A teenager, who police found walking with a shotgun on his shoulder and wild meat in a bag, was remanded to police custody pending sentencing after he admitted that he had no license for the firearm.
The 17-year-old boy admitted to two charges of unlawful possession of firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition, when the matter was called at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrate’s Court yesterday and Magistrate Fazil Azeez remanded him to police custody pending sentencing.
According to the case presented by the prosecution, last Friday at West Bank Demerara (WBD), the juvenile had in his possession a 16-gauge shotgun without being the holder of a firearm licence. At the time, he also had four 16-gauge cartridges without being the holder of a firearm license.
Police Prosecutor Ramsahoye Rambajue told the court that around 8 pm on the said date, a party of police was on patrol at the sea-dam in the area. They saw the teen approaching with the shotgun on his shoulder and a bag in his hand and stopped him. The gun was taken away and when he was asked if he had a licence for it he said no. A search was carried out on him and four live cartridges were found in his left-side pants pocket.
Attorney-at-law Vaughn King entered an appearance for the teen. In his submissions, he stated that his client had not wasted the court’s time and admitted that he had the items but there was no evidence of any “untoward occasion”. The counsel said that the gun was used for hunting and there was no information on how long he had it in his possession. The attorney told the court that his client was a farmer and lives with his parents in the area. He said the juvenile had no prior problems with the police, attended church and did voluntary work for the church. He asserted that the firearm was not used in any robbery and declared that “he is a young man more or less fascinated with coming in contact with this gun.” He pleaded for a non-custodial sentence for his client.
The magistrate observed that it would be interesting to know where the gun came from and mandated the police to examine the gun to see if there was a record of it ever being used.
He then remanded the defendant into police custody until next Monday, when the case will be called again at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrate’s Court.
