Fugitive Steve Mohamed was yesterday sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $200,000 at the end of a trial that went on in his absence.
Mohamed, in October, 2014, was charged with murder, armed robbery, illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition and discharging a loaded weapon to prevent a policeman from arresting him. The sentencing yesterday was for the charges of unlawful firearm and ammunition possession and discharging a loaded firearm.
In 2014, Mohamed was arraigned before then Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, but yesterday the ruling was delivered by Chief Magis-trate Ann McLennan, who conducted the trial.
The charges read that on October 6, 2014, at Friend-ship, East Bank Demerara, Mohamed, with intent to resist arrest, discharged a loaded firearm at Sergeant Leon Lindo to prevent him from lawfully arresting him.
It was further stated that on that same day, at Diamond, Mohamed had in his possession a .380 live round of ammunition without being the holder of a firearm licence.
It was also said that that very day, at Friendship, he also had with him a Taurus revolver, two .38 live rounds of ammunition, a .32 live round and two .38 spent shells.
Chief Magistrate McLennan stated that she had found that the prosecution had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Mohamed was guilty of all the offences except for the charge alleging that on October 6, 2014, at Diamond, he had been in possession of a .380 live round of ammunition. That charge was, therefore, dismissed.
She, however, found Mohammed guilty of the other three charges and sentenced him to five years on each count.
The defendant was fined $100,000 and ordered to serve five years in jail for unlawful firearm possession as well as for unlawful possession of the rounds of ammunition. He was also sentenced to five years in jail on the charge of discharging a loaded firearm, which will run concurrently with the sentence for the illegal ammunition charge.
Mohamed, formerly of Kaneville, had a wanted bulletin issued for him in December. He had been charged with the murder of Quacy Thompson, who was killed on July 15, 2014, at Mowasi Landing, Konawaruk.
