The man who was wounded when he attempted to rob businessman Oudit Seenarain was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined $75,000 yesterday by Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton, when he pleaded guilty to discharging a loaded firearm and having unlawful possession of a firearm.
Enrico Inniss a.k.a Michael Thomas was charged with discharging a loaded firearm on June 4 with intent to maim, disable, disfigure or cause actual bodily harm to Seenarain. It is also alleged that on the same day he had in his possession a .38 revolver without being the holder of a firearm license.
While discharging a firearm is usually an indictable charge, an application was made by his attorney, Adrian Thompson, for the matter to be dealt with summarily, in exchange for a guilty plea. Police Prosecutor Shellon Daniels did not have objection to the request, since the accused wanted to enter a guilty plea. Inniss then pleaded guilty to both charges.
The particulars of the charge are that he was armed with a .38 revolver and discharged some rounds in Seenarain’s direction. The licensed firearm holder then returned fire, wounding Inniss who was later arrested by the police. The firearm was found near to him.
Thompson pleaded for mercy on behalf of his client. He said that Inniss was incarcerated and as a result developed some “bad” influences. However, the magistrate said that he had appeared before her charged with similar offences. Thompson interjected and said that the court cannot look at how many times a person has been charged; rather at their conviction.
In light of this, Thompson said, Inniss should be treated as a first offender since he was never convicted on the previous charges. The attorney added that the incident stemmed from an error in judgment and Inniss was badly hurt as a result.
Hamilton said that was not important. The importance was based on the Seenarain being able to defend himself since he could have been similarly injured, she added. Thompson then said that mercy and justice go hand in hand. He implored the magistrate to have mercy when deciding her sentence.
Inniss was then sentenced to three years and fined $75,000 on the possession charge and four years imprisonment for discharging the firearm.
Thompson then made an application for the sentence to run concurrently but the magistrate held her position and said that she was not going to make any such order. She added that the charges were separate and she was inclined to deal with them separately. Inniss was then sentenced.