Thirty-year-old Hubert Bernard, of Campbell who resides in Wet Area Bells, has pleaded guilty to the charges of possession of ammunition without a license and possession of a firearm without a license.
He was fined $8,000 for having 17 rounds of live ammunition for a 12 gauge shotgun; $3,000 for five live rounds of .38 ammunition and for the 12 gauge shotgun, he was given a $5,000 fine suspended for one year.
He appeared in court on Wednesday.
The police acting on information applied for and obtained a search warrant for Bernard’s house which was executed on February 6, 2016.
During the search, the gun was found and when questioned about it, Bernard said it was given to him by his grandfather. He also told the police that he had the ammunition and a further search of the house revealed the .38 ammunition.
In mitigation, his lawyer, Peter Alleyne, told that court that his client had fully cooperated with the police throughout the process and had not wasted the court’s time. The weapon, he said, was “for hunting” and was not for any “criminal activities.”
He asked to court to exercise leniency on his client who was a first-time offender and had “strong family ties.”
The maximum penalty for such offenses is $15,000 for each one.
God hates a dishonest scale
the symbol of the court system is the scale.
Is this d reason why Dominica is having disaster after disaster?
When the concious decisions are made to dispense justice from a dishonest scale the nation rejects God’s protection.
Since 2008 my wife, children, our home &our property are being attacked; armed robbery,firearms, arson, vandalism, piononing our water tanks, our animals…perpetrators were even caught red handed by the police several times (even by an inspector) ….every 4 months d magistrates would force us to endure humiliation after humiliation…blaming us the victims while praising d criminals.
we left the country to escape after 8years of terrorism..as d injustice system wanted… drop d 4 cases &blame us for not showing up. Encouraging more attacks on our home& property.
Police ignore reports by our caretaker & us even open admissions of tresspassing & breaching of restraining orders.
A HEART TAKES MORE THAN ERIKA, CHRISTMAS…
Where they have to go and search for gun they does never go smfh
To: Police Chief Carbon and Inspector Weekes
If what is reported above is the proper application of the law how is it that Renneth Alexis was not charged for similarly having an unlicensed gun and ammunition in the Savanne Paille alleged trespass case
In fact quite the opposite occurred. The gun was returned to him from the police in Portsmouth during the criminal trial before Magistrate Behazin..Inspector Weekes prosecuted on behalf of the Police in the case of Police vs Renneth Alexis..Alexis went further and appealed the guilty judgement in the criminal matter and through some rather bizarre developments e,g DPP office stated that they did not have witness statement from Behanzin in time for the appeal trial and Alexis got off,,Very strange!!!!
Shameless NOT all those who ‘turned in firearms” were awarded licenses. The Skerrit government confiscated weapons from people who were known supporters of the opposition and awarded their supporters licenses. In our country where justice is for some lawlessness will continue, unfortunately.
Now what is happening to all these cases where the accused pleaded “not guilty”, we are not hearing about them, I guess that they are left to mourn. I’m tired of hearing from lawyers,”my client did not waste the court’s time, so show some leniency “The accused had all the time to surrender these ammunition to the authorities.
Good enough of the fines Mr. Magistrate but next time, the full fine will apply. No slack for those who fail to follow the law especially when they were give an opportunity to turn in all unlicensed arms and ammunition.
Always Assertive!