Bullets in bedroom

When police arrived at Richard Delisle Arthur’s residence on January 31, 2012 to execute a warrant he allegedly told them “Come in, go upstairs in my bedroom. I have nothing to hide.”

Officer Dwayne Marshall was the lead investigator on that day and gave evidence in the No. 2 Supreme Court this morning as the trial against Arthur, of Maynards, St Peter continued.

Arthur, who is in his 50s, is on trial before a nine-member jury on a single charge of having 102 rounds of ammunition in his possession on January 31, 2012 without the valid licences.

He has denied the charge.

Marshall told the court presided over by Mr Justice Randall Worrell that he was accompanied by other officers when he ventured to the accused’s residence. Arthur, he said, showed him three firearm licences with authorisation to carry a 9mm pistol, a 40 calibre pistol, a .38 pistol and to have 50 rounds of ammunition for each pistol.

The search of the accused’s bedroom then began and a bag containing a number of boxes was found in a closet as well as a container containing rounds of ammunition. Arthur did not reply when asked to account for the ammunition, the officer told the court.

Officer Marshall said he counted the bullets and found “52 rounds of ammunition in the white container; 10 rounds of ammunition in a red box, 19 rounds of ammunition in a white box, 17 rounds in a grey box, 49 rounds in a white box, another 49 rounds in a white box, another 49 in a white box and two rounds in red box.”

The officer told the jury that Arthur was asked to identify the calibre of the ammunition found and he stated that there was .22 ammunition; 5.36 ammunition; .32 ammunition; 7.62 ammunition; 9mm ammunition; 380 ammunition; 40 calibre ammunition and 38 ammunition.

When the ammunition was compared to the gun licences and permits, “I realised that the accused was not in possession of a permit to have .22 ammunition, .32 ammunition, 5.56 ammunition, 7.62 ammunition and 380 ammunition.”

The search then moved downstairs in an area under a flight of stairs where a container with three rounds of ammunition was found. Asked to account Marshall said, Arthur replied: “I have them ever since . . . . These are 7.62 ammunition.”

Arthur was arrested and taken to the District ‘F’ Police Station.

The officer went on to say that the accused was cautioned and allowed to contact his attorney Queen’s Counsel Andrew Pilgrim. Arthur, he said, then agreed to be interviewed.

Marshall explained that he informed Arthur about the warrant executed at his house and that “while searching a closet in his bedroom I found 69 rounds of .22 ammunition, 19 rounds of .32 ammunition, 10 rounds of 5.56 ammunition and one round of 7.62 ammunition . . . in a bag which he could not produce a permit authorising him to have. I ask him what he can say about it and cautioned him. He replied: ‘Not at this stage’.”

The officer said Arthur made the same comment with regards to the ammunition found under the stairs and he did not give a written statement.

Marshall said he also asked Arthur whether he had a permit from the Commissioner of Police to have 7.62 rounds of ammunition, and he replied “No I do not have any permit’. His attorney Pilgrim objected to that oral statement.

Arthur was also asked whether he had permits for the 5.6 ammunition, the .32 ammunition and the .22 ammunition and where he had got the ammunition. Marshall said the accused’s individual response to each question was ‘I can’t answer that right now’.

Through questioning by Principal Crown Counsel Alliston Seale, Marshall revealed that he did not charge Arthur for the rounds of 40 calibre, 9mm or 38 ammunition, “[because] the accused was in possession of permits from the Commissioner of Police authorising him to have those rounds of ammunition.”

Under cross-examination by Pilgrim, Marshall denied that there was any collaboration when he and his colleagues wrote their statements on the case.

He also said that he did not know Arthur prior to his arrest; was not aware that the accused was an executive member of the Barbados Riffle Association or that he was a marksman or shooter.