Gun-Surrender Claim Fails: Chief Magistrate Jails Armed Man
Lawyer Grant Connell has concluded that his Majesty’s Prison (HMP) has now become like the Red Cross, as some people want to go there to get free room and board.
He said too, that in some instances, some people want to go to HMP for protection from criminal elements on the streets.
Connell was speaking at the Serious Offences Court (SOC), on Tuesday August 18,2026 where he was mitigating on behalf of his client Devon “Barto” Baptiste who pleaded guilty to possession of a nine-millimetre gun (make and serial number unknown) and eight nine-millimetre bullets.
Baptiste, a 35-year-old unemployed man of Georgetown and Arnos Vale was jailed for 50 months after pleading guilty to possessing the illegal items on July 4, 2026 in Arnos Vale.
Connell told the court that his client had just found the weapon on the tarmac of the decommissioned E.T Joshua Airport when the police met him, and he was planning to hand it over to a police officer he trusted but he never got the chance.
The Serious Offences Court did not believe the story and Chief Magistrate Colin John, sentenced Baptiste to jail.
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