A 20-year-old father of two was yesterday jailed for unlawful possession of firearm and ammunition by Magistrate Ann McLennan. Timothy Taylor, a labourer of Timehri, East Bank Demerara was fined $1,000 and sentenced to one year imprisonment on each of the charges, which will run concurrently.
On a prior court hearing he was found guilty on the charges that said on January 6 at Avenue of Republic, Georgetown, he had in his possession a .32 revolver with three live rounds of matching ammunition when he was not a licensed firearm holder.
He made his first court appearance before Magistrate Ann McLennan and was remanded to prison after pleading not guilty to both charges.
Magistrate McLennan in her ruling stated that the penalty attracts a fine of not less than $1,000 and not more than $5,000. The custodial sentence that accompanies the fine is not less than three years and not more than five years.
The magistrate informed the court that in order for an accused to be found guilty of the charge, the prosecution must prove that the person had physical or custodial possession of the weapon, what he had was indeed a firearm and ammunition and he did not possess a firearm license.
She recalled from the evidence presented that on the day in question the police were on patrol when they saw Taylor. A search was conducted and the weapon was found in his possession and when questioned he admitted that he was not a licensed firearm holder.

The magistrate ruled that the court was satisfied with the chain of evidence and also the testimony of Sergeant Jackson that the ammunition was live. In addition, the court had no reason to doubt that the firearm was found in Taylor’s crotch.

The court heard that the prosecution also established that Taylor had knowledge of the firearm and ammunition.

In mitigation, his attorney-at-law pleaded that he is a father of two minor children and asked the court to use its discretion in the decision, since his client’s liberty was at the court’s mercy.

By Geeta Rampersaud