Schoolboy slapped with 5 years for gun conviction

Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

Two cases were disposed in the Gun Court on Monday, one of which involved a schoolboy who was jailed for five years for illegal possession of a firearm.

The other case was that of 29-year-old truck driver Osbourne Watson of Patrick City, St Andrew, who was freed of illegal possession of five rounds of ammunition.

In the case of the schoolboy, it was his boisterous behaviour which forced the police to search his mobile phone, on which a gun was displayed.

He pleaded guilty Monday when he appeared before Justice Roy Jones in the Gun Court. He was 17 when he committed the offence.

Crown Counsel Nadine Flowers, outlining the facts of the case, said that on June 27, 2008, Omar Kelly, 18, was at Half-Way Tree Square, St Andrew. He began behaving boisterously and the police reprimanded him. He was in possession of a mobile phone which displayed the picture of a gun. The police took the phone from him and searched it.

The police questioned him about the gun and he told them where it could be found. The police accompanied him to his home in Fletcher's Land, Kingston, where he showed them a home-made gun underneath his bed. He was then arrested and charged.

Justice Jones, in sentencing Kelly, said he had to send a strong message because firearm offences were too prevalent in Jamaica.

Conflicting evidence

In the other case, Watson was in bed with his two pregnant girlfriends when the police raided his house and allegedly found five rounds of ammunition in a microwave.

Watson was freed after Justice Jones upheld submissions from defence lawyer Peter Champagnie that the police gave conflicting evidence under cross-examination.

The Crown's case was that on December 26 last year, the police, who were armed with a search warrant, went to Watson's house. The police saw him naked in bed with his two girlfriends, who were both pregnant. They searched the house and found the bullets in a microwave.

The police said that during the search, Watson tried to distract them by getting into a struggle with his two girlfriends. One of the policemen testified that Watson admitted ownership when the bullets were found. He said further that the other policemen were present when Watson admitted ownership.

However, when the other policemen were cross-examined by Champagnie, they said they did not hear Watson saying that the rounds of ammunition belonged to him.

Watson, in his defence, said the police were telling lies and had planted the ammunition. One of his girlfriends testified that she did not see the police remove any ammunition from the microwave.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com