Edward McCollin, who was charged last December with possession of a rifle and ammunition, was found guilty and sentenced to five years in jail yesterday.
McCollin, a guard of Lot 67 Vryheid’s Lust, was sentenced for charges which stated that on December 20th, 2015, at Georgetown, he had a 1.228T Rochester rifle in his possession and 19 live rounds of .32 ammunition without being the holder of a firearm licence.
Magistrate Judy Latchman, who presided over the trial in a Georgetown court, sentenced McCollin to five years in jail for the firearm charge and another five years for the ammunition charge. The defendant was also fined $140,000 and $70,000, respectively, for each charge.
The sentences, however, are to run concurrently.
According to the prosecution, McCollin was seen by police ranks near August Beverages on Norton Street in possession of the weapon. It was reported that the man ran up to a woman and tried to conceal the gun. It was also alleged that when the ranks approached and questioned him, he claimed he was a police officer.
He, however, gave the court a very different account of events, claiming that as he was speaking to a young lady at a bar, there was a commotion and someone approached him from behind, placing his neck in a vise and grabbing the back of his pants. He told the court that he saw black pants and shoes and he recognised the individual to be a policeman.
McCollin said he was hit in the head and blacked out. When he came to, he added, he was at the police station. The defendant claimed that he overheard the ranks talking about a gun but had not been shown the articles he was allegedly in possession of.
McCollin is facing two other charges before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan. He is charged with the possession of an Intratec 9 mm Luger submachine gun, which police allege that he used to shoot at a woman and then tried to stash in a septic tank when law enforcers approached him.
