First time offender jailed for illegal possession of ammunition

Family and friends of a Layou man sobbed in disbelief outside the court on Wednesday after the first time offender was jailed for being in possession of one round of live ammunition.

Labourers Ozar Findlay, 29 and Kemal Thompson,18 of Layou appeared at the Kingstown Magistrate Court on August 30 before Magistrate John Ballah where they were charged jointly that on Tuesday, August 29 in Layou, they had in their possession one round of .38 special ammunition without a license issued under the Firearm Act.

Findlay pleaded guilty to his charge while Thompson entered a not guilty plea.

Prosecutor Corlene Samuel accepted Findlay’s guilty plea and read the facts to the court.

The facts stated that on Tuesday, August 29 at 5:30 am, a party of police officers comprised of members from the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) and the Barrouallie and Vermont Police Stations went to Findlay’s home to execute a search warrant.

On their arrival, Findlay was met at home along with one other person. The officers showed Findlay the warrant and he consented to the search. During the search of one of the bedrooms, an officer found a silver box between two mattresses.

The box was opened in the presence of Findlay and another police officer. In that box, the police officer found one round of .38 special ammunition. Findlay was then arrested and taken to the Layou Police Station along with the round of ammunition. There, he admitted ownership of the ammunition.

Samuel gave no antecedents for Findlay’s case and withdrew her evidence against Thompson, which resulted in his acquittal.

However, the magistrate referred to the guidelines for Findlay’s sentencing and found that based on the seriousness of the offence, it fell into category three Level A, resulting in a custodial sentence with a starting point of two years.

When the aggravating and mitigating factors of the offence were considered, none were found and so the sentence remained the same. There were also no aggravating and mitigating factors of the offender, and though the court noted that he was a first time offender, no adjustments were made to his sentence.

The magistrate then considered Findlay’s guilty plea and offered him a one-third discount of eight months from his sentence. The final sentence is one year and seven months.

After the sentence was given, Ballah told the court that he will not deviate from the sentencing guidelines unless the offence falls within the “allowed” mediation; that is if the sentence creates excessive hardship for the defendant or the sentence does not reflect society’s abhorrence for the crime.

“As it stands, we are currently in a situation where St Vincent has a battle with firearms, unlicensed firearms that is, and unlicensed ammunition. The sentencing guidelines should reflect that said abhorrence to those offences.”

However, Findlay’s loved ones who were awaiting him outside the court were rather shocked at the court’s decision as screams could heard bellowing the group as they watched Findlay walk past them in cuffs to serve his first custodial sentence.

Findlay’s co-accused Thompson was also visibly disappointed upon hearing of Findlay’s sentence. He was seen holding onto his head in his hands, leaning onto a wall and sobbing, while some other members of the group were loudly vocalising their frustration on the matter.