Man gets 9 months for guns and 12-guage ammo

By law, the maximum penalty for gun possession in St. Vincent and the Grenadines is seven years.

But last Tuesday morning at the High Court in Kingstown where serious Crimes Offences Court matters are being conducted due to last week’s inferno at the main courts, Colly Lowman, a 34-year-old mason of Chapmans Village was given a nine-months sentence for possession of two handmade 12-gauge shotguns and three rounds of 12-gauge cartridges.{{more}}

The Court was told that on Saturday July 8, 2006 members of the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) went to the defendant’s home to execute a search warrant and the police officials found two firearms in a black plastic bag at the bottom of a stove in the kitchen. The weapons were shown to the accused and he replied, “Ah my gun, me dus mek dem.”

A further search conducted revealed three rounds of 12-gauge cartridges wrapped in a transparent plastic bag in a barrel. Lowman told the police, “Dem ah 12-gauge shots, me dus fire dem in de gun.”

When the defendant appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate, Sharda Sinanan Bollers a week earlier, he pleaded guilty to both charges.

Defense Counsel for Lowman, Bertram Stapelton, pleaded with Magistrate Bollers to impose a light penalty on his client and allow him to pull his life back together so he could take care of his two young children.

Sergeant Nigel Butcher acted as Prosecutor in the matter.