A magistrate court has sentenced Marvin Boyd of Tarish Pit to four years imprisonment for illegal possesion of firearm. Police detectives had been hunting Boyd for an unrelated offence when they found him seated in a vehicle parked on the street. Boyd was with a friend, Shadel White, when police officers found and arrested them.
An eagle-eyed police officer had observed the gun sticking out of the seat on which Boyd was seated while interrogating him in his car. It was a 12-gauge Beretta handgun and three rounds of 12-gauge ammunition. Boyd denied knowledge or ownership of the firearm but changed his story the following day in police custody and admitted on written testimony that the weapon belonged to him and that he found it in an old house in Goodwill after the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Although Boyd pleaded guilty to illegal firearm possession, White pleaded not guilty and was subsequently discharged. Boyd’s lawyer, Wayne Norde, described him as a strong and ambitious young man who had a tumultous childhood with no one to model him into a responsible individual. Norde pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy for his client since the gun in question had never been used for any criminal activity.
The maximum penalty for illegal possession of firearm or ammunition is $15,000 or 5 years in prison. but Magistrate Michael Laudat declared that he would be sending a strong message to possessors of unlicensed firearms with Boyd’s sentencing.
“The court cannot turn a blind eye on the present pandemic of misuse of firearms in the community,” Judge Laudat stated. “We are losing too many innocent lives because of these firearms so the court needs to send a strong message that illegal firearms are not wanted nor accepted in Dominica.”
Laudat sentenced the accused to two years imprisonment for possessing an unlicensed gun and another two years for possession of ammunition. The illegal gun and ammunition were forefeited to the state.
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