Man who hid gun under dog house fined $8,300

A 52 year old man who had a gun hidden under his dog pen was slapped with a fine of $8,300 when he was taken before the court.

Dwight Haywood did not hold back his tears when he appeared at the Serious Offences Court on May 12, on gun related offences. However, he was able to escape jail time after the magistrate imposed a fine after she made an assessment of the case.

The Spring Estate/ Richland Park resident, pleaded guilty that on May 11, at Spring Estate he had in his possession one 12 gauge shot gun, make and serial number unknown, without a license issued under the Firearms Act. He also admitted to having in his possession one round of 12 gauge ammunition.

When Prosecutor, Corlene Samuel presented the facts, the court heard that on May 11, at around 4:00 p.m Sergeant 191 David, and Station Sergeant Bristol headed a team of police officers on duty to the area of Spring Estate.

Acting on information received, they went to the home of the defendant to execute a warrant in respect to firearm and ammunition.

When they arrived at Haywood’s home, he consented to a search after a warrant was read to him.

While conducting the search, the police recovered one brown handle bird gun, and Sergeant David continued the search.

He observed that the defendant had a dog house in his yard and the dog was barking aggressively.

When Sgt David examined the house, he saw a brown handle shot gun which was partly wrapped in a piece of cardboard. The Sergeant removed the weapon and he showed it to Haywood.

When cautioned, Haywood responded “Officer me find it down ah Spring River but me na have no license.”

The defendant was later arrested and charged for the offences of possession of firearm and ammunition.

Haywood, who was not represented by legal counsel, made plea mitigation on his own behalf and he shed an abundance of tears as he asked the court for leniency.

In handing down sentence, Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne, consulted the sentencing guidelines where she found that the consequences of the offence placed it in the lowest category, while the seriousness fell into the lesser category sine the firearm was not in a public place.

This brought the magistrate to a starting point of a non-custodial sentence. As a result, she began at a fine of $9,000, the maximum being $20,000 at that court’s level.

Browne then looked at the aggravating factors of the offence and highlighted that the police acted on information they received. She also said that the firearm was concealed and placed in a dog house, and there were attempts to deceive.

Mitigating of the offence was that the firearm was recovered. This one factor however, was not sufficient to outweigh the aggravating factors. As a result, $3,000 was added to the fine.

Aggravating of Haywood was that he has previous convictions although they are not of a similar nature. Mitigating for him was that he is very remorseful.

The defendant was given a one-third discount for his guilty plea, and this brought his fine down to $8,000.

Haywood has until September 8, 2023 to pay this fine, or he will be sent to prison for eight months. Additionally, he was fined $300 for possession of ammunition, and this is to be paid by June 9, or he will spend one month in prison.

A confiscation order was made for the weapon.