POLICE?firearms expert Inspector Graham Husbands said a Glock which was handed over to him by Sergeant Charles Cumberbatch bearing serial number MRA 717 had powder residue in the barrel, which meant that the semi-automatic had been fired.
Husbands was testifying on the first day of the inquest into the death of Hugh Springer, who was fatally shot in the head at the Nursery Drive terminal last July 9.
He told the Coroner’s Court yesterday that he received the gun on June 15 last year, along with two magazines. He said Inspector Boyce also gave him two additional Glocks and 45 rounds of ammunition and a .357 magnum revolver. Inspector Walcott also gave him a 9mm cartridge case and a vial containing 9mm fragments.
The officer said when he tested the Glock given to him by Sergeant Cumberbatch it was in excellent working condition with no mechanical or operational defects.He said the magazines contained 29 cartridges in total – 15 in one and 14 in the next and were of a 9mm calibre.
He said he test fired one of the cartridges and found that the cartridge case containing 14 rounds was a fired calibre cartridge case.He said the vial containing the metal fragments revealed that three of those pieces of lead were deformed.
Inspector Husbands stated:?“Based on my examination I?formed the opinion that the 14 9mm cartridges were of the type issued by the Royal Barbados Police Force.”He said none of the other guns tested positive for powder in their barrels.
Asked by Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris if the Glock could be discharged accidentally, Inspector Husbands stated: “Anything accidental would have to be on the part of the person using the weapon and not the firearm.”
He added that he checked the trigger and it would take five-and-a-half pounds of pressure to discharge the gun.“You have to exert pressure?” the coroner asked, to which Inspector Husbands replied, “Yes”.
Questioned further by the Coroner, Inspector Husbands stated:?“From experience if one has a weapon where you have a round in the chamber, if you are involved in a struggle it can go off.”He added that this also depended on if the holder of the gun was under stress at the particular time. “It can happen depending on the kind of adrenalin that may be happening at the particular time,” he stated.
The expert further explained that “If the weapon was not charged and the trigger was pulled it could not have gone off but because it was charged as long as the trigger was pulled it will go off”.
“Should that have been charged, given the fact that the man had put down his weapon?” the coroner asked.
Inspector Husbands replied: “Based on what I heard this morning that [Glock] should have been immediately cleared”. (MB)
