What was intended to be a kind gesture and a favour for an elderly woman cost former Barbados Defence Force soldier Anthony Sylvester Mayers $24 000 when he appeared in the No. 5 Supreme Court yesterday.
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Stressing that each case must be judged on its merits and that the court did not see Mayers as a threat to society, Justice Pamela Beckles ordered him to pay the money immediately.
Mayers, of Gemswick, St Philip, was back in court where he had pleaded guilty to having a firearm, as well as four rounds of ammunition on October 4, 2024.
He was represented by Senior Counsel Angella Mitchell-Gittens, while Senior State Counsel Maya Kellman prosecuted the matter.
The judge noted that possession of illegal guns and ammunition carried significant prison terms for “obvious reasons as such offences endanger society and its citizens”.
“Barbados has strict gun laws for a reason as the illegal possession of firearms fuels violence, fear and the loss of life in our communities,” the judge said.
“They are capable of causing death and serious injury. The possession of an unlicensed firearm undermines public safety and the rule of law and this is why Parliament has prescribed severe penalties. The presence of ammunition with the firearm aggravates the matter as it shows the weapon was capable of being used immediately,” she added.
The judge said she had considered the gun was a .22-calibre weapon and considered a low calibre and that there was no evidence linking it to any offence.
She said lawmen also obtained a statement from the elderly woman who corroborated that she had given the gun to Mayers for safekeeping while workmen refurbished her house.
The judge further said she had also considered Mayers’ early guilty plea, his expression of remorse, his acceptance of responsibility, his cooperation with police and his previously clean record.
As a result she determined that ten years was the appropriate starting sentence for the gun offence and four years for the ammunition.
She then deducted three years from each starting point for the mitigating factors, one third for the guilty pleas, as well as the 26 days Mayers had spent on remand.
She then fined him $20 000 for the gun and $4 000 for the ammunition. The gun fine carried an alternative of 1 677 days in prison, while the alternative for non-payment of the fine for the ammunition was 217 days. Both fines were paid.
The court had heard lawmen went to Charnocks, Christ Church after receiving information. They saw a vehicle, driven by Mayers, leaving the Grantley Adams International Airport and travelling in the direction of Coverley. They followed and ordered Mayers to stop. He, his girlfriend and two other people were ordered out. Police searched Mayers and his vehicle but found nothing illegal.
He was arrested on the suspicion of having an illegal firearm and taken to his home. While searching a closet in a bedroom, lawman saw a safe in which they found a gun in a plastic bag and a piece of foil with four bullets.
When interviewed by police, Mayers said an old lady from St George had given him the gun for safekeeping while her house was undergoing repairs. He added he had placed it in his safe and had forgotten it there.
“I had no intention to use the firearm,” he said. (HLE)