Missing $40 earns South Rivers resident a custodial sentence

A South Rivers man, who ‘charged’ a firearm at his girlfriend after suspecting that she had stolen $40 from his bag was sentenced to prison for criminal assault and illegal possession of a firearm.

Zion Ashton appeared at the Serious Offences Court on August 20, 2024 before Senior Magistrate, Colin John where he pleaded guilty that on August 19, 2024 at South Rivers he had in his possession one .25 pistol without a license issued under the Firearms Act. He also pleaded guilty that on the same date and place, he assaulted Joselle Horne of South Rivers with intent to commit the offence of wounding.

Ashton discovered that EC$40 was missing from his bag and suspected that Horne, who is his girlfriend, had removed the money. He became upset and confronted her about the matter. They began to argue, and he pulled a gun from his left pants pocket and ‘charged’ the firearm at Horne, demanding that she return his money. Horne reported the matter to the police who retrieved the firearm from Ashton’s house between some floor boardings. When questioned, Ashton told the police that he was not the holder of a firearm permit. The offence of criminal assault and illegal possession of a firearm was pointed out to him, and Ashton replied, “…give me a chance please…”.

Ashton said that he found the gun by a river and thought it was a toy. He was taken into custody. When checks were made at the firearm registry, it was revealed that Ashton was not the holder of a firearm license. He has antecedents before the court.

Ashton agreed with the facts. He told the court that he found the gun two weeks ago but didn’t know it was real. Ashton said that he did not hide the gun, and that everyone plays around with it. Prosecutor, Renrick Cato, asked Ashton, “You had the gun in your pants as a toy?” Ashton told the court that he is not a troublesome young man.

He also told the court that his daughter’s mother is usually on the road gambling at 1.00 a.m. Ashton asked the senior magistrate to be lenient with him for his daughter’s sake, remarking that “No man ain’t perfect,” and that everyone makes mistakes in life. John asked the accused whether he was not sentenced to prison for 10 months on August 15, 2024, suspended for one year.

Ashton said the Magistrate who handed down that sentence advised him to “take advantage of the opportunity” he’d got. “Me don’t dey pon road unless me going ah shop or somewhere,” Ashton responded.

The senior magistrate told Ashton that the 10 month sentence is activated as a result of the new charge.

John considered that Ashton pleaded guilty to the illegal possession of a firearm, and there was no evidence that revealed he is a member of a gang.

John also considered that bullets were not found in the gun, and that despite having previous convictions, they are not of a similar nature to the new offence for which Ashton was charged. He also noted that the gun is not a high calibre weapon. Therefore, he sentenced Ashton to two years imprisonment to run consecutively with the 10 months from the suspended sentence.

Ashton was sentenced to three months imprisonment for assaulting his girlfriend. He will serve this sentence after serving that for the illegal gun possession. After he was sentenced, Ashton asked the court to get Welfare (the Social Welfare Department) to take his daughter. John advised him that such arrangements can be made from prison.