Armed American pays $22k in fines

An American man found with an unlicensed firearm and ammunition in his luggage last month has paid $22 000 in fines after being ordered by the High Court to pay immediately or spend four years in prison.

Jackson Bart Randall, 47, of Lake Havasu, Arizona, was caught with a .380 automatic Colt pistol and seven rounds of ammunition on September 14.

He pleaded guilty before Justice Carlisle Greaves in the No. 3 Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Starting with a ten-year sentence, the judge deducted one-third for his guilty plea and two years for mitigating factors.

Saying a fine would meet the interests of justice, Justice Greaves ordered Randall to pay $15 000 for the firearm and $7 000 for the ammunition. The fines were due immediately, failing which Randall would face four years’ imprisonment at Dodds Prison.

The fines were paid.

Acting Senior State Counsel Anastacia Mcmeo-Boyce told the court that security officers scanning checked luggage at Grantley Adams International Airport spotted a firearm in a black duffel bag destined for Miami on an American Airlines flight.

The officers alerted the operations manager, who contacted the police. Randall was invited to identify and search his bag. When officers saw the firearm in the duffel bag’s front pocket, they asked who owned it, and he said: “It is my gun, but I don’t know how it got into the bag.”

Senior Counsel Andrew Pilgrim and attorney Summer Hassell represented Randall.

(JB)