Two-year jail sentence for man found with illegal rifle

Oct 12, 2019 News

Fifty-two- year-old David Nelson was yesterday jailed after he was found guilty by a city magistrate for being in possession of an illegal rifle two years ago.
On his first appearance before the court Nelson had denied the charge which stated that on November 9, 2017 at Quamina Street, he had in his possession a .223 AR rifle when he was not licenced to carry such a weapon.
The defendant who hails from Lot 190 Church Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown, was on trial before Magistrate Dylon Bess in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
Yesterday, the magistrate ruled that the prosecution was able to prove every element of its case and thus he found the accused guilty of the offence. Nelson was sentenced to two years behind bars and he was also ordered to pay a fine of $15,000.
The facts of the charge indicated that on the day in question, police ranks acting on information received proceeded to Quamina Street where they conducted a search on Nelson’s vehicle and under the back seat of the car they discovered the unlicensed rifle.
Nelson was then arrested and taken to the station where he gave the police a written caution statement accepting ownership of the firearm, saying that he bought it from a Brazilian man, and was in the process of selling it.
Kaieteur News had learnt that the accused was confronted by lawmen on Quamina Street, Georgetown in front of the home of a former senior government official under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
After learning that Nelson was previously employed by the said official, the police ranks searched the home, however, nothing illegal was found.
Based on the information the police had, the suspect was supposed to meet with someone at the location. The accused is said to have claimed he was going to sell the weapon for $6M.

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