GUNMAN CALSTON EMMANUEL SEALY begged and pleaded for a chance yesterday.
He said he missed dressing up as a cartoon character for his seven children; he swore he was trying to turn the gun in and had made numerous calls to a lawman he knew but had failed to get him.
He declared he was only thinking about the children who used Weymouth Pasture when he took up the gun.
But had he known the trouble in which the gun would have landed him, Sealy told the court, he would have left the illegal weapon right where it was.
Thirty-two-year-old Sealy, aka “Bedroom Bully”, a self-employed mechanic of Shop Hill, St Thomas, was in the No. 2 Supreme Court yesterday, where he pleaded guilty to the illegal possession of a .25-calibre automatic gun and two rounds of ammunition on November 17, 2009.
He has three previous convictions for breach of a protection order and assault.
Sealy represented himself, while Director of Public Prosecutions Charles Leacock, QC, and Principal Crown Counsel Wanda Blair prosecuted.
Sealy revealed that he was a former member of the Barbados Defence Force and was about to return there, as well as a member of the Reserve.
“When I find the firearm on Weymouth Pasture, I was looking at saving an innocent schoolchild’s life because Metropolitan schoolchildren have games on that pasture,” he said.
He said he then “tried my best” to call a Sergeant Yarde but was told the sergeant was on leave. He called the next week and was told he was out on duty. He said when he tried to explain what he wanted to a constable, that lawman put down the phone in his ear, but he expected no different because that lawman and he had a history.
“I am a father of eight kids,” Sealy further told the court. “I just recently had a son born on May 9.”
Five are from five different women, while three whom he said lived with him are from one mother.
Sealy also related a story of being abandoned by his mother and of his father subsequently dying.
“I ask the court to give me the opportunity to be back home with my kids who I miss dearly,” he said.
“I used to pass by the prison and show my kids the prison and tell them I don’t want you to end up in there. And now my kids come and ask me ‘how come you tell us you don’t want us in here and what are you doing in here’,” he said, adding that he missed dressing as a cartoon character for his children.
“If I knew removing that firearm from Weymouth Pasture would have caused this, I would have left it where it was,” he added, begging for a fine.
And after hearing the DPP say that he was not opposed to Sealy being released on bail, Justice Elneth Kentish granted him $25 000 bail with a surety.
The judge ordered him to report to Central Police Station every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and to surrender his travel documents.
Justice Kentish further ordered a pre-sentencing report and adjourned sentencing until later in the Sessions.
DPP Leacock said lawmen were on Pavilion Road, Bank Hall, St Michael, when they saw Sealy who was walking and holding an object in his hand.
Police recognised that object was a gun and pursued Sealy, who ran off.
During his flight, he threw away the gun and it landed on the roof of a nearby house.
Police caught Sealy and recovered the gun.
When interviewed by police, the offender admitted: “It is a gun I throw on the house. It is a 25 automatic and it got in two rounds.”
