Four years ago Renaldo Omar Griffith told investigators he purchased an illegal firearm for $4 500 to “defend” himself.
Today however, the Fitt’s Gap, Westbury Road, St Michael resident told Justice Randall Worrell he did not mean what he said back then.
“Sir that was just something that I say in the police station sir. That was not really nothing of consequence to me sir. I just say so because I ain’t know what to say.
“Sir in the station I was just trying to get over with it sir, so I say anything at that time. I was young and foolish,” Griffith added before he was given an eight-year starting prison sentence for having the .380 auto calibre semi automatic pistol and eight rounds of ammunition on July 28, 2016.
After taking in the mitigating and aggravating factors the judge reduced the sentence by two years leaving Griffith with a six-year sentence.
The 477 days he had already spent on remand was credited along with the one-third discount for his guilty pleas to the charges.
That means from today Griffith will spend a further 983 days at Dodds for his crime.
When Griffith purchased the weapon it had ten bullets. According to the facts read by Crown Counsel Joyann Catwell he subsequently went to Westbury Cemetery and “let off a shot” to check whether the weapon was working. He also indicated that he was “playing with it” on another occasion and lost a bullet, leaving him with eight.
“I was sleeping with the gun under my pillow when I hear someone knock on the door and say ‘police’. I snatch up the gun and put it in the boxer I was wearing. At the same time the police came in and see.”
The police searched him while executing a search warrant that day and found the weapon in Griffith’s boxers.
Before he was sentenced today via a Zoom hearing from the No. 2 Supreme Court the convicted man apologised for his actions.
“Sir I would just like to apologise to the court, apologise to my family for letting them down and whatever you choose to do sir I willing to accept for my action. I would like to beg for some leniency please. I just hope that everything runs smoothly,” Griffith said before Justice Worrell. He was represented by attorney-at-law Shadia Simpson.
