Man found guilty of wounding, but not of use of firearm

An Ottley Hall man has been found guilty of wounding his stepfather, but not guilty of the offences related to the use of the firearm involved in the matter.{{more}}

At the Serious Offences Court on Wednesday, Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne Matthias found 25-year-old Devron St John guilty of unlawfully and maliciously wounding his step-father Casbert Jordan, who was shot in the left leg on April 13, 2014 during an altercation.

St John was fined $300, to be paid by December 31, 2014, for causing the injury to Jordan’s leg. Failure to pay will result in a one-month custodial sentence.

It is, however, puzzling as to how Jordan got shot, as St John was acquitted on the charges of possession of a firearm, possession of a round of ammunition and of discharging a firearm at Jordan.

The chief magistrate explained that the prosecution failed to prove their case on the gun related charges.

When he took the witness stand, Jordan said on the date in question, he was involved in an argument with St John over some tools. He said St John approached him with a cutlass and he had to run to an outhouse to grab an axe to defend himself. Jordan said St John then went inside his house and returned with a gun and shot him in the left leg.

“After he shoot me he been saying he don’t fraid police and he ain’t fraid to go to jail,” Jordan said, adding that St John fired two more shots in the air after shooting him.

Jordan was hospitalized for three days at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital following the shooting.

During cross-examination, St John, who was unrepresented, asserted that it was Jordan who had attacked him.

“I am putting it to you that it was you who went inside and returned with a gun. We had ah scramble up and I hear a little noise go off,” St John said.

When questioned by crown counsel Karim Nelson as to why he never reported being attacked by Jordan to the police, St John said that he was trying to sell “a few things” in order to retain a lawyer before he went to the police.(KW)