Bailey gets two years for gun possession

A 20-year-old man of Largo Heights who said he was just giving a friend “a hand” when police found him in possession of a double mouth, 12-gauge shot gun, was on Tuesday sentenced to two years in jail.{{more}}

Leon Bailey pleaded guilty to the charge when he appeared before Chief Magistrate Sonya Young at the Serious Offences Court on Tuesday, October 25.

The court heard that on Sunday, October 23, members of the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) were on foot patrol in the Morne Ronde Mountains when police encountered Bailey sitting with another man.

Both of the men were said to be loading shotguns.

On seeing the officers approach, the men dropped the guns and jumped over an embankment. Bailey was subsequently found in some nearby bushes, but the other man made good his escape.

When cautioned, Bailey replied: “Officer, is ah man give me to hold.”

In court, the young man told the Chief Magistrate that the other man told him if he wanted to make some money, he should help him with some stuff on a boat.

“When he (the other man) reach down a little, he gimme the shotgun to hold…,” Bailey explained. The young man said he was trying to load his gun, but couldn’t get it done and it was the other man who told him “yuh haffi put food in de belly (load the gun).”

The Chief Magistrate told Bailey that she believed that he was on some sort of illegal expedition.

“When you got into contact with this man, it was in the furtherance of illegal activity. This couldn’t be anything legal,” Young stated.

Young said such guns are not intended to slow down people, but are used to kill. “You are going to prison, and the other man is wherever. You have to be wise about the decisions you make. Suppose he had full your belly?” Young questioned.

In a strange admission, the youngster said he usually gets into trouble as he was not getting any work. He said he wanted to make something of himself and revealed that he has a small plantation where he plants “some weed”.

At that point, Young interjected and told Bailey to stop what he was saying.“These are conscious decisions you as a 20-year-old made, and rather than staying at home to make legal living, you gone up in the mountain…,” Young said.(KW)