Green Hill man sentenced to nine months for possession of ammunition

A Green Hill man who told the court that a man gave him over 10 rounds of ammunition to hold, was yesterday sentenced to nine months imprisonment.{{more}}

Glenroy Ballantyne, 22, unemployed, appeared at the Serious Offences Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to having in his possession eight rounds of .38 ammunition and three rounds of 12 gauge ammunition, without a licence issued under the Firearms Act, at Green Hill on June 6.

For the possession of eight rounds of .38 ammunition, Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne-Matthias sentenced Ballantyne to nine months in prison and a further six months for the three rounds of 12-gauge ammunition charge. The sentences will run concurrently.

Ballantyne told the court that he pleaded guilty to the charge and took responsibility for ownership of the illegal items because the person who gave him the ammunition has children.

According to the facts read out in court, PC 45 Adrian Forde was among a party of police officers who went to Ballantyne’s home at Green Hill to execute a search warrant in respect of another matter.

During a search of Ballantyne’s room, the ammunition was found in a plastic bottle on a table. According to the police, Ballantyne told them that he found the items in the Fenton Mountians.

The chief magistrate told Ballantyne that his charge was a serious offence and that it was a considerable amount of ammunition he was found with.

“It is not like it was a little,” Browne-Matthias said to Ballantyne, who told her that he thought the bullets were silver.

Senior prosecutor at the court and former inspector of police Adolphus Delpesche said in his days as a young police officer, he never found any ammunition in the bush or mountain, but has found it in people’s homes on numerous occasions.

The chief magistrate stated that she had to send Ballantyne to prison for some time for his actions.

“This is too much ammunition. Old Montrose Police Station is right there, you could have carried them there…

“I really get upset with young people like you. You didn’t have a criminal record before and now look. The sad thing is, other than hurting yourself, you hurt your parents. It’s because of your youth and guilty plea that you didn’t get two to three years. I hate to see young people do stupidness,” an upset Browne-Matthias stated.(KW)