Man hands over 3 guns for reduced sentence

CMC – In St. Vincent, a 27-year-old man, who was initially charged with being in possession of an illegal firearm and 10 rounds of ammunition, handed over to police, three more firearms including an SLF rifle, after the prosecution promised to ask the court to reduce his sentence by six months if he did so.

Police said Ormando Mofford was initially arraigned on charges that on July 4, this year, he had in his possession one 9mm semi-automatic pistol and 10 rounds of 9mm ammunition without a licence issued under the Firearms Act.

He was also charged for being in possession of one pair of scissors and one metal letter opener.

At his arraignment in July, Mofford pleaded not guilty to the charges and his bail condition included a curfew, which he broke, resulting in him being arrested and brought back to court last week.

But when he appeared before Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne at the Serious Offences Court, on Tuesday, his lawyer, Grant Connell told the court that his client was willing to aid in the surrender of a firearm.

The prosecutor, police sergeant Renrick Cato offered an amnesty for any firearms handed over and promised that if Mofford handed over three or more firearms, he would ask the court to reduce by six months any sentence it imposes for firearm and ammunition seized in July.

As a result, the Rapid Response Unit recovered the firearms from Mofford and Cato told the court that three weapons were handed over to the police.

Police sergeant, Julian Cain, an armourer, weapon and ammunition specialist and gazette ballistic expert told the court that the firearms were in good working conditions and that the SLR (self-loading rifle) has a magazine capacity of 20 rounds of ammunition

“It is a very, very high powered rifle with a maximum effective range of 1,100 metres. These firearms are sometimes used by snipers. As scope can also be attached to this firearm,” Cain said, adding that the 9mm pistols each had a maximum effective range of 50 metre.

Cain said it is “very fortunate to have a firearm of this calibre off the street,” adding that the surrender of the weapons was “a manifestation of what proper policing and community efforts can achieve”.

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