ON Friday Magistrate Annette Singh at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court, set free a man who was charged for possession of firearm and ammunition without being the holder of a license.

This was after his attorney, Dexter Todd successfully lobbied the court for a suspended sentence for his client. Kasie Moloney was charged with the offence along with escaping from lawful custody. On Friday after hearing the arguments of Todd whose client changed his initial plea from not guilty to guilty, the magistrate handed down the suspended ruling to Moloney and recommended that he undergoes immediate counseling by a social worker.
Added to that, the young man was also required to pay a fee of $30,000 on each case jacket which was before the court in his name. Moloney ended up before the court after his employer, a businessman had asked him to keep his firearm. The police who were passing at the time noticed that the man was acting in suspicious manner and they stopped and searched him. Moloney indicated to the ranks that his employer asked him to keep the weapon for him but the ranks would not accept the excuse. Technically and lawfully, Moloney ought not to have been in possession of the weapon as he was not a license firearm holder.

When he was taken to the Brickdam Police Station on that day, he reportedly paid a police constable five thousand dollar to allow him to go home and sleep before returning to the police station. This was communicated to the court but it the rank denied. In fact it was on that basis of him going home and sleep that caused him to be charged with escaping from lawful custody. This was after the constable who allowed the man to leave came under pressure from his superiors.

The court was told that the young man who was shackled managed to jump over the counter and make good his escape and although ranks chased after him he was not apprehended. The lawyer argued against that and told the court that the story was not adding up as he questioned how it was possible for no single rank to catch up with his client even as he also questioned the releasing of the shackles from his feet. The court agreed that the story was not adding up and the matter was discharged. At the end of it all, the defendant and his family left the court room in all smiles.