being in Stubbs with a gun, a firearm, being in Stubbs at a birthday party, with a firearm, with a live round of ammunition…”  

In considering all of the factors, Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne, decided that a sentence of two years and two months for the offence of possession of a home-made firearm, and a sentence of one month for the ammunition, was appropriate. The sentences will run concurrently